The Lomo 18k was first released in 1988 and continued until the late 90s. It
had a very similar predecessor, the Agat 18, built from 1984-89. It is
a very basic purely machanical camera. It's horizontally orientated.
The camera's main features are:
35mm film half-frame camera, picture size 24 x 18 mm
Industar-104 28mm f/2.8 (3-group 3 element) lens, front element focussing, 0.9m-∞
Shutter speeds coupled to aperture, from 2.8/ 1/65 to 16 1/540
Size 95 x 60 x 45 mm, Weight : 130 g
ISO 25-1600, hot shoe flash connection, tripod socket
Front.
Viewer. Shutter release button. Lens and exposure control, inner disc:
ISO setting, outer disc: setting via weather symbols, aperture is
indicated.
Back
view. Finder.
Seen from above. On the edge: hot shoe cover. Film advance wheel with rewind release. Film counter. Rewind handle.
Seen from below. Tripod socket, with screwed-in neck strap and lens cover strap. Film compartment opening tab.
Camera open. You need the extra spool to make it work. The camera also works with Russian cartridges instead.
Pressure plate open.
Camera and its original box and manual. This is an unused camera.
The box.
The
Agat 18k is a very light camera, easy to handle. The exposure system
via symbols works astonishingly well. It might teach you some basics
about the exposure of film. Exposure/aperture combinations according to
the manual are:
| 2.8* | 2.8 | 3.4* | 4 | 4.8* | 5.6 | 6.8* | 8 | 9.5* | 11 | 13.5* | 16 |
| 1/65 | 1/130 | 1/144 | 1/169 | 1/204 | 1/260 | 1/354 | 1/362 | 1/417 | 1/540 | 1/540 | 1/540 |
* intermediate settings
The
camera pictured was one of the last production batch. I had 2 of these,
both have severe problems with film advance, it's rough and tears the
film to pieces. I presume that they changed the production material for
the gearing towards the end of production. I have 2 older ones which
work fine. The shutter is wound via the sprocket wheel. So you have to
move this if you want to test the shutter without film.
It takes
sharp pictures. Spacing is tight, so you get at least 75 photos from a
roll. It's for outdoor photos and well lit interiors not far from the
window. There is a hot shoe for flash. No night photos, as 1/65 is the
longest exposure time. So this is a beautiful vintage camera of limited
use, but
it's much fun.