Cashing in on the Plastic Fantastics.

John Bragg · Oct 7, 2021

Over the past 10 or so year, I have had great fun with my collection of Olympus and Canon Point and Shoot cameras. It was amazing value to begin with, and a way into collecting without breaking the bank. As time has gone on, this sub group of 35mm cameras has appreciated in value more than any other, with the exception of high end rangefinders. In particular, Olympus Mju ii fixed 35mm f2.8 models have gone bananas price wise. I decided to sell the most desirable of the collection and, long story short, two 1990s plastic point and hope cameras have provided enough funds to buy outright a Nikon F4 body in near mint condition ! That will sit nicely with my collection of Pro Nikon and Prosumer models. I think my Mju I and Canon Sureshot Supremes will stay a while longer as their prices are still on the up. I wish now that I had bought a cratefull of the el cheapo cameras that nobody wanted at the time. I would now have enough funds to buy an F6 !

AgX · Oct 7, 2021

I take a very different view on this. I have acquired these cameras, as these were the ones all those photographs were taken with. Well, one now may argue on the influence those photographs had on us, versus that by the published photographs, taken with very different cameras.
Also designwise there is much more variation amongst them than with SLRs.

Concerning their immediate value, I still think it is much less than I paid for at the fleamarket or so, as just a waste collection would cost much more than a few Mjus could ever bring up on the long run.

Paul Howell · Oct 7, 2021

I've notice price increased on Minolta weather resistant duel lens cameras, the yellow ones, I paid $25 for mine with the yellow bag, clip on underwater frame and waterproof film cans, not going for like $100.

TheFlyingCamera · Oct 7, 2021

What's really nuts is the Yashica T4... I have one that I paid I don't know, maybe $20 for it back in the day. They're trading at $400+ now. Crazy!

John Bragg · Oct 7, 2021

TheFlyingCamera said:
What's really nuts is the Yashica T4... I have one that I paid I don't know, maybe $20 for it back in the day. They're trading at $400+ now. Crazy!

It is incredible that I bought both Mju ii cameras for a total net cost of £42 and sold them for a combined price of £300+ what is the next big thing ? I have 2 Mju 1 that I may sell.

AgX · Oct 7, 2021

Speaking of investments, I did not spent more than 3€ on any Mju I acquired the last years. The last one 4 years ago or so. But then I saw them and still see them as user cameras.

John Bragg · Oct 7, 2021

AgX said:
Speaking of investments, I did not spent more than 3€ on any Mju I acquired the last years. The last one 4 years ago or so. But then I saw them and still see them as user cameras.

Very much so. The Mju 1 is in my opinion a great camera for occasional use and everyday carry. I also like my XA3 which cost me £1.

ic-racer · Oct 7, 2021

A few months ago I tried out most of my plastic 35mm cameras, Olympus Zoom, Olympus is-3 dlx, Olympus Infinity 76, Pentax IQZoom, Yashica Auto Focus, and Canon Sure Shot 80u.
Except for the Olympus is-3, they were all 'pretty bad' to 'very bad.' So I can't say I have any desire to use them again and put them all away in a box.
Why so bad? For example the Canon Sure Shot 80u set such a low shutter speed shot, even with the flash (which is only a weak fill) everything was blurry from camera shake. So, maybe if I used it all the time with a tripod it would have been better.

Paul Howell · Oct 7, 2021

I have a box of point and shoots, most were gifted to me by a coworker when I still working, his father had passed away and he found them in a storage locker. I've added a Konica Wide Zup and Pentax WR, shoot fast film, use a tripod, in the summer I can get way with a monopod. I found Pentax IQ to have pretty sharp lens, somewhat of an adventure shooting without a clue as the shutter speed and aperture is. To shoot hand held I use Tmax 3200 which I treat as a push.

Cholentpot · Oct 7, 2021

John Bragg said:
It is incredible that I bought both Mju ii cameras for a total net cost of £42 and sold them for a combined price of £300+ what is the next big thing ? I have 2 Mju 1 that I may sell.

I'm one of them folks snapping up those pocketable point and shoots. My parents had one growing up. Issue is I've been more or less priced out. You can still get lucky thrifting or garage sales. I pin my hopes on that these days.

The late shureshot series is very overlooked. They're tiny and capable.

John Bragg · Oct 7, 2021

Cholentpot said:
I'm one of them folks snapping up those pocketable point and shoots. My parents had one growing up. Issue is I've been more or less priced out. You can still get lucky thrifting or garage sales. I pin my hopes on that these days.

The late shureshot series is very overlooked. They're tiny and capable.

Yes they are. The lenses vignette less than a lot of cameras like that. I have 2 Sureshot Supreme p&s and they are good.

Cholentpot · Oct 7, 2021

John Bragg said:
Yes they are. The lenses vignette less than a lot of cameras like that. I have 2 Sureshot Supreme p&s and they are good.

Sureshot 130u. It's the smallest 35mm camera I own. Makes the XA looks big. It also has something that a lot of people overlook in a P&S. It's responsive. I hate using a camera that you hit the shutter and it takes a bit to take to photo, or you can't tell if it took a photo. I need the camera to go 'pushSnap'. No 'Push...click'. That is no good at all. Some of the later Stylus cameras are terrible with this.

Patrick Robert James · Oct 7, 2021

I have a drawer full of Olympus Mjus, Nikon, Canon, Leica, Ricoh, Minox, Yashica, Contax. I don't even know what. Really need to get rid of them. Too lazy to do it. The fixed lenses make great images usually, even the cheap ones. The good ones have gone bananas though. A few years ago I sold a T4 to someone here for something like $160. He was balking at the price. I bet he isn't anymore. Lol. The sweetspot for the cheap good ones these days are the ones with just a little zoom, like 35-70.

AgX · Oct 7, 2021

A few years ago a fleamarket seller, from whome I bought some cameras, took me aside saying that he had a T4 for me. First time ever a seller dropped the name of a camera. But I did not understand. Amazed by that he showed me a photo of one on his phone. What I saw looked as any other 3€ compact-camera I bought so far...

As you see, I do not follow the net on any hypes, but rather live in my own happy world.

Cholentpot · Oct 7, 2021

Patrick Robert James said:
I have a drawer full of Olympus Mjus, Nikon, Canon, Leica, Ricoh, Minox, Yashica, Contax. I don't even know what. Really need to get rid of them. Too lazy to do it. The fixed lenses make great images usually, even the cheap ones. The good ones have gone bananas though. A few years ago I sold a T4 to someone here for something like $160. He was balking at the price. I bet he isn't anymore. Lol. The sweetspot for the cheap good ones these days are the ones with just a little zoom, like 35-70.

My MJU1 is on its last legs. I really love the camera but I'm not up to shelling out $150+ for another one. I like using a fixed focal on my pocket cameras. The zooms tend to be something like f/14 wide open on the long end. Kind of designed to be used with flash.

reddesert · Oct 8, 2021

In the mid-90s or so, I decided to get over my snobbery and try using a P&S for casual and on the street type of photography. I still disliked the terribly slow zoom lenses, so had an Olympus Infinity Jr w/35mm (not sure of the outside-US name), and a Nikon that had a 28mm prime lens. I had some fun with it, but they weren't really easy to use for available-darkness photography and the shutter lag generally bugged me. I was happier without AF/flash and no shutter lag.

The Stylus (mju) was a bit expensive at the time, and the luxury P&Ses like the Yashica T4 (Zeiss lens, oh boy) were really expensive when new, so I never tried them.

I certainly don't know all the factors driving price changes in the film P&S market. It doesn't surprise me that luxury P&S (Yashica T4, Nikon 35ti, etc) have gotten expensive again - they were expensive to begin with, and so there are fewer of them. I can also understand why people want a fixed-focal length Stylus. I don't really know why the Stylus zoom versions seem to be in high demand now. There are a zillion P&Ses with overly-long slow zoom lenses. I guess the Stylus zoom is smaller than most.

AgX · Oct 8, 2021

By the way, my definition of "plastic -fantastics" even starts earlier, post war.

RDW · Oct 8, 2021

reddesert said:
I certainly don't know all the factors driving price changes in the film P&S market. It doesn't surprise me that luxury P&S (Yashica T4, Nikon 35ti, etc) have gotten expensive again - they were expensive to begin with, and so there are fewer of them. I can also understand why people want a fixed-focal length Stylus. I don't really know why the Stylus zoom versions seem to be in high demand now. There are a zillion P&Ses with overly-long slow zoom lenses. I guess the Stylus zoom is smaller than most.

I don't recall the T4 being very expensive at the time, closer to the Mju/Stylus price range than the 35Ti, which really was expensive. But the T4 got cult status from the Zeiss-branded lens and its use by some well-known photographers like Nan Goldin. It really does have a very good lens, though I'm not sure it's any better than, say, the one on a SureShot Supreme. The Supreme used to go for about £15 on ebay until quite recently, and there are still bargains to be had, but someone managed to sell one for £135 a few weeks ago, which is crazy. I think some of the zoom versions now benefit from the halo of the prime lens model. Yashica zoom compacts in particular go for silly money, though there's nothing especially remarkable about them (Zeiss branding or not).

Huss · Oct 8, 2021

I've been unloading my AF P&S cameras because no matter how nice a condition they are in, the ravages of time do not play well with the cheap electronics that all these have been built with.
I've had a few perfect ones just quit - permanently.

So if I had a Mju, T4, Contax T2 etc - I'd sell them while they still work!

John Bragg · Oct 8, 2021

Huss said:
I've been unloading my AF P&S cameras because no matter how nice a condition they are in, the ravages of time do not play well with the cheap electronics that all these have been built with.
I've had a few perfect ones just quit - permanently.

So if I had a Mju, T4, Contax T2 etc - I'd sell them while they still work!

Exactly. My contention is that the next price hike will be on SLRs as the hipsters realise that they are a better bet in the longevity stakes. Thay is why I divested myself of Mju iis and invested in the mint condition Nikon F4 that is on its way to me from Japan.

Cholentpot · Oct 8, 2021

John Bragg said:
Exactly. My contention is that the next price hike will be on SLRs as the hipsters realise that they are a better bet in the longevity stakes. Thay is why I divested myself of Mju iis and invested in the mint condition Nikon F4 that is on its way to me from Japan.

Nah, the hipsters will never go there. Too much effort. There are so many quality cameras out there that no-one pays attention to. Take the Kodak Retina line. They're small and very capable, built like tanks and a joy to use. Prices are crazy low on them even though they're on par with the best rangefinders of their day. Maybe Celeb Van X or someone will be seen with one and every Tom, Dick and Mary will need one ASAP and they'll rocket up in price but I don't see that happening.

On the other hand I'm happy that the hipsters have taken to film, at least I'll see the future of film continue for the next while and it'll be my turn in a while to tell the youngsters how we almost lost film for good.

Patrick Robert James · Oct 8, 2021

My Yashica T4 I bought back in like '92. It has been through hell pretty much. In the 90s I used to keep it on the dashboard of one car. Slid back and forth all the time. I used to lend it to friends too. One took it to southeast Asia and got bug spray or something on it. I've had to pop off the viewfinder plastic several times to polish it. It looks like a mess. Still works.... Maybe because it has been used?

I have had a few point and shoots stop working but all in all I've been lucky I guess. I don't know if I would buy one of the expensive ones, but a cheaper one like an original Olympus Mju, why not? Use it 'til it pukes. I tink that is the best deal these days. All the point and shoots I have now I picked up about a decade ago for cheap. Even the TVS I have was only about $100.

One trend I've noticed lately is the small slr with the small pancake lens. Seems like a lot of people are liking that. Can't blame them.

These days my point and shoot is a Minox.

removed account4 · Oct 8, 2021

I wish our t4 still worked. the dreaded broken zone focus syndrome .. :unfixable:
BOO HISS!
loved that camera.

Paul Howell · Oct 8, 2021

I hear rumors of someone in Hongkong or Singapore, or South Korea that can fix the better quality point and shoots like the Hetax or Minolta TC, never a name just a vague location. Reason I stick with the bottom feeders, use until no longer working and toss out. My current fav, not pocketable, the Chinon 35F-MA, has 35mm 2.8, first generation AF, "Infrafocus" meter sensor in the lens well, so can be used with filters, takes AA batteries, had a low light warning, and a scale in the viewfinder with the head, two people, and mountains shows where the lens if focused, well sort of. Only draw back is that it uses 46mm filters, which I dont have, I sprang for a lens hood and cap. Build quality is so so.

reddesert · Oct 8, 2021

I just bought a Samsung ECX-1 P&S (not the one Huss sold) for $10. It came with the original receipt for $299 from 1995.

As everyone knows, this is the horrendous Porsche-designed "Darth Vader P&S." It isn't that ugly really and rather easy to hold. One of these days, the Star Wars franchise is going to remake the films of Darth Vader's teenage years, and they will show him using this camera for his vacation snapshots. The collectors who snapped up all the Graflex light saber flashguns will descend upon the Samsung ECX-1, and I will retire wealthy.

Cashing in on the Plastic Fantastics.

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