When you take pictures with a Lomo, he says, "it's like a guaranteed art photo for non-artistic people."

It's actually the unreliability of the Russian-made Lomo, short for Lomo Kompakt Automat, that caught on with a small but dedicated sect of people who take pride in artsy-looking pictures. Lomos are unpredictable: sometimes you get blurry images, other times color can be grainy. Light sources in night photos appear fuzzy, and images look distorted.

Lomo owners like Evans say it's also the cult factor that has fueled the camera's increasing popularity. The cameras have even spawned their own lexicon: Lomo photographs are called "lomographs," and people who own Lomos call themselves "lomographers."

When you purchase a Lomo camera, you get a package of materials, including a couple of rolls of 35mm film that you can develop free. You are also automatically inducted into the Lomographic Society International, a forum for Lomo owners to share their photos and stories. In Boston you can pick one up at Hunt's Photo & Video, at SBI stores, or online at the Lomographic Society Web site.

Although the Lomo might not be for everyone, some purist photographers -- like Matt Thompson of Hunt's Photo -- have been drawn into the fun of owning one. Still, Thompson says, to the trained eye, there is no substitute for learning the actual techniques that make photos look artsy.