Am I weird? I like the results 35mm point-and-shoot's get.

[rpavich]

You know the kind, the plastic cameras with fixed 35mm lenses, that were the bottom of the barrel; you just load the film and point and shoot.

I like the results considering there isn't much to them..no fiddling with dials or decisions to make. Indoors they always had the flash engaged.

Do you like them?
If so...what is your favorite gem from this category?

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Sure. That's why there's been a huge Holga/Lomo/Diana movement over the last 5 years or so...

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I think it is common. I liked to use them for a while. I still have one with free focus and water proofed case. Flash is manual on this one, btw. I could activate it even if camera is in the case and under water.

 

[Eminuss]

I love them.

 

[jeffreythree]

It is not quite a fixed lens, but my switchable lens Minolta AF-Tele is a favorite of mine. I mostly shoot it with the 35mm lens since the tele lens is fungus etched. It has become my favorite camera for scouting out new trails and parks with its sharp 35mm lens. I also like that it takes AA batteries.

 

[blockend]

I like them but they can be frustrating. AF is sometimes slow and the more common ones lack controls and overrides. Flash is generally fully auto, which isn't the most discreet way of shooting, and film advance can be noisy. If you can live with the downsides, they're great. My favourites are the manual advance, zone focus or fixed focus models.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Simple little reminders that it's not the equipment that makes the photo work. I use them on occasion and they're great for motorcycle travel. Stuff in a ziplock and toss in the tankbag. No worries.

 

[ME Super]

Hey, if it does what you need it to, does it really matter that it's a point and shoot? Not to me it doesn't. I've seen good photos come out of a DISPOSABLE camera before.

My personal preference, however, is for the SLR. But I've got plenty of good pictures out of a P&S. Many of the photos my parents took during my childhood were taken with a Kodak Instamatic.

 

[Chan Tran]

I hate them. No decision??? When ever I used one of those I had to pick just the right subject with just the right kind of light to take a picture.

 

[removed account4]

i love these cameras too, and have a bunch of them in 4x5 size
my favorite are totally entropic - you can't even viewfinder with them
you just let the camera know and it does the rest/
they let the photographer focus on more imporant aspects than
shutter and aperture controls subject, quality of light and composition[sometimes]

 

[gone]

Yes, you're weird. Which to my mind is a good thing, so celebrate it.

I often miss the old AF AE SLR cameras that I learned on. The lenses weren't as cool as the manual focus cameras, but it was great simply focusing on the shot and tripping the shutter. I tend to think I was a better photographer w/ the AF cameras because there was no thinking about it. Just the viewfinder and the subject. Some of my best photos came from a Nikon N6006 w/ a 35-80 kit zoom lens. It wasn't a cheap P&S, but it wasn't a Leica either, and really, all you did was point it and press the shutter button.

 

[bvy]

Well, even a Leica is capable of only one focus/aperture/shutter speed at a time. I use my Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim all the time. It's tiny and there's no fussing with anything. It takes great pictures, but it is, of course, a daylight only camera.

 

[ac12]

A pro friend of mine told me this story.

His daughter was taking good pictures with her Kodak Instamatic.
So he gave his daughter a Hasselblad for her birthday.
A few months later his daughter came to him and said thank you, but she wanted her Instamatic back.
What he figured out was that the more sophisticated camera was getting in the way of her getting the shot. IOW, the complexity of the camera was distracting her from positioning, composing and framing the shot.

So yes, a P&S is still a viable alternative, for some people.
Even for a pro or serious amateur, there are situations where a P&S is just plain easier.
- Like family grab shots around the house. It was a royal PiA to set up my Nikon and the potato-masher flash just to shoot a couple of shots...so those shots never happened. It would have been so easy to pull out the P&S and take the shot. Unfortunately, I was so biased back then that I did not consider that as a viable alternative. This is exactly what I do now around the house, the P&S comes out for those grab shots, not the big camera.
- Traveling. I really did not have the space to carry a SLR with me on many of my work travels. The camera would have to compete against the computer, my Palm3, and work related stuff that I had to carry.

IOW, a P&S is simply a tool. A good craftsman uses the appropriate tool for the job, rather than try to make tool X do everything. So choose your tool appropriately for the task and situation.

 

[TheRook]

If you are familiar with the camera's limitations and you are able to work creatively within those limitations, it won't be impossible to get some amazing photos from it. I have one of those cameras, and I run a roll of film through it at least once a year.

 

[rpavich]

Inspired by these comments I scored a Nikon "One Touch" from ebay for $9.00!

Even though I have a few really nice camera's there's something special about no options; fixed lens, just pull the trigger sorts of cameras. It brings back memories from when I was growing up and we didn't worry about much except documenting what was happening. Some of my favorite shots are not quite in focus, framed badly, and any other number of things.

 

[elcabezagrande]

The compact AF cameras evolved out of the fixed-lens AE rangefinders as consumer-level cameras of convenience, it shouldn't be surprising that most of them are capable of producing excellent results. It is not as if the makers forgot how to make good lenses during the evolution. The One-Touch mentioned above, as well as its immediate predecessor, the L35AF, is a prime example, as it has a lens that surpasses that of most of the consumer rangefinders of the previous generation.

 

[railwayman3]

I have a 12-on-120 Zeiss Nettar folder (unfortunately not working), which has a "red dot setting", giving an aperture between f/8 and f/5.6 and the relevent hyperfocal distance for the focus. The idea was that you left the camera on this setting, with a medium-speed film, and just chose a shutter speed between 1/25 and 1/200 according to the light, from cloudy dull to bright sunlight.

 

[John Bragg]

Olympus Mju 1 is my favorite. It is crap at indoor flash shots, but perfect as a simple point and shooter.

 

[cooltouch]

Sure, I like them, but mine aren't "bottom of the barrel." I own several, but I don't really have any clear favorites. I have only a couple with built-in flashes -- an old Canon AF35ML (aka Super Sure Shot) and a Canon Classic 120. Probably my favorites that take dedicated flashes are my Oly XA and Canon QL17 GIII. Neither of the latter are AF though.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

I'll eventually have a Nikon 35Ti.

 

[farmersteve]

Sure. That's why there's been a huge Holga/Lomo/Diana movement over the last 5 years or so...

5 years? The current toy camera movement started when Lomography took off 15+ years ago and some will say that Holga/Dianas really started back in the 1970s... I know I started shooting a Holga about 15 years ago and watched it explode, but seems to be falling out of favor again...

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I like plastic cameras. My favorite is my passed on grandmother's little Minolta point and shoot camera. I use it all the time.

 

[poppaneedsanap]

The Big Mini I nabbed for $5 has been pretty fun. The AF is pretty hit and miss.. more miss than hit but it's still kind of a fun departure from the SLR.

 

[Alan Gales]

My first camera was a Polaroid Square Shooter ll. Back in the day I knew plenty of people who owned Kodak 126, 110 and Disc cameras.

I know a lot of Diana's and Holgas are sold but I won't be buying one.

Shoot what you like!

 

[AWS_ATL]

Honestly, one of my favorite cameras will always be an minolta AF2.... amazingly sharp 40mm lens. It gets the job done, its pocketable, its fun. I would love to find a camera the same size with an M on the Dial.