If you’re like me and you’ve been bemoaning your long lost opportunity to explore the funkadelic world of Aerochrome, look no further than Lomochrome Purple to scratch that itch.

Since buying my first roll of Lomochrome Purple just over a year ago I have manically shot roll after roll, and I’m proud to say it has become one of my favorite film stocks in my arsenal. It has given me a completely new way of seeing the world around me and has expanded my imagination. Each roll I’ve shot makes me feel like I’ve stepped into a magical world of wonder.

Fairyland forests. Purple mountains of majesty. Skies of turquoise. I’ve put it through so many different scenarios, thinking surely something will trip it up, but it has yet to let me down. Surprisingly versatile, this film stock will give you a new perspective of the world around you and expand the horizons of your photography.

What is Lomochrome Purple?

Lomochrome was originally launched by Lomography in 2013 in 35mm and 120 film sizes. Over time they added 110 and Lomography has even done limited runs in 16mm and Super 8. As part of a big production run in 2019, Lomography decided to re-formulate the film to offer an even more saturated emulsion with stronger magenta hues. This is the current version available for purchase today.

Lomochrome Pruple’s inspiration, the iconic Aerochrome, was a color positive film (commonly called slide film). But Lomochrome Purple is a color negative film and can be developed in standard C-41 chemicals. This means that it’s more easily developed and more easily shot (positive film is notoriously finicky about exposure compared with negative film). Lomochrome has a suggested ISO range of 100 – 400, which gives it wonderful flexibility for a variety of scenes and lighting scenarios. Depending on which ISO you choose to meter it at, the color and look of your results will vary.

The show-stopping element of this film stock is the way it completely transforms and morphs the normal colors of our everyday world. Per Lomography’s website, “blue becomes green, green becomes purple, and yellow becomes pink.” Take this film on a hike outdoors and suddenly your surroundings will be a sea of purple. Or if you are more of an urbanite, take it for a spin downtown and you’ll have a unique world of teal skies and magenta buildings.

Lomochrome Purple in Action

I’ve personally shot this film stock in both 35mm and 120, but not 110 format, as I do not have any 110 cameras in my collection. While it sings in both 35mm and 120, my preference is for the latter, as medium format is my go to for sharpness and resolution size. I decided to shoot the very first roll I bought at night, mainly because a number of people told me it couldn’t be shot at night and I just felt compelled to prove them wrong. For an extra element of trippiness, I decided to slap an 8-point star filter on my lens and the results were out of this world. Like a night time purple and pink laser show from space. I highly recommend this stock if you’re a night shooter and looking for a different way to change up your shots.

Ever since this fateful first roll, I have shot Lomochrome Purple in a wide range of scenes including throughout downtown Milwaukee in a variety of lighting conditions, on a number of hikes in Wisconsin’s idyllic state parks, and even some portraits with a good friend of mine. And it’s held its own in every single scene I’ve put it through. I was especially surprised with how well it performed in evening city shots. In these types of scenes I often find standard C-41 films can be a bit of a challenge, as the shadow of large urban buildings with the setting sun can give off some unusual tones and color casts. But nope, Lomochrome Purple took it like a champ.

I typically meter at either ISO 200 or 400 depending on how much light is available in my scene. I’ve found the shots metered at 400 offer darker, bluer purples, while the frames shot at 200 give more pink hues and turquoise skies. Since with this emulsion yellows tend toward the pink side, you can even shoot portraits and have skin tones that will retain a somewhat natural hue (albeit a little more rosy).

Why I love Lomochrome Purple

Simply put, shooting Lomochrome Purple is pure fun through and through. I’m always filled with anticipation and excitement to see exactly how the colors of my scenes will render on this stock, and it never ceases to take my breath away when I get my results. It takes the world I know and flips it on its head. It helps breathe new creative life into me if I’m ever in a photo rut, and it helps remind me of the sheer magic of film photography.

Buy Lomography Lomochrome Purple from B&H Photo here

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LomoChrome Turquoise is described by Lomography as “an intriguing emulsion [that] transforms everyday colors into shades of deep emerald, cobalt and cyan while tints of blue fade into gorgeous golden gradients.” Sample shots provided by Lomography do indeed show a film with a beautiful and unique color palette. The film’s variable ISO of 100-400 allows great exposure latitude, and the film’s C41 development process ensures that LomoChrome Turquoise can be developed anywhere color film is processed, or at home using C41 Home Development Kits.

LomoChrome Turquoise joins Lomography’s other popular LomoChrome films, LomoChrome Purple and LomoChrome Metropolis.

The film is now available for pre-order at a discount of 15% over the final retail price in bundles of 5 and 10 rolls. After this pre-order period, the final retail pricing will be $12.90 per roll of 35mm and 120 format film, and $8.90 for one 110 film cartridge. Pre-ordered LomoChrome Turquoise will begin shipping in June 2022.

We’ll post our thoughts on the new film as soon as we’ve had a chance to shoot it. Included below is the press release with further details, as well as sample shots provided by Lomography.

To pre-order you LomoChrome Turquoise, visit Lomography’s website.

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

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We were idling between two family vans packed to the brim when a police car bypassed the queue on the opposite lane. Eventually the hand signals of an oncoming driver informed us that the route had turned into a dead end and we had to drive back to were we came from to search for an alternative path to our promised land. As grey clouds traveled over the mountains we looked for a way around them. With our spirits high from wanderlust we put our trust in the front passenger’s navigation skills and went on with our discussion about where we’d eat and what we’d wear at the beach in just a few hours. As we got close to the border the day was coming to an end. 

A few kilometers from customs, traffic slowed once again. Understandable, we thought, but we didn’t expect the situation to stay the same after crossing the border. Had we done our research, we would have known. The heavy rainfalls of the last few weeks – the ones we were so desperately trying to get away from – had severely damaged the region we were trying to cross and all traffic had therefore to be diverted onto secondary roads. As we sought our way through one-way streets, looking for green and yellow signs leading us onto the highway, we got a message from our booked accommodation. If we didn’t make it to our destination within an hour, our booking would be cancelled. Impossible. 

Being two hours away, we decided to call our hostess. We tried to bewitch her with the gentlest of voices – which turned out to be much easier than we thought, but the worry had already struck our spirits. She told us she wouldn’t be able to welcome us at 3:30 AM, the time by which our navigation system had calculated our arrival, but she’d happily let us in first thing in the morning before going to work. With the pressure gone and three hours of extra time on our hands, we decided to make the best of it and drive straight to the coast, looking for a spot to park and rest. 

Along the highway, we stop at a gas station. The loud chirping of crickets and the smell of gasoline finally deliver the first dose of vacation vibes. A warm ocean breeze fills the air inside our car the moment we open the doors. I decide to take my first photograph. 

So far my camera of choice had been sleeping on the center console, waiting for the deep black asphalt and sky to give way to something more photogenic. She expected her first duty call for sunrise. Instead, she got a line of caravans and trucks under a street post in the middle of nowhere. 

The plasticky body squeaks in my hands. A little pointer inside the viewfinder reminds me to slide aside the lens cover. I hear the flash charging as I flip a switch on the top plate. I always forget to cock the shutter but on this camera my thumb automatically rests on the intended mechanism so I keep it at eye level while I catch up. A gentle press, a ray of light, and the vacation officially begins. 

Had I brought any other camera on this trip, it probably would have gone back home with the frame counter unchanged. The cumbersome journey and tiredness have honestly robbed me of my desire to photograph anything. This always happens when I find myself in unpleasant situations. But this is just the right camera to have. It makes it easy enough to (at least) snap something. 

And surprisingly, taking an image not worth mentioning gets me hooked to shoot more before we even arrive at the picturesque coastline. I guess the Keystone Everflash XR308 is the perfect camera for the day after a sheer endless journey. It’s perfect for someone who loses interest in everything when something doesn’t go according to plan, perfect for a lazy person on a lazy vacation. And to me it also offers the magic of shooting a new format without the fear of screwing up. 

When we finally arrive at our accommodation long after sunrise we feel tired but unwilling to waste the day in bed. We switch bermudas for trunks and bras for bikinis and head straight to the beach. Whistling Faithless’ Insomnia in my flip flops with the Keystone Everflash XR308 around my wrist, I have everything I need to survive another day. It’s my first time shooting 110 film and I can’t have found a better occasion. 

Standing on the beach with a bottle of beer clamped between my pale, white thighs I take a shot of my friends in their bathing suits and feel a very specific sense of nostalgia come over me, a long lost feeling unexpectedly filling my spirit. This very moment suddenly feels more like a vacation than any trip to far away places I’ve done this year. And I can’t help but think this weirdly shaped, plasticky Keystone camera is somehow responsible for it. 

After our first swim in the sea we decide to go for a walk in the city and look for a place to have an aperitivo. Then, we look for another one. We pass by historic sights, cross large squares, get lost in small alleys. Though I’m constantly in awe, I only take a handful of images. And looking back, I really don’t mind. The XR308 wouldn’t have done the scenery any justice anyways. The camera’s lens and 110 film in general is really lo-fi. This, to me, makes it an immensely liberating way of photographing. You’ll shoot just to have a splinter of a memory, nothing more. 

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but some cameras definitely make it easier to take meaningful photographs than others. I’ll happily use the XR308 to document for myself, but it’s the wrong format for easily legible photographs to show someone who didn’t live through the captured moments themselves. In a way, the technical weaknesses of this camera and film format bring back a sense of privacy which in my opinion has largely disappeared in photography with ever more perfect equipment. 

I really don’t want to talk about any technical aspects of this cheap camera, a camera with the worst shutter button and least precise viewfinder I’ve ever used – mostly because it doesn’t matter, but also because it would distract from its qualities. I want this article to be subjective and unbalanced. Because if it were technical and balanced, you might miss out on an experience I can only recommend.

On Sunday we drive along the coast for a while. Here and there the cloud cover opens up and reveals a deep blue sky. We take advantage of every ray of sunshine to stop and go down to the shore. I keep my camera on my wrist and flick it every now and then. It’s all casual, weightless and fun. Instead of looking for spectacular compositions I just document what catches my eye the way I first see it. No circling around people and waiting for perfect lighting, no body contortions or standing on the tips of my feet to get the shot. 

Soon we’ll have to leave again. Once I’m home I won’t store my roll of film for weeks or months before sending it in for development like I usually do. I can’t wait to see the results. There’s excitement, curiosity, a new lust for photography – of all things it’s my cheapest camera to trigger this. 

I remove the small cassette and put the XR308 back in its packaging. I don’t know when I’ll use the camera next or for what I’ll use it. But after seeing the prints and tiny negatives I just know it won’t have been the last time. I look at the photographs and have to smile. These are pictures of the most tedious weekend trip I’ve ever had, photographed with the most straightforward camera I’ve ever held. And to me, the product is perfectly imperfect. 

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

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While the WM1Z digital player has 250 gigabytes of storage, plays lossless audio that competes with the quality coming from a proper record player, upscales normal files to high-res quality and uses an HX digital amplifier, the tape player has an AM/FM radio. And it floats.

There’s not much comparison between tapes and hi-res digital audio. Even in their heyday, tapes suffered a reputation for low quality. But here I am, opening my Walkman and dropping in a well loved and mildly warped copy of The Way it Is by Bruce Hornsby and Range. As the tape groans to life, I wonder, “Why did I spend 100 euros on an ancient instrument that plays an obsolete, nearly dead format? Why am I spending actual money on cassette tapes that come shipped in cracked cases with faded liner notes?”

Maybe the answer lies in another historical artifact lying on my desk: the Agfamatic 2008 Pocket Sensor 110 film camera. 

I see many similarities shared by these two relics. They’re both basic versions of more sophisticated products made by their respective companies. Both are prioritized for portability and ease of use. Both use outdated cartridges, the Walkman takes cassettes, and the Agfa Agfamatic 2008 Sensor takes 110 film. And in the context of usability, both can be a bit of a chore to enjoy in 2020.

But camera people live here in this CP tent, so I’ll focus on the picture machine. Maybe along the way I’ll find answers for both.

What is the Agfamatic 2008?

In 1972 Kodak released their new 110 “pocket system” film format. This 13x17mm film was housed in a small 24-exposure cartridge, didn’t require rewinding, and made loading easy for anyone with at least one arm. In the mid-seventies Munich-based film company Agfa became the first third-party company to offer both film and cameras for this new format.

The Agfamatic 2008 Pocket Sensor was the first camera to use Agfa’s “ratchet” operation system. The camera opened to the left by sliding a switch on the bottom. Once a photo was taken, the camera has to be pushed back together and out again, which advances the film and cocks the shutter. The noise the camera makes during opening and closing led to it being called the “ritsch ratsch” camera in Germany. Costing only 105 Deutschmarks (about 60 US dollars) it could fit in the budget of almost any family.

Another sliding switch unlocks and drops the film door, allowing the photographer to drop in a film cartridge. After closing it, a few ratchets of the camera advances the film to its starting frame. No amount of closing and opening the camera moves the film forward until the shutter has been triggered, a convenient feature considering that the camera is frequently closed and opened without taking a photo.

It has a 3-element Color-Agnar 26mm lens that is fixed at f/9.5, and two shutter speeds: 1/50 of a second and 1/100 of a second. A switch on the top of the camera selects the shutter speed, which is illustrated either as a cloud or the sun. Focus is fixed between 1.2 meters and infinity. The camera also came with a detachable flash bar and had a bright viewfinder with big parallax markers. 

It’s a basic camera to say the least. The only decisions photographers are able to make are what film they shoot and which of two shutter speeds they snap with.

Of course simplicity of operation isn’t the camera’s only strength. 

I came across the camera in the junk bin of a camera store. Attached to it was the original flashbar (which I later learned didn’t work.) It was this design that first caught my eye – it’s just a cool looking camera. It’s a mix of chrome and plastic that perfectly dates it to the mid-seventies, with a vague Bauhaus influence and the big red shutter button that screams AGFA. Believe it or not, this camera actually won the iF Product Design Award in 1974.

If you’re into tactile things, then this camera scratches that itch. It’s a product whose unique operation is part of its enjoyment. Occasionally I would pick it up just to hear the “ritsch ratsch” from opening and closing, the sound turning into a tiny joy button. 

Noticing the absence of a price tag, I asked the store clerk how much he wanted for the camera. He looked at it and with a slight shrug, said five euros. 

Out and about with the Pocket Sensor

It wasn’t long after walking out of the camera store that the thought hit me: “Do they even make film for these cameras anymore?” I was relieved (but not surprised) to see that Lomography still offers a number of films loaded in 110 cartridges. This includes films only made for 110, like the Color Tiger 200, Orca 100 and Lobster Redscale, plus more universally available Lomo films like Metropolis and Lomochrome Purple. There’s even a 110 slide film for seriously adventurous masochists. 

Something happened between looking up available films and actually purchasing some. Other cameras got in the way and by the time I finally purchased a three-pack of the Color Tiger 200, six months had passed. Spring was springing in Berlin and with more sun and the city cloaked in green, a punchy color negative film seemed appropriate. 

Looking back at the first day that I shot the Agfamatic makes me laugh. I actually took a light meter with me to see how close I was getting to f/9.5 and the two shutter speeds. It felt like eating at a McDonalds in a tuxedo. 

I learned quickly that with cameras like these you just can’t care that much. I mean, you could. You could actually take the time and effort to take properly exposed photographs with this camera. But it would take a lot of time and grind down your psyche in the same way that does tunneling out of prison with a plastic fork. 

I don’t think that’s what the camera’s creators had in mind, and it’s certainly not the ethos behind the film that Lomography produces. So I changed my approach, began carrying the camera everywhere, and snapped away without any care for the exposure beyond asking myself “Is it sunny?” 

That’s pretty much it. Choose clouds or sun, compose, snap, klitsch klatsch and repeat. I imagine it was completely perfect for anyone who didn’t need to understand photography, but still wanted photos to remember trips to Mallorca. (Fun fact: every German is required by law to vacation on Mallorca.)

Portability is always a topic when it comes to photographic equipment. In that regard, the Agfamatic is probably the most portable film camera I’ve ever used. As a small thin rectangle, it fits comfortably into everything from a pair of jeans, the inside pocket of a jacket, maybe even inside a really tight sock. 

So it’s small, somewhat stylish, completely without technical capability, and it makes a cool noise. And you’ll never need to replace the batteries since it doesn’t take any. And it’s cheap. But what about image quality? I think we all know where this is going.

Here we meet the perfect storm needed to create imperfect images. A consumer grade film of unknown birth cut to the equivalent of 16mm film and exposed in a fixed-focus camera seemingly designed to miss exposure. And sure enough, it usually does. Photos are almost always under or overexposed, which is more a testament to mathematics than it is a knock on the camera.

I knew this when I dropped the film off. I was lucky that the neighborhood lab was able to process and scan the negatives. I was even luckier that they didn’t charge extra for the unique format processing like many other labs do. Ironically, when I received my scans, they were in 16-bit TIF format, which is a little funny all things considered. 

Huge scans allowed me some flexibility with correcting some highlights and shadows, but there’s no denying that almost every photo was as soft as satin. It’s not easy to know by how many stops images are under or overexposed, but the film doesn’t seem to enjoy too much latitude in either direction. But when the stars aligned and images were properly exposed, colors were punchy, vibrant and warm. Color Tiger reminds me a lot of Fuji C200 and Agfa Vista, which is probably why I liked the images that came back. 

I should mention that there are a few 110 cameras that have a greater amount of sophistication, including the Pentax Auto 110 and the Minolta 110 Zoom, both of which have interchangeable lenses. It’s highly likely that these cameras will produce more technically correct photos. But I really struggle thinking it’s worth going down that road. If the devil-may-care approach to this format is one of its strengths, don’t luxuries like variable f-stops and a range of focal lengths take away from that? If you’re using an SLR, why not just shoot 35mm and enjoy the countless advantages it has over 110 film?

Final Thoughts

There’s just no debating it. 110 film sucks. At least from a photographic purists perspective. Its tiny image area nerfs resolution and makes it impossible to print without special equipment. The cameras that use it are almost always cheaply made and devoid of features. Images are soft, rarely in perfect focus and with the basic cameras like the Agfamatic, correct exposure is a friend that only visits a few times per roll. And these are just the disadvantages present when 110 was still popular. There are plenty of new, modern roadblocks to shooting 110. Film processing, scanning, and the prices for said services. With 110 film in today’s world, at the end of the day we’re spending more money to receive lower quality images.

But along with murder hornets, 110 is having a moment in 2020. YouTube randomly started flooding with reviews of 110 cameras, and while it’s hard to see these cameras entering into a bubble similar to prosumer film point and shoots, Lomography has likely seen 110 film sales rise in the last weeks. And that’s a good thing. They’re almost single-handedly keeping 110 alive, and we should celebrate all film formats, if only in remembrance of those that have fallen. Pack film and disc film long ago passed to dust, and 620 is on life support. 

Yet like tape cassettes, 110 endures. The most logical explanation would be that the cameras are extremely cheap and using them is a virtually thoughtless experience. But there’s likely something more to it than that. It’s different, for one thing, and the lack of control over the images actually feels a bit liberating. Just as in other instances where I’ve used what I call “anti-precision cameras” (the Zenit-E for example) the photos came back with a certain distinctiveness. 

So to the answer of the big question – “Why?”

Like using an old Walkman, the Agfamatic 2008 is all about the experience. You enter into that experience knowing the limitations and obsolescence of the medium. In fact, that’s most of the motivation. To connect with something “else.” Life is cheaper and more convenient when I use Spotify on my phone. When I plug my headphones into a tape player, it’s in rejection of convenience. The same can be said for the 110 format generally and the Agfamatic specifically.

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

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