Smena – 8 GOMZ – Leningrad USSR c1969-1971
“Smena” is Russian for “Stinky camera, *” and this camera lives up to its name. Not because of its performance
my dear comrade, but by the way it smells.
Have you ever been driving your car and smelled something burning ? You know, that brake pad/electrical fire smell.
Ever overheated a starter motor or burned a clutch ? If you have, then you know the aroma of the Smena 8.
I’m sure many Soviet camera store workers died from Smena fumes. It’s enough to make a commie try to
wash the smell away with multiple glasses of vodka after a day at the shop.
The aroma must have been legendary at the GOMZ/LOMO factory in Leningrad. You could probably smell it
all the way to Grzdizxydygrad.
There are unconfirmed reports that Adolph Hitler inhaled Smena fumes before giving himself that lead lobotomy.
As an experiment, I placed the Smena 8 in a brown paper bag and inhaled the fumes for one full minute. During the
next hour I discussed quantum physics with Elvis Presley. I went fishing with Sandra Bullock and started a new
religion that worships Ed Sullivan.
The Smena 8M is about as pretentious as a bottle of Popov vodka. For some reason the Smena 8 smell is gone.
The 8M had a remarkably long life. I’m sure millions were sold and tens of millions of bleak photographs of The Soviet Union were created with the Smena 8M.
The camera name makes me think of some sort of S.T.D..
“Yes comrade, you have Smena.”
- *No, it’s not
Summer at The State School
