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Forget disposible cameras
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ajuk
Posts: 233 Forumite
Anybody thinking of buying a disposable camera for the kids or for going somewhere like on a night out should not bother and instead head down to the charity shop.
This for many maybe the best reason for buying (or keeping an existing) film compact is that it is worth very little you can take it out to a dodgy area or out on the town with out much danger of it being stolen and even if it is it won’t have cost very much, so there will be no need to panic. Gone are the days when you had to use a disposable camera for such a purpose, this is not necessary now that film compacts with proper lenses and focus, can be bought in second hand shops or on eBay for about the same price, as long as you don't get ripped off when buying the film!
I would say you can get film from Poundland, you pretty much have to do that as most shops charge as much as £6 for really cheap 24exp films, poundland sell Kodak stuff, normally 36 exp. That means a saving of at least £2 over a disposable per film.
When disposable camera has ‘focus free’ written on it, that doesn’t mean it's magic it means that it has no focus, it cannot focus in any way, its set in such away so that anything over 3 meters away should look in focus, but it will look acceptable sharp and not actually sharp. Also with a disposable camera the Aperture (how much light the lens can let into the camera) Is set at about F/6.3 that means that it lets in about 4-6x less light than a normal film compacts lens, that means that the camera needs 4-6x more light so the film has to be 4x-6x faster. Also a disposable cameras also have a fixed shutter speed of 1/90th of a second this means if there is not enough or too much light, then tuff the camera can’t/wont use a slower or faster shutter speed and if there is too much light then the camera can’t adjust, and the variance in light levels between indoors at night and a bright sunny day is about 1000x:rotfl:Oh and then there's flash, flash exposure is also adjusted in compact cameras depending on how much light is needed, a disposable camera doesn't adapt.
What camera?
I would say the best to get are, the Olympus Stylus (MJU), Olympus XA2 or best of all the Olympus Stylus Epic (MJU II), but the price of the Epic has sky rocketed in the last few years (a decent photo from that puts my digi compact to shame) All I have seen go for less than a £10, the Stylus is cheapest of all often going for less than £5 including postage, but if you shop around you will might be able to get a Stylus Epic for about £10 or possibly less! (if you ever do see an MJU II in a charity shop for beans, just buy it even if you don't want it they go for £50 on eBay
)
The Stylus/MJU is likely to be the cheapest you'll get and XA2 handles more like a disposable, with a manual wind and a simple close up, standard and far away click switch.
I know they are all Olympus, but there arn't any other fixed lens cameras that are quite as cheap, well at least not small ones anyway, so please let me know if you have any other suggestions, to add to the list.
This for many maybe the best reason for buying (or keeping an existing) film compact is that it is worth very little you can take it out to a dodgy area or out on the town with out much danger of it being stolen and even if it is it won’t have cost very much, so there will be no need to panic. Gone are the days when you had to use a disposable camera for such a purpose, this is not necessary now that film compacts with proper lenses and focus, can be bought in second hand shops or on eBay for about the same price, as long as you don't get ripped off when buying the film!
I would say you can get film from Poundland, you pretty much have to do that as most shops charge as much as £6 for really cheap 24exp films, poundland sell Kodak stuff, normally 36 exp. That means a saving of at least £2 over a disposable per film.
When disposable camera has ‘focus free’ written on it, that doesn’t mean it's magic it means that it has no focus, it cannot focus in any way, its set in such away so that anything over 3 meters away should look in focus, but it will look acceptable sharp and not actually sharp. Also with a disposable camera the Aperture (how much light the lens can let into the camera) Is set at about F/6.3 that means that it lets in about 4-6x less light than a normal film compacts lens, that means that the camera needs 4-6x more light so the film has to be 4x-6x faster. Also a disposable cameras also have a fixed shutter speed of 1/90th of a second this means if there is not enough or too much light, then tuff the camera can’t/wont use a slower or faster shutter speed and if there is too much light then the camera can’t adjust, and the variance in light levels between indoors at night and a bright sunny day is about 1000x:rotfl:Oh and then there's flash, flash exposure is also adjusted in compact cameras depending on how much light is needed, a disposable camera doesn't adapt.
What camera?
I would say the best to get are, the Olympus Stylus (MJU), Olympus XA2 or best of all the Olympus Stylus Epic (MJU II), but the price of the Epic has sky rocketed in the last few years (a decent photo from that puts my digi compact to shame) All I have seen go for less than a £10, the Stylus is cheapest of all often going for less than £5 including postage, but if you shop around you will might be able to get a Stylus Epic for about £10 or possibly less! (if you ever do see an MJU II in a charity shop for beans, just buy it even if you don't want it they go for £50 on eBay
)The Stylus/MJU is likely to be the cheapest you'll get and XA2 handles more like a disposable, with a manual wind and a simple close up, standard and far away click switch.
I know they are all Olympus, but there arn't any other fixed lens cameras that are quite as cheap, well at least not small ones anyway, so please let me know if you have any other suggestions, to add to the list.
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Comments
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Here's an example of a picture taken with no flash, it's not great, but I've taken pictures in better light with a disposable and no flash and got mush.
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I wouldn't bother with an old film camera anymore, you can now buy a decent digital camera like a Canon or Olympus compact for under £50 brand new. Second hand, they are even cheaper.
If you take you old film compact at even £10, once you add a few rolls of film and developing they don't seem that cheap anymore.====0 -
There is a certain amount of security theatre as well, here even if you do get an old digi for <£10 it might look like it's worth more, also it may also be prone to quality and battery issues.
You're right about the second point but I am talking about compared to disposable cameras not digital.0 -
If you're that concerned about "security theatre" (nice term!) then the best advice I can offer is "go to a better pub"!
How much does it cost to have a film processed these days?I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.
But, if the white runs out, I'll drink the red.0 -
WhiteChristmas wrote: »If you're that concerned about "security theatre" (nice term!) then the best advice I can offer is "go to a better pub"!
How much does it cost to have a film processed these days?
It's not cheap, developing and printing a 36 exp film, with 5x7 prints and a CD of scanned negatives is around £10 (mail order) and £12 (in store).
A decent quality film is from £3-£6, so you could be looking at £12-£15 per 36 exposure film.
An example at www.dscolourlabs.co.uk/c41_processing====0 -
WhiteChristmas wrote: »If you're that concerned about "security theatre" (nice term!) then the best advice I can offer is "go to a better pub"!
How much does it cost to have a film processed these days?
For Develop £1.50 per film + £1 for a CD at ASDA up to 6 films on one CD
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Well I'm out on the town I tend to go to a few places, I also tend to use an older mobile.0
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you can get a digital camera for 15-20 quid now in the supermarkets. i guess its easy to just get one of those and not have to feel so precious about it.0
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petecarter wrote: »you can get a digital camera for 15-20 quid now in the supermarkets. i guess its easy to just get one of those and not have to feel so precious about it.
My thoughts exactly, I do still use film, but I have a number of (previously expensive) SLR cameras and I run film through them for sentimental reasons.
I cant think of a single reason to go and buy cheap old film compacts with all the associated costs when you get similar results with cheap digital compacts that sell for less than a few rolls of film and d&p costs.
From a MSE perspective, it makes no sense.====0
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