LOMO MC-A (2025)

This is a LOMO MC-A, a compact 35mm point and shoot camera made by the Lomographic Society starting in 2025 and is still being produced.  The LOMO MC-A was conceived as a premium point and shoot for the 21st century with an all glass 5-element lens fully automatic camera with features such as manual zone focus, manual exposure, manual film advance, and a whole host of features which blended fully automatic cameras with that of classic manual cameras of the past.  The LOMO MC-A was announced with little fanfare at a time when the art of building a premium 35mm camera with features that appealed to both novices and enthusiasts was assumed to have been lost.

Film Type: 135 (35mm)
Lens: 32mm f/2.8 Lomography Minitar-II multi-coated 5-elements in 5-groups
Focus: 0.4 meters to Infinity, LiDAR Auto Focus w/ 5-Zone Manual Focus
Viewfinder: Scale Focus with 32mm Albada Type Frame Lines
Shutter: Electronic Metal Blade
Speeds (Auto): 20 – 1/500 seconds, step less
Speeds (Manual): B, 1 – 1/500 seconds
Exposure Meter: Coupled Electronic Cell w/ Programmed and Aperture Priority AE
Battery: 3v CR2 Lithium or 3.7v CR2 Rechargeable Battery
Flash Mount: Built-In Flash and PC-Port M and X Flash Sync, LOMO Claims X-Sync is at all speeds, but tests have shown 1/250 is the fastest
Weight: 350 grams (w/ strap and battery)
Manual: https://cdn.downloads.lomography.com/downloads/lomo-mca-manual.pdf

Prologue: Many online reviews of the LOMO MC-A were written based off pre-production or production samples provided for free by the Lomographic Society to whomever wrote the review.  The camera in this review is a retail sample which I paid for with my own money.  I am under no obligation, either stated or assumed, to say anything positive or negative about the camera.  Everything in the article below is factual as best as I am aware or based entirely on my own opinion.

The LOMO MC-A is loosely grouped together as part of a new generation of 35mm cameras released in late 2025 / early 2026.  Two other cameras which are included in this group are the Pentax 17 half frame camera and the Rollei 35 AF, made by Mint which made big waves in the community last year.  The main thing that these three cameras all share in common is that they all have premium features such as high quality glass lenses, electronic shutters with both automatic exposure but also manual control, a modern autofocus system, and the use of premium materials in the camera’s construction.  In the previous decade before these three cameras were released, there were other 35mm cameras still being produced, but nearly all were of the cheap plastic variety with basic operation, simple meniscus lenses, and very little advanced technology.

Where the LOMO MC-A stands apart from both the Pentax 17 and Rollei 35 AF is that the camera’s release seemed to surprise the industry as prior to LOMO’s announcement in October 2025, few knew it was coming.  There were no advanced press releases, no crowdfunding campaigns, not even a teaser that LOMO was about to drop something big.  When asked how much in advance he knew this camera was coming, my friend and industry insider Stephen Dowling from Kosmo Foto told me that he only found out about it a couple weeks before the public announcement.

By the time the announcement was made, pre-production cameras were already in the hands of some bloggers and other influencers.  For everyone else, if you wanted to be the first to buy one, you only needed to wait until December 2025 to get your copy, and that’s when I made the decision to purchase one of my own.  Lomography offers the MC-A in both silver and black and while I thought both looked handsome, I thought the silver one was just a tad too busy, so I ordered the black model.

Prior to the LOMO MC-A, I had thought about buying one of the other “new” cameras but the Pentax 17 didn’t appeal to me and the Rollei 35 AF was uncomfortably expensive for a camera I knew I wouldn’t regularly use.  The LOMO MC-A, while not cheap, was in a range I was comfortable spending so I took the plunge.

True to their word, the camera shipped to me in December and arrived in my mailbox right before Christmas 2025.  I knew it would take me a while to fully shoot and write a review for the camera, so in my excitement to get something out there, I recorded my first ever unboxing video, showing me opening the package and pulling things out for the very first time.

As has been the case with many of Lomography’s previous releases, their packaging and presentation is top notch.  I go over everything included in my unboxing video, so if you want more details about the packaging, watch the video, but the highlights are a very well done presentation box that demands to be displayed next to the camera on a shelf, a 200+ page hard cover book filled with hundreds of color photos of and taken with the camera, a very nice leather wrist strap, some flash accessories, a Lomography branded rechargeable battery, plus a micro fiber camera wrap which can be used both to clean and protect the camera while in storage.  I realize people don’t buy cameras for their packaging, but at the very least, Lomography does a very good job of making you feel like you bought something special when you open the box for the first time.

Judging the LOMO MC-A purely by aesthetics, the camera has a premium feel and look with one glaring exception, which is the silly inspirational slogan painted onto the top plate that says “Everything is equal before the lens – and behind it”.  I don’t know why this is there, but it looks stupid and in my opinion, cheapens the appearance of the camera.  Reading through many pre-release and early post-release reviews of the camera, this inscription isn’t as frequently mentioned as it should be.  Superficial inspirational messages like this have no business being painted onto any camera, let alone one that aims to be a premium product.  I hate it.

Beyond the silly slogan, the rest of the camera does have a nice look to it.  I ordered the black model and the top, front, and bottom plates all have a matte finish with an almost paint splatter texture.  I do not know what kind of metal these surfaces are made from, but I’ve taken this camera outside into the winter air, and it definitely gets cold like metal.  The body covering looks and feels like real leather.  It probably isn’t, but it definitely has a higher quality feel than your basic 1990s point and shoot camera covered in hard plastic.

All of the camera’s switches and buttons continue the premium feel with just the right amount of resistance in their movement.  The two dials on top, one for changing shutter speeds, and the other for EV compensation both have satisfying click stops for each setting.  The power switch surrounding the shutter release which doubles as an Auto Focus and Manual Focus mode switch moves with purpose and won’t easily be moved on accident.  The shutter release button is in an ideal location and has a nice spring dampened feel, but for the size of the camera, it feels just a tad too small.  I would have liked to have seen a slightly larger and maybe domed shutter release button.

On the left side of the top plate is the monochrome LCD display which is the most obvious hint that this is a modern camera and not a classic point and shoot which you somehow missed from the late 20th century.  I measured the LCD at about 28mm corner to corner or about 1.1 inches.  This size is perfect for the camera and allows enough room for pretty much everything you’d need to know about the various functions of the camera.  The LCD has good brightness and contrast and can easily be read outdoors in all but direct sunlight.  This style of screen is definitely an improvement over the earlier gray and black LCDs on cameras of yore, and gives it a nice 21st century look.

With the camera powered on you are reminded of the flash status, focus mode, and battery level.  According to the manual, the battery only shows 3 choices, full, half, and empty.  Included with the camera when new is a rechargeable 3.7v CR2 battery which has a built in USB-C port in it.  The camera also works with non-rechargeable CR2 batteries as well.  I like that the battery can be changed, compared to a built in lithium-ion battery which when dead, requires the camera to be charged until you can use it again.  With the option to use off the shelf CR2 batteries, you will never be stopped by a dead battery.  The battery compartment is behind a round door on the base of the camera and opens with a coin.

With the camera in manual or automatic exposure modes, a half press of the shutter release button will display either what exposure setting you’ve chosen or what the camera recommends given the available light.  It will also show the detected focus distance in AF mode and whichever position the zone focus lever is in MF mode.  This display disappears almost immediately after releasing pressure on the shutter release however, which is unfortunate as that means it is only really useful with the camera at chest level.  There is no exposure display in the viewfinder, so if you had the camera to your eye and you wanted to check exposure, you have to maintain half pressure on the shutter release while lowering it from your eye to take a reading.  It would have been nice if the display would have remained visible for a couple seconds after letting go of the shutter release.

Other things that are displayed on the LCD are the number exposures on your current roll of film, but for obvious reasons, this only works with film in the camera.  When changing things like EV compensation, ISO settings, flash, and the 2s, 10s, or 30s self-timer, a display will illuminate as you cycle through your options.  Film speed options range from DX mode, to manual ISO from 12 to 3200.  For flash, you have Off, Auto, and two creative modes, one offering front curtain flash and the second offering a rear curtain flash.  With the camera in multiple exposure mode, the letters MX will appear to remind you that the next press of the shutter release will expose over the previous frame.  You may make as many exposures as you wish over the same piece of film.  If after making an exposure, you forget to advance the film, a reminder will popup on the screen if you try to press the shutter release again.

The LOMO MC-A’s shutter is electronically timed and offers a very wide range of shutter speeds, especially for a point and shoot.  Manual speeds from 1 second to 1/500 plus stepless speeds from 20 seconds to 1/500 in AE mode are really nice to see.  Many mid level point and shoot cameras from the 1990s and early 2000s don’t allow you to manually select shutter speeds, and the ones that do often don’t go below 1/30.  Even the premium Konica Hexar AF from 1992 which is a phenomenal camera featuring a 7-element f/2 lens, is limited to a maximum speed of 1/250.

The camera supports long exposures up to 20 seconds using Bulb mode, but does not offer a cable release socket or any way to remotely trigger the camera.  This is unfortunate as it is extremely difficult to avoid body shake while pressing down and holding a shutter release button during a long exposure.  A better way to make long exposures would be to leave the camera in AE mode, stabilize the camera on a flat surface or a tripod, then set a 2 second self timer, and then press the shutter release.  With this method, any body shake from you pressing the shutter release will have stabilized by the time the shutter opens to begin the long exposure.

The film advance lever is made of metal and feels like it should work correctly, but the process of advancing the film does not inspire confidence.  An issue I encountered multiple times while shooting is that sometimes a full motion of the lever doesn’t fully advance the film.  You have to give it a partial second movement to get it to finish the film transport.  Looking through the documentation of the MC-A, this is supposed to be a single stroke camera, and sometimes it is, but other times, its like a 1.1 stroke camera.

Another issue with the film advance is that when you’ve reached the end of the advance lever’s travel, it gets really “spongey” and feels like there is a chance you could break something if you push too hard.  I don’t know what the MC-A looks like with the top plate off, but it almost feels like something in the film advance linkage is flexing near the end of its travel.  I definitely recommend advancing the film on this camera with care.  Do not use too much force, but that can be hard to remember while in the heat of shooting.  This is really disappointing because I can pick up any number of classic film cameras with manual film advances and when you reach the end of the advance lever’s travel, it hits a wall and does not budge.  So far, I haven’t broken the film advance lever, and maybe I never will, but I can’t shake the feeling that this is a weak point of the camera.

Without a doubt, the worst part of the LOMO MC-A is the film loading procedure.  While I am okay with the camera not having some kind of automatic load procedure as I have manually threaded a film leader onto take up spools many, many times, the LOMO MC-A is the worst I’ve experienced for a variety of reasons.

For starters, the right hinged film door doesn’t open far enough to get out of your way.  When fully open, it barely makes it past 90 degrees, sticking out sharply perpendicular to the back of the camera.  The take up spool is somewhat recessed into the film compartment and with the door pointed straight towards you, it doesn’t give a lot of space to thread the leader.  Adding to the challenge, I found that the door constantly wanted to close on me while loading film, so to overcome that, I held the camera vertically with the door closest to the floor so that gravity would keep it open.

If an inconvenient door was my only complaint, I could live with it, however it gets worse.  In nearly every 35mm camera I have ever loaded film into, once you get the leader threaded onto the spool, you can manually rotate the take up spool a couple of times to make sure the leader securely wraps around itself.  Not the MC-A.  It is possible to manually rotate the take up spool with your finger, but you can only do it the distance of one exposure, at which point it stops moving.  The only way to get it to move again is to fire the shutter and then wind it again, but only the equivalent of one exposure’s worth of film.  If you’re the kind of person who likes to cycle through 2-3 exposures to make sure that the film will not slip off the spool, you have to repeat this process multiple times.  Keep in mind, you are also holding the camera upside down preventing the door from closing on you, while one finger is making sure the film leader doesn’t slip off the spool while you are winding the film advance and firing the shutter multiple times!

Removing the film isn’t quite as bad as loading it, but the process of rewinding film isn’t pleasant either.  The LOMO MC-A has a bottom film rewind lever with a rather long metal handle that’s actually quite nice looking.  It is about double the length of the typical top folding handle on a classic camera, and it has a small plastic tip that rotates while you spin it.  The length of the handle and rotating tip makes the act of rewinding the film pleasant, or at least, that’s how it seems.

In use, I had several concerns with the rewind handle, the first was that it doesn’t sit flush with the bottom of the camera when folded shut.  The bottom plate has an indent which the handle is supposed to fit into, however on my example, the handle doesn’t fit into this indent.  It sticks out about 1-2 mm which means that the camera will not sit flat on a hard surface.  It won’t necessarily fall over, but it does wobble.  The first time I noticed this, I used additional force to try and get it to sit flush, and that resulted in the handle getting stuck requiring me to use a screwdriver and pry it out.

Beyond fitment issues, the way the rewind handle works is poorly designed as well.  The actual rewind mechanism is made of two parts, the first is the handle, but the second is a round inner shaft part which couples to your film cassette.  How these two pieces connect to each other is via a little tooth that is supposed to fit into one of two slots on the shaft so that when you are turning the rewind handle, the tooth fits into the slot and rewinds your film, except it doesn’t fit!  In my time with this camera, I could never get the handle to properly engage with the inner shaft.  The only way I was able to get it to work was by putting downward pressure on the handle so the tooth was jammed against the inner part, preventing it from slipping.  After doing this to my first roll of film, I started noticing scratches where the tooth was rubbing off the paint.  For both of the test rolls I shot in this camera, I ended up opening the camera in a dark bathroom and rewinding the film by hand.

The lens on the LOMO MC-A automatically retracts into the camera when it is powered off and pops back out when it is on.  This process is very fast and reasonably quiet.  With the camera on and the lens extended, markings on a ring around the lens allow you to set the aperture from f/2.8 to f/16 plus an additional setting for “P” which is used for programmed AE mode.  Although the camera does allow you to leave the lens in this mode and manually select manual shutter speeds, it does not support Shutter Priority AE, which some people consider a con to the camera, but between Shutter and Aperture Priority AE modes, I much prefer Aperture Priority, so this wasn’t much of an issue for me, but it is confusing and I feel like LOMO should have thought this through better.

If the film loading and film advance are the two worst parts of the camera, the viewfinder would third in my list of cons.  On the surface, the LOMO MC-A’s straight through optical viewfinder with Albada frame lines is pretty typical for your average point and shoot, but this is supposed to be a “premium” point and shoot camera, and premium is not how I would describe the viewfinder.  Its biggest offense is that it feels very cramped.  I’ve used many cameras with small viewfinders, yet the one here seems to be worse than usual.

The MC-A has Albada type frame lines which require light to enter from the front of the camera, so if you’re standing in heavy shade while shooting at an object far away, the frame lines are often very dim, and due to their location at the extreme edges of the visible area, they are very difficult to see while wearing glasses.  Beyond the small size and the inconsistently useful frame lines, the only other things to see in the viewfinder are one of two status LEDs.  A blue LED in the upper left corner is your AF ready light.  This light will also blink if you’ve forgotten to advance the film and also if the AF system detects too close of a subject.  A second orange LED in the upper right is a slow shutter speed warning, indicating that you should stabilize the camera to avoid body shake.

The LOMO MC-A has a few other features such as a multiple-exposure button, a flash sync port, some colored gel filters which allow for creative flash effects, and it comes with a pretty nice leather wrist strap, but since the operation of the camera is covered so heavily in other reviews of the camera (and in the manual), I’ll skip anything that didn’t elicit a strong response from me.

With an initial level of familiarity, I felt that I was ready to take the MC-A for a spin.  Sure, loading the film wasn’t pleasant, but that was in the past, maybe I’d love the camera so much I’d forget the 90 seconds I spent fumbling with the door and the film leader.

I ended up shooting two test rolls in the LOMO MC-A.  The first was a bulk roll of EFKE 25 which I acquired a couple years ago from a collector who passed away.  I like shooting slower black and white film in cameras with accurate meters, and this being a camera that was brand new, I figured it would be a good choice.  After finishing that roll, but before developing it, I quickly loaded in a roll of Fuji Superia 400 for some color shots so that I could see how the lens performs with two different types of film.

With the Fuji color film still in the camera, I eagerly developed my first roll of EFKE 25 film so I could see the results.  Starting with the good, I really liked the 32mm focal length of the Minitar-II lens.  I am much more of a wide angle guy and the ability to get so much visual information into each shot was nice.  Images of the Crown Point courthouse and traffic signal which I shoot in many of my reviews show a lot more of what’s there than with longer lenses on other cameras.  Sharpness on most images, especially in the center was very good.  In the ground level shot of the court house clock tower, the Roman numerals on the clock are easily read.

On the other hand, I was surprised to see that this lens vignettes pretty hard.  In nearly every image I shot, significant darkness and subtle softness was near the edges and in the corners.  For previous fans of Lomography’s more simpler cameras, this level of darkness in the corners might be expected, but I really was shocked to see how much there was considering the high-end specifications of the lens.

To be clear, I didn’t hate the images, and to be perfectly honest, I usually like a little bit of vignetting as it gives images the type of character that technically-perfect-but-sterile lenses don’t, but it was surprising to see.  With my second roll of film still loaded in the camera, I was eager to see what the color performance would look like.  The extremely deep blue lens coating suggested that this lens should deliver bright and contrasty colors with the Fuji film.

Unfortunately, the color film was very muted.  This likely was a result of the film itself rather than anything to do with the lens.  I’ll reserve color accuracy judgement for another roll.  Colors aside, the Fuji Superia film showed the same vignetting as the black and white film, but concerningly started to show some light leaks in a couple of images.  See images of my mirror selfie and the color image of the beer taps where faint white leaks are near the tops of the images.  With color film, reddish orange leaks suggest light from the film compartment due to a poor light seal, but white leaks mean it was coming from the front of the camera near the lens which is what seems to be happening here.  Front light leaks are extremely concerning considering this was the camera’s second ever roll of film.

Beyond the leaks and the heavy vignetting, the color images were just okay.  When you consider some camera lenses are known for distinct out of focus details or “three dimensional pop”, I can’t say that the 5-element Minitar-II did anything that really jumped out at me.  I did not love the color cast from the Fuji Superia 400.  Perhaps it was the film’s age or maybe I didn’t get the temps quite perfect when developing, but I won’t fault the camera for that.  The overall quality of these images were probably acceptable when compared to consumer grade point and shoot cameras of the 90s and early 00s, but that the LOMO MC-A is marketed as a premium camera, I felt a bit underwhelmed after shooting both rolls.

Although I shot a majority of my test rolls with auto focus on, I did try the zone focus modes a couple of times and can say that I really liked the inclusion of this feature.  Not only is it useful for tricky focus situations such as in low light or while shooting through or at reflective surfaces, but it also shortens the delay between when the shutter release is pressed and the actual exposure is made because it eliminates the possibility that the LiDAR system needs to hunt for focus.  The shooting experience does feel snappier than when auto focus is on, however it is not instant.  This is because the zone focus lever does not have a mechanical connection with the lens.  There is still a small delay when shooting in zone focus mode because the auto focus motor still needs to electronically move the lens to whichever zone you’ve selected at the moment of exposure.  The five zones offered give enough flexibility to where depth of field will still result in sharp images for most shooting situations.

In addition to positive comments about the auto and manual focus modes, I have equal praise for the metering system as it worked well in every situation I used it, including low light interior scenes and my mirror selfies which often trick many modern AE systems.  I alternated between full Programmed AE and Aperture Priority AE throughout both rolls.  Although it does look like the camera can be shot in a Shutter Priority mode by setting the lens to “P” and manually choosing a shutter speed, the camera’s metering system will not allow you to do this.  According to the manual, if you try this, the aperture will be locked at f/2.8.

Another interesting quirk of the metering system is that the camera cannot shoot with a shutter speed of 1/500 and f/2.8.  According to the manual, if you try to manually select this combination in full manual mode, it will override your choice and shoot at 1/500 and f/4.  In Aperture Priority Mode, you can still shoot at f/2.8, but the shutter speed will be limited to 1/250.  Neither of these limitations were big concerns to me, however.

There has been a great deal of excitement in the months before and after this camera’s release and a ton of people have given their opinions, either through social media, YouTube videos, or blog posts.  I’ve tried not to duplicate too much of what you can read about from other people, but it did surprise me how overwhelmingly positive many of the reviews, especially the earlier ones were.  These reviewers seemed to not notice the several quirks I noticed with this example.  I wonder how much of these people’s opinions were influenced by whether they received a free promotional copy.  I paid full price and waited to receive a retail version, so perhaps I am being more honest.

One issue that I experienced which I’ve heard others mention is with inconsistent frame spacing.  Reviews in early 2026 where people reported images overlapping each other started to pop up right around the time I was finishing my first roll.  I was eager to see if my camera would exhibit the same frame spacing issues, but as soon as I took the wet film out of the Paterson tank, I could clearly see that I too, had the same problems.  It is clear that a full wind of the film advance lever doesn’t move the film the full 8 sprockets like it should, even in the cases where I had to give that extra partial second movement.

On the same roll of film, I had images that overlapped by about 1mm, some that touched but didn’t overlap, and some where the space was much wider than it should be.  In the film strip scan above, you can see all three types of frame spacing issues I encountered on both rolls.  If you develop and scan your own film, this will be an issue if your software attempts to auto detect the edges of each exposure, but you should be able to overcome it by manually cropping each scan.  It will be much worse if you were to send film like this to a photo lab however, as they’re going to have fits cutting your film.

Update: In the 4 months it took me to write this review, I’ve started to see updates to previous reviews online which suggest that Lomography is aware of film transport problems and in some cases has been replacing early production cameras with later ones in which the film spacing issues are improved.  Not fixed entirely, but improved, which at least suggests they’re willing to correct some of the early concerns with the camera.  I may end up sending my camera in to have it either fixed or replaced, and if I do, I will be sure to update this review.

In an effort not to go too far into the negative, I think Lomography did a great job with many aspects of the camera.  I applaud many of their ergonomic and feature decisions.  The feel of the metal body and the increased handling offered by the finger grip on the front are well thought out and offer a nice compromise from a that of a 1990s slick plastic point and shoot or a too-big-to-fit-in-your-pocket SLR.  The bright and easy to read LCD screen, the ability to choose between auto focus and manual zone focus, the inclusion of multiple exposure modes, a true manual film advance and rewind, a 5-element lens and a shutter with a wide range of speeds, plus the increased use of premium materials and really nice packaging give the camera an upscale feel which definitely helps justify its price.

I also liked the inclusion of the rechargeable CR2 battery.  This was a nice compromise between a non removable or proprietary lithium ion battery because if the battery dies while out in the field, it can easily be replaced with an off the shelf cell.  Battery life with the included Lomography battery is good enough for a solid days worth of shooting, although I never really pushed it to its limits to see exactly how many shots I could get.  If you use your MC-A intermittently, it would be wise to top off the battery while it is not in use.  For the most part, the spec sheet checks off most of the boxes “serious” photographers would ask for in a brand new 35mm film camera in 2026.

In getting near the end of this review, I suppose I should probably declare whether I recommend you buy this camera or not.  The answer to that question depends on who you are and what your expectations are.  Starting with the price, $549 is not an insignificant amount of money.  For that same amount of cash, you could have yourself a shiny new Canon EOS R100 digital mirrorless or a Panasonic LUMIX FZ80D which will make excellent digital photos.  Assuming you only want to shoot film, $549 could get you a large number of truly excellent used film cameras on eBay which would have features matching or exceeding the capabilities of the LOMO MC-A.  But those aren’t going to be new cameras.

If you want to compare the LOMO MC-A to a 35mm point and shoot that you can buy new today, you really have only one option, the Rollei 35 AF by Mint which currently sells for $828 at B&H and used for between $550-$650 at various retailers, so compared to that, the LOMO MC-A is a bargain.

Historically, $549 isn’t an unreasonable price to pay for a premium point and shoot.  If we look at previous premium cameras like the Konica Hexar AF and Nikon 28Ti, these cameras both retailed for around $1200 in 1992 and 1995 respectively.  Certainly street prices would have been less, but that’s before inflation.  Once you calculate a street price for one of those two cameras and then compare it to 2026 dollars and original owners of those cameras paid nearly 4 times the price of what it costs to buy the LOMO MC-A today.  From a value standpoint, yes, the LOMO MC-A is a heck of a bargain considering its features and how it compares to other options both today and in the past.

Perhaps the question you should be asking is “Do you NEED the LOMO MC-A?”  For those of you inflicted with any combination of FOMO and GAS, the answer is probably yes, but before you click that Buy It Now button, know that this isn’t a perfect camera.  Early versions of this camera have some pretty significant design flaws which will affect your ability to use it.  Also keep in mind that as I write this, the camera has officially been available for less than 5 months.  We have no idea how durable it will be, or what kinds of common problems it may develop over time.

If you are someone who loves to shoot film and wants a feature rich camera that is compact and easy to use, I’d say you’re better off buying a proven used film camera and using the cost savings to buy more film.  If you really like shiny new things but want a camera that you can professionally shoot many rolls of film through, I would recommend waiting at least 6 months to a year to see how the camera holds up and whether concerns over the film transport and other electronic parts of the camera hold up.  If you just really like cameras and want to shoot a few rolls of film through it and then display it on your shelf, then absolutely, go ahead and buy it!  $549 is not a lot of money for what you get, especially when you compare it to what a camera like this might have cost new back in the “glory days” of film.

When I made the decision to purchase the LOMO MC-A, I knew I was buying a brand new camera with an ambitious feature set, made by a company who doesn’t exactly have a track record of building ambitious cameras.  I’ve read all about the problems the Rollei 35 AF has had since it was released and how the company has had to revise the design many times, improving it along the way, and I knew that something similar could happen to the LOMO MC-A.

Overall, I think there is more good than bad with the LOMO MC-A, however after my experience here, and reading how others have sent theirs back to LOMO, I think that’s what I am going to do.  Hopefully they can either fix some of my issues with the film transport, light leaks, and the rewind lever, or possibly replace it with a later manufactured version.  If I end up getting a repaired or replaced camera and it improves upon anything in this review, I will be sure to either update this review, or if the changes are big enough, I may end up writing an entire supplemental article.  Stay tuned…

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External Links

https://shop.lomography.com/us/lomo-mc-a-35-mm-film-camera-black

https://kosmofoto.com/2025/11/first-impressions-lomography-lomo-mc-a/

https://ewoodsphoto.com/2025/12/23/forced-counterpoint-lomography-mc-a/

https://fstoppers.com/reviews/hands-impressions-lomographys-lomo-mc-35mm-film-camera-715107

https://thedarkroom.com/lomo-mc-a-camera-review-a-modern-autofocus-film-camera/

https://keithwee.com/2026/01/03/precision-meets-soul-first-impressions-review-of-the-lomo-mc-a/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AnalogCommunity/comments/1pthllr/lomo_mca_review_save_your_money/