Olympus Newpic XB AF

Now we move to the #shittyformatchallenge part of the #shittycamerachallenge. Nothing about APS is good. It’s a pointless format and all of the cameras are bad. It’s all so very, very dull.

Of course, because it sucks so hard and is dead, you can buy any camera you want for about £3, meaning the battery alone is more expensive than the camera itself.

The worst thing about it is you probably won’t end up with light leaks or whatever with these terrible things.

Anyway, I took this Olympus out for a laugh a couple of weeks back and got some so-so pictures. The film was a generic sort of expired thing.

Orange livery bus by the Battlefield Rest

So there you go. I hate APS lol.

Kodak Duaflex

This is another pseudo-TLR, which in this instance is 620 format, no longer manufactured. Fortunately the film is the same size as 120, so you can respond it yourself, or buy it pre-done. I used the FPP color, which is Kodak Ektar.

Anyway, this camera was around a fiver, so is absolutely a candidate for the #shittycamerachallenge.

Here we go:

All in all, fun, but wouldn’t rush back to it.

Ensign Ful-Vue

I actually bought this medium format pseudo-TLR for about £3 because it has an absurdly large viewfinder and I fancy some through the lens photography. Unfortunately, I haven’t got around to making a tunnel to block out light. Turns out that the camera does work, so I checked in some expired Ektachrome slide film I had in the fridge for some #shittycamerachallenge.

The shutter was a bit dodgy, but it’s a pretty basic device, so I did get away with it. I’m into it anyway.

They all look like this because I couldn’t rely on the 1/30 “instant” function and you can’t use a tripod.

This is just because the minimum focal distance is about 2 metres and I never bothered to find this out.

Agfamatic 300 Sensor

This little boxy beaut, another for the #shittycamerachallenge, is a 126 format. Last time I did the challenge, when I used 126, I just went with expired film, for ease. The only problem with that is the cameras don’t generally let you counteract the age of the film and, turns out, it is quite an expensive way to do this.

I used the Fakmatic adapter instead. You can load any 35mm film into it (though obviously you’ll need a dark room or bag). I went with HP5 Plus. I had tried a roll of expired Kodak Ultramax 400, but it turned out the chems I used were completely done and the fixer just wiped the film clean. Oh well.

The only other thing which has thrown me off slightly is that the Fakmatic doesn’t appear to produce square images. It’s fine, I’ve just cropped in Lightroom, so they’re a little more like an old school 126 picture.

The camera itself is fairly basic and straightforward to use. Three distance settings and, apparently, it is computer controlled exposure, but I have no idea if it worked properly.

Anyway, here is what I ended up with.

Decent fun camera, but I think I prefer the Kodak Instamatic I have (it is not a shitty camera though).

Halina 3000

More #shittycamerachallenge. This beauty was the princely sum of 99p off a popular Internet auction website. Fair to say it meets the criteria of being cheaper than the film (even using the extremely good value Kodak Colorplus 200).

I took it out for a walk around the southside of Glasgow on a very pleasant and sunny evening.

It’s a pretty basic viewfinder camera with an uncoupled selenium meter, which surprisingly appears to be fairly accurate. The lens is reasonably fast at f2.8, but that’s all it has going for it.

I’ve some more cameras waiting a run out for this, but think I’m going to stay off them for a bit. This camera was horrible. Really bad lens, awful engineering. The early frames were on top of one another and by the end they were spaced about a foot apart. Wild.

Polaroid 170BV

Another 35mm pocket camera for the #shittycamerachallenge. I got this new in an (admittedly very damaged) box for the princely sum of £4.99, including a drained battery and 24 frames of expired Kodak Ultramax.

It feels rubbish when you take it from the box. It is extremely plastic and that is not a fast lens. You are also pretty limited in what you can do with it as the shutter is fixed at 1/100.

From what I understand, it isn’t actually a Polaroid – more that they’ve allowed someone to use the name in their dying days.

The viewfinder is certainly big, but it gets the frame completely wrong. I should probably have anticipated this as I’ve come across it in some of the cheaper Soviet cameras I’ve used.

It is reasonably sharp in the middle, but it is extremely blurry at the edges. That said, you could absolutely work with this.

Anyway, I went out with some Kodak Colorplus 200 the other day to see what I could get.

The Old Victoria Infirmary and a weird double exposure

It is not a good or even particularly interestingly bad camera. But not a complete loss either.

Miranda Solo II

I thought this one might be more fun than it was. The first camera I ever owned was one of these pocket cameras, the Miranda Solo II. I managed to pick one up for £4.99 from eBay for the #shittycamerachallenge.

I used Kodak Colorplus 200 for this.

It’s a pretty basic 35mm point and shoot, with a motor wind on, focus free 33mm lens.

Unfortunately, I loaded the camera even the light was good. By the time we got outside, it had clouded over and the light was not great. It’s also now not working properly as the rewind button is stuck. I had intended to maybe have another shot with it. Anyway, here we go!

It’s not awful, but there is a certain amount of vignetting at the edges. It doesn’t help with these being slightly underexposed.

I’m really disappointed with the last one as I like these blurred movement type shots and it being underexposed here takes away a bit.

If I can extract the rewind button, I’ll give it another go.

Agfamatic Pocket 508

The #shittycamerachallenge was a laugh last year, so I’m getting involved again. I’ve a variety of cheap and/or nasty cameras of different formats I can use, so here we go!

The first one I’m trying is the very pocketable Agfamatic Pocket 508. It’s a very basic 110 format camera. I took it out for a walk using the expired (but apparently OK because of cold storage) Fukkatsu Colour 110 film.

It’s ISO 400 and, going on my light meter readings I was slightly concerned it might overexpose. It did not over expose.

Mural on boarded up shop on Sinclair Drive

In brighter conditions, this might have really popped, but here it is a little subdued, which is slightly disappointing.

I’m not entirely sure what happened here. I have, however, lost a frame, so I’m guessing that this weird overlap has something to do with it.

It was fairly bright when I shot this and, given I believe this camera has a shutter speed of 1/30, I’m a bit disappointed at how this came out.

Well, lol.

Haha, now this is the only one with anything like a correct exposure.

I’ll need to try this again on a very bright day (and maybe not expired film). It’s easy to use and – sort of – produces OK photos for something so basic. But unfortunately there isn’t a huge amount of give in the exposure and the wind on action is erratic, you’d never imagine it’s great.

Fun though. I’m going to try and give it another go.

Smenha Cosmic 35

I took out the Cosmic 35, another plasticky Soviet era pocket camera at the same time as the Polaroid.

It has some of the same issues as I’ve found with other similar devices. The lens is a bit dodgy, it’s prone to vignetting and the viewfinder really is a vague suggestion of what you might shoot. There is some charm in that though.

Went with an expired Agfa film.

This one was shot guessing at the speed needed on bulb mode. It is very soft, but does have the feel I was looking for, so I’m happy enough with that.

Fun little camera, if you’re prepared to live with its failings.

Definitely one for the #shittycamerachallenge.

Polaroid 420 Land Camera

I got this for pennies in amongst a bunch of old 35mm cameras someone was selling from the tail end of their dad’s collection. They aren’t expensive usually either. I’ve seen them on ebay at £4/5. Given that the film is no longer manufactured and is expensive to buy expired (use, for example, Fuji fp100c), it certainly does qualify for the #shittycamerachallenge. I also had to make a small mod to the battery compartment as the standard battery it uses is expensive and hard to get.

I took it out around the Glasgow Botanic Gardens to see what sort of stuff I could get. It’s pretty fun; the images are slightly soft, but I can dig that.

It’s a shame the supply of this film is diminishing and increasingly expensive (though I wouldn’t pay buy it now prices). If you like the retro look these give, it’s a fun camera to play around with.

I may not get to use this again, but it was fun.