single use Vrs pos

hi all,

i am looking for a totally automatic camera. small and light with auto exposure and auto focus. i have a trip 35 which is cool but i am looking for something even simpler, smaller and lighter. something to capture the spirit of when i used to shoot for fun back in the 90s and early 00s. i took pics of university life and holidays. just for pleasure. now i value fixed lenses and extreme limitation as a creative thing as well as real portability. why 35mm? because i adore the look of film especially fuji superia 400 and i have that nostalgia thing cause i am irish. nothing like nostalgic melancholy. forgive me. i certainly don't think film is all about that!! but for me, for now, that's a large part of it.

here is the thing, i am wondering whether i shouldn't just get a single use camera. i mean it ticks all the boxes with minimum fuss and i used something like that before for fun. the nice thing is that, despite the quality issues, i am sure some cool pictures can nonetheless be born from these little babies. the main issue for me would be the cheap lens. i guess it is marshmallow soft and the larger prints might look crap. i don't know. i don't know how much i am willing to compromise. i mean, it's for fun. i have ''more serious'' gear also but at the same time i don't want the pictures to be really poor. plus there is the cost issue.

the only other though would be a very recent automatic point and shoot that is SO recent that it is extremely reliable and doesn't cost much either. the well-known brands like the epic stylus have become so expensive. i blame the hipsters. i am also not going to a flea market or even buying from some random dude who can't confirm the thing works and finding out the camera doesn't work. i simply don't have the mind to tinker with gear. i know lots of people enjoy that element but definitely not me! i am a lazy guy who doesn't want to mess with the stuff. SO, thoughts please on a cheap and effective little point and shoot, for example in production within the last 15 years OR the best single use cameras out there.

thanks a lot ! Jamie

There is also the equivalent of a reloadable single use camera. Sometimes they pop up at thrift stores. Most had single or two element plastic lenses around 28~35mm in focal length. A very few have hot shoes for flash. Single shutter speed somewhere around 1/100 sec. and fixed apertures of f11 or so. Fixed focus of course and, except for the fasteners all plastic materials. Can't give you any brand names, just something you have to look for.

What about something like a Canon AF35ML or the Nikon equivalent? It may be older than you want but from my understanding they are good point and shoots and they are cheap.

Single use camera's are really bad for the environment. After one film you are throwing away a battery, a perfectly working flash plus electronics, and plastics. I actually don't understand why Ilford and others are so proud selling them.

There are zillions of small simple camera's to choose from. They can be reloaded with any film you want, they usually have a much better lens and a better viewfinder, and they are cheaper to use in the end.

Billy Axeman said:

Single use camera's are really bad for the environment. After one film you are throwing away a battery, a perfectly working flash plus electronics, and plastics. I actually don't understand why Ilford and others are so proud selling them.

There are zillions of small simple camera's to choose from. They can be reloaded with any film you want, they usually have a much better lens and a better viewfinder, and they are cheaper to use in the end.

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Because unknown to you, the single use cameras are recycled thus avoiding landfill and increasing profit.

Whichever camera get people out there photographing with film. Suit yourself.

Sirius Glass said:

Because unknown to you, the single use cameras are recycled thus avoiding landfill and increasing profit.

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In practice this waste is not reused in any form but burned in an incinerator.

The OP is asking how he can choose between these two possibilities, and I simply are giving him the pro's and con's.

The Olympus XA-2 might fit your description. I picked mine up for about $30 a year ago and used it for snapshots my senior year of college, mostly on old expired film I was given for free. It’s easy to use, has a sharp enough lens, and is small enough to fit in a pocket so you can always have it with you.

Something very close to a single use camera is a Holga or a Lomo, but you don't throw them away and they actually can be fun to use for a certain type of photography.

Point and shoots are so cheap on eBay, you can get many for under $10

Trip 35 is not simple enough?
Leave it on the red focus icon and pull the trigger?

I've shot a LOT of point and shoots and the Trip is about the simplest I've shot.

Sirius Glass said:

Because unknown to you, the single use cameras are recycled thus avoiding landfill and increasing profit.

Click to expand...

Yes, I remember when I ran a minilab (1986 to 1999), we used to remove the AA batteries and take home/used as testers at the lab etc and sent the bodies back to Kodak for recycling. At Christmas time and during summer we used to have hundreds of them, filling several paper bags that the courier used to take with him.

The first Stylus cost about half of the second one and is still an excellent camera. Nikon made a little af-600 I think the name is which works well and is about as small as you can get if you want to stick one in your pocket. Pentax had the UC-1. There are quite a few that aren't as expensive as the second Stylus and would do exactly what you want.

Sirius Glass said:

Because unknown to you, the single use cameras are recycled thus avoiding landfill and increasing profit.

Click to expand...

Billy Axeman said:

In practice this waste is not reused in any form but burned in an incinerator.

The OP is asking how he can choose between these two possibilities, and I simply are giving him the pro's and con's.

Click to expand...

In real life practice photo processors including Costco and even pharmacies collect the disposable cameras in bins and send them back to the manufacturer. It is additional income for the photo processors.

See the post below:

ozphoto said:

Yes, I remember when I ran a minilab (1986 to 1999), we used to remove the AA batteries and take home/used as testers at the lab etc and sent the bodies back to Kodak for recycling. At Christmas time and during summer we used to have hundreds of them, filling several paper bags that the courier used to take with him.

Click to expand...

Through no fault of your own I'm completely missing what allure a single-use disposable camera has over your Trip, even with my nostalgia head on (a head which all of us here are wearing to a certain extent, that's why we use film, it's certainly not because of cost or convenience). A disposable camera will have a poorer lens, worse build, and you can't pick and choose what film-stock to use, such as the Fuji Superior 400 you love. You said you want a camera that's "simpler, smaller and lighter than the Trip": most plastic bodied zoom cameras from the late 90s and early 00s will fill the last two parts of your brief, but no one ever made a camera worth buying that was simpler than the Trip.

I've always had very good luck with a few different Olympus Stylus models. They come with a variety of zoom lenses (or not). Simple, no-brains-required operation, yet those little cameras have tack-sharp optics. Back when I was a grad student, one of my professors would take his Stylus with him on various field excursions, shooting slide film. I had to run the projector at his talks, and I was always rather surprised at just how sharp and well-exposed his slides were.

The 10 Best 35mm Compact Cameras Ever Made
https://www.digitalrev.com/article/the-10-best-35mm-point-and-shoots-ever-made

Olympus mju
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_mju