LOMO is a manufacturer of medical and motion-picture lenses and equipment based in St. Petersburg, Russia. The company was awarded three Order of Lenin decorations by the Soviet Union.
Its Lomo LC-A consumer camera was the inspiration for the lomography photographic movement.
History
The company was founded in 1914 in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg). It was established as a French – Russian limited company to produce lenses and cameras. It manufactured gun sights during World War I. 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 was developed, the VOOMP I. Today LOMO makes military 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 was the Director General of LOMO Association.