LOMO (russian: Ленинградское Oптико-Mеханическое Oбъединение, Leningradskoye Optiko-Mekhanicheskoye Obyedinenie, Leningrad Optical Mechanical Association) is a manufacturer of medical and motion-picture lenses and equipment based in St. Petersburg, Russia. The company was awarded three

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...

decorations by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. Its Lomo LC-A consumer camera was the inspiration for the

lomography A toy camera is a simple, inexpensive film camera. Despite the name, toy cameras are fully functional and capable of taking photographs, though with optical aberrations due to the limitations of their simple lenses. From the 1990s onward, ther ...

photographic movement.

History

The company was founded in 1914 in Petrograd (now

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

). It was established as a French – Russian limited company to produce lenses and cameras. It manufactured gun sights during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. In 1919, it was nationalised. In 1921, the factory was named the Factory of State Optics, G.O.Z. In 1925, camera production was resumed, and several lens designs tested between 1925 and 1929. Further reorganisations of the Soviet optical factories in several stages finally resulted in that the factory at Leningrad became GOMZ, the Russian Optical and Mechanical Factory. In the transition period 1932 to 1935 a copy of the

Leica camera Leica Camera AG () is a German company that manufactures cameras, optical lenses, photographic lenses, binoculars, rifle scopes and microscopes. The company was founded by Ernst Leitz in 1869 (Ernst Leitz Wetzlar), in Wetzlar, Germany. ...

was developed, the VOOMP I. Today LOMO makes

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

optics, scientific research instruments, criminological microscopes, medical equipment, and a range of consumer products. Known as GOMZ (State Optical-Mechanical Plant), the company was transformed under the direction of Mikhail Panfilov, who united several industries and founded the LOMO Association in 1962. In 1990 - 1997

Ilya Klebanov Ilya Iosifovich Klebanov (russian: Илья Иосифович Клебанов; born 7 May 1951 in Leningrad) is a Russian politician. He was the Plenipotentiary Presidential Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District of the Russian Federation ...

was the Director General of LOMO Association. The company went public in 1993, and was renamed LOMO PLC; it is traded on the

RTS RTS may refer to: Medicine * Rape trauma syndrome, the psychological trauma experienced by a rape victim * Revised Trauma Score, a system to evaluate injuries secondary to violent trauma * Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, a condition characterized by ...

Classic Stock Market. The company is

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of five quality management systems (QMS) standards that help organizations ensure they meet customer and other stakeholder needs within statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. ISO ...

certified and exports worldwide. Night-vision devices and telescopes account for 30% of the company's exports. Germany is the largest importer of LOMO products. Medical equipment, fiber optic cables and endoscopes, optical components and cameras are consumed mainly by the Russian market and other states of the former

. Military equipment and science research instruments make a significant share of production for export to such countries as Israel, India, United States, Canada, Mexico, and other international markets.

Social standing

LOMO is regarded in St. Petersburg for its advanced medical centre.

References

External links

*
LOMO America, Inc.USSRPhoto.com Wiki catalog of LOMO manufactured cameras. (See GOMZ/LOMO sections)
*{{Cite web , last = Dowling , first = Stephen , authorlink = , title = Did the Lomo camera save film photography? , publisher =

BBC News Online BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. It is one of the most popular news websites, with 1.2 billion website visits in April 2021, as well as being used by 60% of the ...

, date = 2012-11-21 , url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20434270 , accessdate = 2012-11-21 Manufacturing companies based in Saint Petersburg Manufacturing companies of the Soviet Union Electronics companies of Russia Optics manufacturing companies Photography companies of Russia Medical technology companies of Russia Photography in the Soviet Union Manufacturing companies established in 1914 Russian brands Soviet brands Companies nationalised by the Soviet Union 1914 establishments in the Russian Empire Ministry of the Defense Industry (Soviet Union)