World Toy Camera Day?

[Stephanie Brim]

Great, Al...but what does that have to do with Toy Camera Day?

 

[Al Patterson]

Not much, except that all my cameras are toys...?

Or, I don't HAVE any toy cameras?

Back to the rest of you. Have fun!

 

[eli griggs]

I'll be out with the Diana I picked up last Saturday at a local church sale for about $2.50, complete with box, 'manual' and strap. It's my first and I can't wait to take it out with some tlr.'s I found online here and at APUG, these last few days.

Does anyone have suggestions for B&W films for the Diana and has anyone here used a lens hood with their toy cameras or does that take away some of their appeal?

Cheers

 

[howpow]

What's the appeal in using cameras that produce technically inferior photos. There are plenty of old point & shoot cameras eg (Canon AF35M or ML, Pentax PC35af-m, Nikon L35-af, Olympus XA2 etc) that would qualify as "Toy Cameras" these days, with the benefit that the photos produced would be technically worth keeping depending on the content. IMHO there would be nothing worse than taking a great photo on a crappy camera and ending up with something only suitable for the rubbish bin. I like the idea of "Toy Camera Day" but that doesn't mean that you have to use crappy cameras.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I like crappy cameras. Crappy is in the eye of the beholder. What a Holga produces is crap to some people, but to others it is the best photography they've ever seen.

I use a great camera, my Canon P, every day, and I would be lost without it. Sometimes, though, I like to get away from the whole "perfect photo" thing. I want to see out of focus, vignetted photos...stuff that may not be good in a technical sense but is composed and well thought out. Or something caught in the spur of the moment, imperfect, but great in spite of it.

Sometimes a camera doesn't need to be great, or even be good, to take a photo worth keeping. Sometimes it just has to capture a moment.

 

[Epimetheus]

Holga rocks! You can shoot anything and everything with it in any situation. It's also very light and easy to cary allways with me. Here is few examples and much more on my web site: http://markuspuustinen.com/pf/

 

[ffttklackdedeng]

I'll be out with the Diana I picked up last Saturday at a local church sale for about $2.50, complete with box, 'manual' and strap. It's my first and I can't wait to take it out with some tlr.'s I found online here and at APUG, these last few days.

Does anyone have suggestions for B&W films for the Diana and has anyone here used a lens hood with their toy cameras or does that take away some of their appeal?

Cheers

The film speed depends on the speed of _your_ Diana's shutter, they vary.. Mine needs a 400 film, others take 160..

Lens hood?

Btw: you made a big deal imho

Now we are three Diana's on WTCD

 

[lubitel]

I love using holga as well, some of my favourite photos are done with it. havent used it in a while though. I dont think that the 35mm holga will give any satisfying results or will be any different then a disposable camera the great thing about holga is the medium format. How about trying an old box camera as a holga alternative? or one of those toy 110 cameras?

 

[ffttklackdedeng]

Holga rocks! You can shoot anything and everything with it in any situation. It's also very light and easy to cary allways with me. Here is few examples and much more on my web site: http://markuspuustinen.com/pf/

Marcus, your pictures simply rock!

It looks like it is the easiest thing in the world to make such beautiful work, but I know it's not.. How much time / rolls did you spend to get to that level?

 

[Epimetheus]

It looks like it is the easiest thing in the world to make such beautiful work, but I know it's not.. How much time / rolls did you spend to get to that level?

I got pretty good results with Holga already from the first roll even though it was my first film camera. It suites to my style of photography. I have now shot maybe 20 to 30 rolls with it, so not that much yet.

 

[gb hill]

I just bought my crappy toy camera... A Canon Snappy S. 3 bucks at the Goodwill store & sits right at home with my QL-17 & AE-1 P slr....sing this little jingle...I'm so hap-py!..Got my snap-py!.. May be crap-py!..But....Well you come up with the rest.....

 

[jan normandale]

I've got a couple and I use them one's a Zeiss Ikonette the other is an Argus C3 some people might not consider either 'crappy enough' still I think they fit.

here's a shot of the Zeiss
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jann/54508780/

here are shots from the C3
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jann/111572746/

I'm in, thanks for the HU Stephanie

 

[rogue_designer]

Since I grew up shooting 6x6 and 4x5 - almost any 35mm feels a little like a toy, so can I use my P?

 

[Twigs]

I've only used "toy cameras" so far - QL17, GT, GSN...

but for this occation I'll have to go with my Kellogg's plastic camera!

 

[rolleistef]

I once used my rolleiflex as a toy cam, adding reverted crappy yashica teleconverter and a red filter. Vignetting is appalingly cool, things are completely distorted, and photo quality is great. May ad a little softness by shooting at 3.5... or not focusing correctly...
So, rogue_designer, the answer is yes. You can use your canon P as a toy camera, after all we're all using very expensive toys arent' we?