35mm Point & Shoot camera stuff
The Vilia is yet another fully manual shooter from the later years of the soviet union from MMZ-BelOMO in Belarus. Unlike its obvious soviet rivals the camera styling is more akin to Japanese compacts of the era. But how does it measure up compared to its rivals like the Smena Symbol ?
I suspect this review may get me flamed, but I have to be honest whilst the XA2 is a good P&S camera IMHO it isn’t the classic it’s often described as
That said it’s not a bad choice and can give you great shots.
Continue reading Olympus XA2 Review : Good yes but classic…..
Why do I like this 80’s ugly, plasticky fixed focus oddity from Pentax. Probably because it delivers the best shots of any fixed focus camera I own.
Continue reading Pentax Pino 35 Review : Honey I fixed focused the Kids
These 60’s viewfinder point and shoot cameras drew influences from the German models of the day. But how do they fare as a retro shooter today and compared to their 70’s successors the Halina 2000 & 3000 ?
Continue reading Halina Paulette Series Review : Vorsprung Hong Kong Technique
Minolta’s Hi-matic series of compact cameras span more than 20 years of production and were usually rangefinders such as the well-regarded Hi-matic 7sII. However the series also gave rise to a few Point & Shoot (P&S) most notably the Hi-matic G launched in 1974.
Continue reading Minolta Hi-matic G Review : Polished but Vanilla P&S
The Diana Mini has been one of Lomography Society International (LSI) best-selling products and is a gorgeous re-imaging of their simple 120 film Diana F+ in mini form taking 35mm film. But like its big brother, it is a camera of 2 halves good and bad. But do those halves balance out in this toy class manual shooter ?
Continue reading Diana Mini Review : Ultra compact abet challenging fun
Sadly last week my Boots Pacemaker 35 died. This basic camera is actually a re branded Franka 125 made by the long gone West Germany company in the 1960’s. But was it retro fun or rightly dated ?
Continue reading A fond farewell ? : Boots Pacemaker 35 / Franka 125 Review
This absolute corker from Japan IMHO is one of the best point and shooter ever to be based on a rangefinder. Its crisp, accurate lens and exposure deliver like no other rangefinder based P&S.
This little plastic corker was one of the best selling classic soviet Cameras of all time. But why does a plasticky unmetered camera with 1950’s mechanics still deserve a loyal following. The answer is its simplicity and its killer lens. Continue reading Smena 8m Review : Good clean plastic Fun
The Yashica ME1 is often overlooked due to Yashica’s heritage of classic rangefinders but this little plastic P&S is suprisingly enjoyable abet with some quirks. Continue reading Yashica ME1 Review : The Boys from Brazil (and Japan)