Lomography SuperSampler Flash2004

History

The SuperSampler was introduced in 2000 as the panoramic counterpart to the ActionSampler (1999). Where the ActionSampler captured a 2x2 grid of rapid successive moments, the SuperSampler produced a horizontal panoramic strip with selectable timing intervals spanning from a fifth of a second to five seconds. The timing dial made the SuperSampler particularly suited to slower subjects - people walking, shadows moving, environments changing - rather than purely fast action.

The SuperSampler Flash was introduced around 2004, following a similar pattern to the ActionSampler Flash (2003). The flash variant was aimed at indoor and evening use - party photography, bar and club events, indoor performance - where the original camera's reliance on daylight was impractical. Because the SuperSampler's timing modes include 2s and 5s intervals, the flash variant creates an interesting creative possibility: a single frame with four flash-lit panels separated by seconds, capturing a slow unfolding of action or movement in a strip that reads almost like a storyboard.

The flash fires in synchrony with each individual lens firing, not as a single burst across all four. This means each sub-frame receives its own discrete flash exposure, rather than a single flash illuminating all four exposures simultaneously - the latter would only fully illuminate the first lens's exposure before the other three fired.

Why It Matters

The SuperSampler Flash's combination of selectable timing modes and sequential flash firing creates a photographic capability genuinely difficult to replicate with conventional cameras: a four-panel panoramic time strip where each panel is independently flash-lit, separated by intervals ranging from 0.2 to 5 seconds. At the 5-second interval, the camera produces a sequence documenting five seconds of slow change in a low-light environment - a candle guttering, a conversation's expression shifts, a figure moving across a dark room.

This temporal range, combined with the panoramic strip format, gave the SuperSampler Flash a distinct aesthetic voice in the Lomographic camera line. Where the ActionSampler Flash was primarily a party camera (fast action in dim rooms), the SuperSampler Flash offered a slower, more deliberate form of sequential low-light documentation.

Lenses & Accessories

Four fixed plastic lenses in a horizontal row; none interchangeable. Built-in flash fires sequentially with each lens according to the timing dial setting. No hot shoe for external flash. The timing dial (0.2s / 0.5s / 2s / 5s) is the primary creative control. Camera accepts 35mm film cassettes via standard loading.

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• Used in low-light indoor portraiture and social event photography for panoramic sequential documentation.
• Adopted for performance and theatre photography where the timed sequential flash could capture motion across longer intervals.
• Featured in Lomography community galleries demonstrating the 2s and 5s timing modes for slow-motion panoramic sequences.

References

• Lomography: SuperSampler
• Camera-Wiki: Lomography SuperSampler

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