Our quick take
Lomography Blackbird Fly - 4.0 / 5
Although the Blackbird looks a little like a camera from the 40s, it doesn’t mean that you need to worry about tracking down an obsolete film format (such as hard-to-find 120 film). The camera takes the standard 35mm film that you can still buy in any camera shop or chemist. We used ISO 800 colour film, but it’s really up to you which roll you choose, depending on the effect that you’re after and the conditions that you’re shooting in. Measuring in at 160 x 65 x 79mm, the Blackbird isn’t exactly small, but that’s to be expected from this type of camera. As it’s made from plastic, it’s very light and can easily be carted round in a bag all day without inducing back ache. Despite the plastic chassis, the build quality feels generally sturdy, all though it probably wouldn’t take too kindly to be dropped on a hard floor (but then what gadget would?).
On the bottom lens, you’ll find the aperture lever which you can change according to the weather conditions. The aperture can be set to F11 for sunny conditions, or F7 for a more cloudy day. If the F numbers don’t make any sense to you, then fear not. The lever is illustrated with tiny pictures of a sun and cloud, making the whole process completely idiot proof. On the left-hand edge of the camera, you’ll find the film advance wheel for winding on between shots, which is located next to the counter. The first time that you use the camera you need to ensure that the photo counter is reset so that it the tiny white line matches up with the corresponding mark on the camera body. We found that this went back to the correct place after we used and re-wound our first film, but it’s worth checking each time that you load a film. The right-hand side of the chassis reveals a hot-shoe adaptor for hooking up a compatible flash. On most cameas, this would be found on the top of the casing, but obviously that’s not possible here because of the pop-up hood that surrounds the focusing screen. Attaching a flash to the side of the camera feels a little cumbersome, so while its ok for the odd shot, you probably wouldn’t want to use it like that all the time. This side of the chassis is also home to the film rewinding crank. There’s a small indent which is designed to keep the end of the fold-out lever in place when not in use, but we found that it was so flimsy that it was easily dislodged, not only while inside a bag, but during general handling. As long as it’s put back in it’s place, you shouldn’t have a problem, unless it’s actually gets caught on something and ends up unintenionally winding your film back.
To shoot, the camera is held at waist-level, which takes a little getting used to (as do the stares from passersby which this unorthodox shooting stance is likely to attract). As with any camera, the trick is to keep it steady to avoid blur, which proves to be slightly more difficult when holding it in such a way, but placing one hand underneath the camera body and keeping one lightly on the shutter release seems to work. There’s also a standard tripod mount on the underside of the chassis if you need a little more steadiness. Loading up the film is relatively easy, using the enclosed instructions. It feels slightly counter-intutive as the have to bend the film backwards to attach it to the take-up spool, but it’s all pretty easy after you’ve done it for the first time. The viewfinder hood cover clicks open easily, with the other three sides springing up automatically once you open it. You also have the option of using the sports viewfinder which is intended for quick framing of moving objects. All you need to do is push the front panel of the top hood down until its tip clicks into the slot on the back side of the hood. Then you use the the viewfinder at eye-height, as you would with a conventional camera.
We found that the lens cover tended to fall off a lot while the camera was in a bag, which was slightly annoying. However, the saving grace is that, unlike the lens caps on many other analogue cameras, the one on the Blackbird can be attached to the camera body using the supplied cord, so it never strays too far. You have to hold the film release button down as you rewind, (rather than just pressing it once) which we found to be a little awkward. In fact, we thought it had finished when it hadn’t and accidentally opened the back cover exposing a couple of the frames of film. In brightly lit conditions, the camera works well - resulting in pictures with bright colours. Edges are slightly soft, as you’d expect from an analogue snapper, but it all adds to the effect. We also found that got some unintentional light leak on some of our pictures, resulting in some cool-looking coloured patches across the photos (obviously we’re pretending that we did that on purpose). The camera didn’t fare quite so well on a more overcast day, but then if it’s too gloomy you probably need to involve a flash to get the best out of your pictures.
To recap
Takes some getting used to, but is sure to please analogue camera fans thanks to its cool design, ease of use and good results
