Toy cameras? More then Holga, Diana or Debonair?

Dog Opposites

A
Dog Opposites

  • 1
  • 1
  • 91
Acrobatics in the Vondelpark

A
Acrobatics in the Vondelpark

  • 6
  • 4
  • 165
Finn Slough Fishing Net

A
Finn Slough Fishing Net

  • 1
  • 0
  • 99
Dried roses

A
Dried roses

  • 13
  • 7
  • 186
Hot Rod

A
Hot Rod

  • 5
  • 0
  • 112

Recent Classifieds

Forum statistics

Threads
197,464
Messages
2,759,464
Members
99,512
Latest member
vincent83
Recent bookmarks
0

noyart

Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2013
Messages
44
Format
35mm
Hello!

I wondering if there are more then Holga, Diana or other Lomography store cameras out there. I mean, when I search for toy cameras, all i get up on google are Holgas.
I know there must be other cameras from lets say china, like the Debonair. Would be fun to find something that is different, something undiscovered. Do anyone know where I can find different toy cameras? More then those common cameras that people often talk about?

// Noyart
 
Last edited by a moderator:

AgX

Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
29,990
Location
Germany
Format
Multi Format
A stroll at the local fleamarket.
(There so far I only came across two Lomography-likes and one Diana, but some other cameras of that league.)
 

horacekenneth

Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
515
Location
MD
Format
Multi Format
Superheadz makes some different toy cameras, a couple build-em yourselfs and one called a slim devil that might be discontinued.
 

Axle

Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Messages
543
Location
Milton, ON
Format
Multi Format
There are plenty of cameras that could fall into 'toy' range.

You have the plastic soviet/eastern european cameras that were built during the cold war that present a 'toy' look that you'll find Lomography Promotes.
The cheap 1980s point and shoots could fall into the toy category.
Through the 50s and 60s there are piles and piles of oddball cameras produced that are considered toys now.
Not to mention the holga/diana/debonair clones and lookalikes out there.
 

summicron1

Subscriber
Joined
Jul 28, 2010
Messages
2,916
Location
Ogden, Utah
Format
Multi Format
you can find kodak and other brownie-style cameras at any thrift store that are easy to load with 120 film on their (usually included) 620 spool. If you must, buy two for the spools, but a lot of those things will let you load a 120 spool into the feed side, tolerances not being a big factor in their manufacture.
 

Kc2edh

Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2011
Messages
72
Location
Adirondacks,
Format
Medium Format
My personal favorite for toy cameras is the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim. Don't buy one on ebay, people pay ridiculously for them. Keep your eyes open at garage sales and one will pop up for $1. They're super cheaply made, so be careful. But it has a plastic 22mm lens, which produces some very cool color patterns if the sun is in your scene. Load it up with some film you don't trust for serious photography, and have fun. I always tend to come back with a couple keepers.

Coming in a close 2nd for me is the old Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. There are some tutorials out there about flipping the lens. This gives you a softly focused center, with it falling off to blurs toward the edges. They should be around for cheap if you keep looking, I've never paid more than $5 for one.

Both of these cameras have fixed shutter/apertures, so it helps to write down what kind of film you have in them and choose your scenes accordingly. I think the Vivitar was around 1/100s at f/11, with the Kodak having 1/30 at f/16. Of course, due to age and physical condition these can change from example to example.
 

bsdunek

Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2006
Messages
1,617
Location
Michigan
Format
Multi Format
In my collection I have a Barbie camera, a Coke camera, a Velveeta camera, and a three-lens one. This is only a start with novelty cameras. I plan to add a couple of Fisher-Price cameras too, along with a Mick-O-Matic, and some others. The world is full of them (and other things too).
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2014
Messages
45
Format
35mm
The cheap 1980s point and shoots could fall into the toy category.

I've certainly heard them referred to as such.

Also, I wouldn't overlook the 110 promotional cameras like this!
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2014
Messages
45
Format
35mm
OP
OP

noyart

Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2013
Messages
44
Format
35mm
A stroll at the local fleamarket.
(There so far I only came across two Lomography-likes and one Diana, but some other cameras of that league.)

Sadly living in Sweden, there isnt that much "toy" cameras, I have seen very little toy cameras on the local fleamarkets, if not none. =/
Thanks anyway :smile:

Superheadz makes some different toy cameras, a couple build-em yourselfs and one called a slim devil that might be discontinued.
I took a look at the Superheadsz cameras, and there was some interesting diy kits, will for sure take an extra look into it. thanks :smile:

There are plenty of cameras that could fall into 'toy' range.

You have the plastic soviet/eastern european cameras that were built during the cold war that present a 'toy' look that you'll find Lomography Promotes.
The cheap 1980s point and shoots could fall into the toy category.
Through the 50s and 60s there are piles and piles of oddball cameras produced that are considered toys now.
Not to mention the holga/diana/debonair clones and lookalikes out there.

Thank you Alex, 50s and 60s you say hm! :D
Im hoping to find a all plastic lecia M style of camera, not the same quality of course, but love the look that the M series have.

you can find kodak and other brownie-style cameras at any thrift store that are easy to load with 120 film on their (usually included) 620 spool. If you must, buy two for the spools, but a lot of those things will let you load a 120 spool into the feed side, tolerances not being a big factor in their manufacture.

Thank you for the tip! :D

My personal favorite for toy cameras is the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim. Don't buy one on ebay, people pay ridiculously for them. Keep your eyes open at garage sales and one will pop up for $1. They're super cheaply made, so be careful. But it has a plastic 22mm lens, which produces some very cool color patterns if the sun is in your scene. Load it up with some film you don't trust for serious photography, and have fun. I always tend to come back with a couple keepers.

Coming in a close 2nd for me is the old Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. There are some tutorials out there about flipping the lens. This gives you a softly focused center, with it falling off to blurs toward the edges. They should be around for cheap if you keep looking, I've never paid more than $5 for one.

Both of these cameras have fixed shutter/apertures, so it helps to write down what kind of film you have in them and choose your scenes accordingly. I think the Vivitar was around 1/100s at f/11, with the Kodak having 1/30 at f/16. Of course, due to age and physical condition these can change from example to example.

Thank you kc2edh, hm Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim did look very pocket frendly, I guess I have to have a eye open to find one of those tho, but the Kodak Brownie Hawkeye do end up on fleamarkets time to time :smile:
Can be find to shoot, like you said If i invert the lens, that sounds like a fun effect :smile:

In my collection I have a Barbie camera, a Coke camera, a Velveeta camera, and a three-lens one. This is only a start with novelty cameras. I plan to add a couple of Fisher-Price cameras too, along with a Mick-O-Matic, and some others. The world is full of them (and other things too).

Wow, that is a nice collection! The coke camera does look fun. Fisher-Price camera is that an underwater camera?

I've certainly heard them referred to as such.

Also, I wouldn't overlook the 110 promotional cameras like this!
ah 110, I still have my first roll unfinished in my kodak 110 camera. it was fast and simple to shoot with but something didnt catch me with it. I guess I have to shoot that roll, maybe its something I will fall for :D Thank you for the link, i will take alook :smile:
 

bvy

Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2009
Messages
3,286
Location
Pittsburgh
Format
Multi Format
My personal favorite for toy cameras is the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim. Don't buy one on ebay, people pay ridiculously for them. Keep your eyes open at garage sales and one will pop up for $1. They're super cheaply made, so be careful. But it has a plastic 22mm lens, which produces some very cool color patterns if the sun is in your scene. Load it up with some film you don't trust for serious photography, and have fun. I always tend to come back with a couple keepers.

I love my Vivitar Wide & Slim -- even exhibited a VWS image in the Krappy Kamera show last year. It requires lots of sunshine, but even so, it's amazingly capable and does wonderfully unexpected things. The best thing about it for me, though, is its size and weight. It will sit comfortably in any pocket and will never weigh you down.

However... I've never seen one of these surface in a thrift store, and believe me, I've made the rounds. The going price on eBay at the moment is $20 to $30, and while that's probably 20 to 30 times what it cost to manufacture, it's just not a bad price to pay for a camera that gives you pictures you like.
 

IloveTLRs

Member
Joined
May 22, 2007
Messages
1,132
Location
Boston
Format
Sub 35mm
The Vivitar Wide & Slim and the Superheadz White Slim Angel are essentially the same camera (or so people say.)
I got my White Slim Angel new for $30 in Japan because the Vivitar was $60 at the time.
 

pen s

Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2011
Messages
240
Location
Olympia, wa.
Format
35mm
There is a half frame camera, the Golden Half, that I think uses the lens from the Wide & Slim, a 2 element plastic lens of 22mm focal length. They are both marketed by Superheadz. Right now the best price seems to be on Amazon. They have one model for $39.95

It falls into the toy camera catagory.
 

ME Super

Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2011
Messages
1,479
Location
Central Illinois, USA
Format
Multi Format
Debonair

I have one of the Imperial Debonair cameras made by the Herbert George company. It's a 6x6 camera that uses 620 film (easily respooled from 120 spools, as mine doesn't like the 120 spools). Back in the day there was a version of it that was the official BSA Cub Scout camera. Same guts, as the Imperial Debonair, just different stickers.

These cameras were made in the late 50's/early 60's I believe. Suffice it to say the camera is older than I am and it is still capable of taking pictures with its single aperture and shutter speed.
 

jon koss

Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2004
Messages
748
Location
Boston, MA
Format
35mm
Leica style, eh? Feast your eyes on this Hong Kong Special. Bright, Hazy and Cloudy settings; B and I speeds; adjustable focusing and, dare I say it… genuine lever wind! Have never seen one like it. Picture quality is, as they say on the Left Bank, au fromage.

J

Hello!
I wondering if there are more then Holga, Diana or other Lomography store cameras out there... Would be fun to find something that is different, something undiscovered. Do anyone know where I can find different toy cameras? More then those common cameras that people often talk about? // Noyart
 

Attachments

  • DSCF4879.jpg
    DSCF4879.jpg
    172.2 KB · Views: 256
  • DSCF4881.jpg
    DSCF4881.jpg
    96.9 KB · Views: 215
  • DSCF4880.jpg
    DSCF4880.jpg
    203.5 KB · Views: 228

dtheld

Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2010
Messages
38
Format
35mm
FYI the Fisher Price cameras are literally "TOY" cameras. They were made for Fisher Price Co. which is/was a major toy manufacturer in the U.S. I think the latest cameras offered by FP are digitals made for children.

Good luck in your search.

Dave
 

Truzi

Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2012
Messages
2,625
Format
Multi Format
My best friend had a "Transformer's" (cartoon) 110 camera when she was a little girl. It looks a lot like the Fisher Price 110s. However, we took it apart, and they "toy" part is merely a shell for a standard 110. Not sure if I consider it a "toy" because of this.

We put it back together because the nostalgia is for her to use the childhood camera, not the pocket instamatic inside.
 

mooseontheloose

Moderator
Joined
Sep 20, 2007
Messages
4,110
Location
Kyoto, Japan
Format
Multi Format

CHX

Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
36
Location
UK
Format
35mm
The Halina Micro 110 (http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Halina_Micro_110) is a cute but somewhat absurd model, definitely a "toy camera" - the film cartridge doesn't even fit fully inside(!). They come up with various brands (Vivitar, Haking etc.) and back in the day they were often given out as promotions for stuff like cereals and whatnot. I had one when I was a kid, having picked it up at a jumble sale - they leak light like crazy, probably because there is no rear door - just the film cartridge snapped into place! I remember at the time thinking the leaks looked awesome, like the Klingon transporter beams in Star Trek :D
 
Photrio.com contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
To read our full affiliate disclosure statement please click Here.

PHOTRIO PARTNERS EQUALLY FUNDING OUR COMMUNITY:



Ilford ADOX Freestyle Photographic Stearman Press Weldon Color Lab Blue Moon Camera & Machine
Top Bottom