Lomo Spinner 360 Camera

If you are looking for a fun day out with family and friends then all you need is some decent weather, a picnic, a location and a Lomography Spinner 360 camera. The Lomo Spinner 360 isn't a pro camera - it's a film camera that runs on a rubber band and a ring pull! It's not going to win you awards for your fine art photography and it certainly doesn't pretend to be. What it is, however, is a lot of fun and a good day out with your family and friends.

It's a crazy design - you pull the ring pull and the camera spins around a full 360 degrees taking a panoramic picture in the process: It's part time lapse and part panoramic photography as you will often capture the same thing twice at different times - but that's all the more fun. You are also guaranteed to make sure everyone appears in the picture as it spins round.

If you need some help loading the film or even getting an idea of seeing it working there is an excellent video here:

Everybody wants to have a shot of this retro style film camera as there is just something magical about using a camera that is so hands on to the point you will have to sort out whose turn it is! It's both sociable and creative at the same time.

Unlike digital, however, you cannot see your efforts until you have the film processed. It's like opening presents - you have no idea whether it has worked or not before you see the film processed. The anticipation as you wait for the half hour film process just adds to the excitement - has it worked? Did I have it on the right setting? I did remember to take the lens cap off? Then finally a set of pristine negatives are handed to you - the density looks great, phew! That's a relief. Now let's see what we have got.

We used Fuji Superia 400 ISO for the Spinner 360 which gave amazingly sharp results and crisp colours when they were printed up large on canvas.

Oh, fun times! A giant sized car facing both directions at the same time (I was parked up at the time). Totally mind blowing shot - this must be what it is like to have eyes in the back of your head!

I must remember to get closer to everyone with this style of photo.

Look at that mad horizon and it even takes more than 360 degrees with the silver car appearing twice.

Such wonderful lighting you get with this camera - next time I'll try and get my head out of the shot!

Tilting the camera at an angle produces wavy horizon panoramas - so hands on and fun.

The optical distortions are just wild - look at that bend in that wall. Amazing shot!

The Lomo Spinner 360 is a seriously enjoyable camera - I cannot recommend it enough for a fun day out. The only thing you might have a problem with is scanning the negatives in due to the sheer size of them and also the fact it exposes over the sprockets in the scan. See here for more information on scanning panoramic negatives.