Want a step up from a zoom compact but don’t want to commit to a SLR ? Well the Olympus IS-1000 might be for you. Costing hundreds at launch this 1990 bridge camera now can be bought for a tenner or less. But how does it compare to other compacts and modern cameras ?
Continue reading Bridging the Gap ?- Olympus iS-1000 Review
If you read my 430EX review, you’ll know I’m reasonably impressed with Minolta’s take on point and shoot 110 cameras although there are some faults. Here’s its bigger twin lensed brother the 1979 460T. How did it fare ? Continue reading Double Trouble ? – Minolta Pocket Autopak 460T Review
The premise was simple – send the same camera to 3 different shooters. Not being quite able to afford 3 Leica III, 3 bargain bucket cameras headed off. My Halina Panorama challenge got off to an interesting start for our first of 3 shooters Hamish Gill, a mix of the good but mainly the bad. I wasn’t too surprised he didn’t end up being a fan. But how would the Pano fare in the hands of someone more use to the light plastastic? Continue reading Three Takes on the Halina Panorama – (2) Lucy’s Trip
In the last year or 2, I’ve shot a lot of 110 cameras. They have tended though to fall into 3 camps – modern toy shooters with plastic lenses for the lomo crowd, simple 70’s cameras with that classic minox 110 shape or the bonkers high end SLR & rangefinders. The 430E & 430Ex sit in that middle group but with some high end features that raise them above the average. Continue reading One Hand in My Pocket – Minolta Pocket Autopak 430Ex review
The Halina Panorama (aka Ansco Pix Panorama) has a bit of weird cult status for such a plastic simple plastic camera and is something you can pick up for a fraction of the cost of some classic plastics like the VUWS. When a few turned in a job lot I decided to have a bit of fun and send them out to some willing victims for their views. First up we have Hamish Gill of 35mmc fame, an unashamed lover of compact cameras but is usually more at home discussing the merits of the likes Yashica and Contax T series.
How would he cope going Lo-fi ? Continue reading Three Takes on the Halina Panorama – (1) Hamish’s Tale
Although Vivitar in terms of plastic cameras are best known for the legendary VUWS, they produced several at the turn of the century, some of which have also got a cult following like the PN2011 (commonly seen in Reader’s Digest PN919 guise). But does this live up to its more famous sibling ?
Continue reading Behind the Mask – Reader’s Digest PN919/Vivitar PN2011 Review
Given my recent trouble with mju’s you might have thought I’d stay clear of Olympus compacts for a bit but then this budget number landed in a job lot and you know it’s not that bad. Continue reading We’re not in Kansas – Olympus OZ-10 Review
The Konica Pop was a 35mm camera made from 1982 to 1984 in this form, with changes coming in 1985 and 1988 to optics and flash. It was well selling, it’s compactness and color variations helped it stand out in that era when most manufacturers had smaller automatic 35mm’s in their lineup. Continue reading Konica Pop Review – Guest Review by Al Mullen
This simple fixed focus flash number was actually made by Haking and is based on the Halina Flash 350. But is this rebrand a contender in the toy cam class or just reheated left overs ? I took one for a stroll at dawn one morning to find out. Continue reading Rehash Trash or Class ? – Hanimex 35SE Review
Oh dear ! I had a lot of hope when I started out to test this camera but 3 dud ones later I’m not sure. The mju-I (aka mju, µ[mju] or ∞stylus) was the camera that launched the mju series and would lead to the much sought after mju II (aka Stylus Epic) -one of those prestige fixed focal length compacts that change hands for lots of Dosh. Some feel the much cheaper mju-I is just as good but as we’ll see things didn’t work out for me… Continue reading Prestige and the Duds – The Olympus mju-I nearly reviewed
