lxforrest
Newbie
Since my college, I've loved wildlife photography, and all those big white/black lenses have definitely given my biceps a workout.
Mule deer couple near Fort Collins, CO
For a long time, my understanding of photography, particularly with camera equipment, was all about sharpness, pixel count, sensor size, continuous shot speed, and so on, because I treated my camera setup like an automatic rifle. I won't blame my wife complaints that I shot better wildlife photo than shot her via cellphone.
Starting in October 2020, a brand new 'wildlife' and soon to be the 'SD card eater' came into my life, my lovely son. I quickly realized I'd have to change my photography style, since I was taking poorly composed pictures with my phone, and my house wasn't big enough for those long-range lenses.
After some research, Ricoh GR3X became my go to camera since then and my understanding of photography changed since then. Instead of all those technical data points, I cared more about the feeling of an image, especially those build in film like filters of GR3x.
Shot near Point Reyes, CA. Negative filter
My fondness for the GR3x, coupled with an undeniable attraction to the 'CCD' and 'retro film' aesthetic, led to another camera purchase, resulting in some gentle reprimands from my wife.
Left to right: Agfa Optima sensor, Canon G11, Canon QL17, Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1, Fuji X-100 1st gen, Ricoh GR3x
Yea, I suffered a ton of gentle ‘reprimands’ from my skip level boss, aka 'my wife', even though I traded some big lenses to obtain the funding.
While they were decent cameras, they were purely for fun, never to rival my GR3X. That is, until my GR3X met an untimely end in one of the cenotes in Tulum, MX.
With the ultimatum I received from her and the GR3x's price being as crazy as a Toyota Sienna's, it just didn't align with how I value spending money. I started to google/ask AI for "Best fixed lens point and shoot camera in 2025“, result below:
I might just go back to Tulum and hire a diver instead.
So, naturally, I grabbed a Camp Snap. It ticked all the boxes: fixed lens, retro vibe, film-like feel. And, sticking to my 'same camera type research' (like my vintage collection), I couldn't resist sneaking in a Flashback one35 and a Paper Shoot camera too.
After a few months of use, I found that while they're all cool, niche cameras, they share the following issues, in my opinion:
This set up can resolve all the questions it seems.
So I brought a $15 3rd party apple pencil and started drawing like my 4 years old.
This could be my better oops than what if situation....
To be continued...
Mule deer couple near Fort Collins, CO
For a long time, my understanding of photography, particularly with camera equipment, was all about sharpness, pixel count, sensor size, continuous shot speed, and so on, because I treated my camera setup like an automatic rifle. I won't blame my wife complaints that I shot better wildlife photo than shot her via cellphone.
Starting in October 2020, a brand new 'wildlife' and soon to be the 'SD card eater' came into my life, my lovely son. I quickly realized I'd have to change my photography style, since I was taking poorly composed pictures with my phone, and my house wasn't big enough for those long-range lenses.
After some research, Ricoh GR3X became my go to camera since then and my understanding of photography changed since then. Instead of all those technical data points, I cared more about the feeling of an image, especially those build in film like filters of GR3x.
Shot near Point Reyes, CA. Negative filter
My fondness for the GR3x, coupled with an undeniable attraction to the 'CCD' and 'retro film' aesthetic, led to another camera purchase, resulting in some gentle reprimands from my wife.
Left to right: Agfa Optima sensor, Canon G11, Canon QL17, Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1, Fuji X-100 1st gen, Ricoh GR3x
Yea, I suffered a ton of gentle ‘reprimands’ from my skip level boss, aka 'my wife', even though I traded some big lenses to obtain the funding.
While they were decent cameras, they were purely for fun, never to rival my GR3X. That is, until my GR3X met an untimely end in one of the cenotes in Tulum, MX.
With the ultimatum I received from her and the GR3x's price being as crazy as a Toyota Sienna's, it just didn't align with how I value spending money. I started to google/ask AI for "Best fixed lens point and shoot camera in 2025“, result below:
I might just go back to Tulum and hire a diver instead.
So, naturally, I grabbed a Camp Snap. It ticked all the boxes: fixed lens, retro vibe, film-like feel. And, sticking to my 'same camera type research' (like my vintage collection), I couldn't resist sneaking in a Flashback one35 and a Paper Shoot camera too.
After a few months of use, I found that while they're all cool, niche cameras, they share the following issues, in my opinion:
- Highly inaccurate viewfinder (the signal from eyeball to brain = 40-50mm, actual photo = 24-28mm and I hate post editing to cut someone's leg/hand out)
- Shutter lag became a big issue, especially when the damn kid starts to sprint outside of the frame (don't like the feeling of only lived in the moment 0.5 to 1s ago)
- Film filter. All 3 claims that they are to replace the disposable camera, but I don't think they studied hard enough to mimic disposable film like photos (Flashback one35 might be better, since it got a server for "dark room" process, but 24 hours wait time....)
- Not so great lens quality. The lenses are so tiny that I am afraid they might not be able to feed enough pixel for the 8MP or 12MP sensors (Camp snap and Paper shoot)
This set up can resolve all the questions it seems.
So I brought a $15 3rd party apple pencil and started drawing like my 4 years old.
This could be my better oops than what if situation....
To be continued...
