The RETO Ultra Wide & Slim - all hail the return of a classic!

The new Ultra Wide & Slim

If you weren't a photographer in the 1990s, it's probably because you were too young or it just wasn't your thing at the time.  Vivitar brought out the Ultra Wide and Slim in the mid-90s and the camera became a cultish phenomenon.  Originally manufactured by the Chinese company Sunpet (and who knows, the same company may be making them now), the 22mm lens, simple use, decent results, and shirt-pocket size contributed to this camera becoming quite popular among the younger set.  Then, it dropped out of sight for a few years, to be replaced by the Yellow Peace Camera with the "super fat lens," thanks to the Japanese company, Superheadz.  I bought one in the early 2000s, and still have it, though I haven't used it in a long time because the soft plastic coating on the camera has turned to a sticky mess that's worse than a Nikon N80's grip. Considering that these are cheap cameras that are not expected to have a long life, I guess the degraded coating was never a thought. I am ALMOST finished with my 35mm toy camera issue for Monochrome Mania, and I quickly snapped up the new RETO version of the Ultra Wide and Slim when I saw them for sale on Amazon. Two days later the camera arrived in a padded Amazon envelope, and I eagerly opened up the package.

The old Yellow Peace Camera from Superheadz

For starters, the RETO UW&S is packaged just like you would see in a store, able to be hung on a display rack.  Inside the small box is a wrist strap, instructions, and a soft cloth pouch to store the camera within.  If there was such a thing as "new camera smell," I would have welcomed it, but there probably is not enough mass of plastic to do that.  

I have the "murky blue" version

After I photographed the new camera (to be included in the zine), I loaded a short roll of Ultrafine Extreme 100 (Kentmere 100) b&w film. I used a 24-exp roll because the original Vivitar model had a problem winding on with 36 exposure rolls, and I doubt that the RETO version is any different. This camera has an f/11 lens and approximately 1/125 sec shutter, so on a sunny day, ISO 100 film is perfect.  That 22mm lens really is quite good, and for a price of less than $30, the RETO UW&S is a great buy in today's market. Once you get out with this camera, it's easy to see why it became a sought-after classic, even if it was a "toy camera."  The wide angle lens does quite well, so long as you don't get the sun in the frame. There is no flash, so this is a daylight-only camera, unless you want to put in some Kodak T-Max P3200.

I took the RETO UW&S out over a couple of days and shot a variety of scenes with it.  The thing to keep in mind with any low-fi 35mm camera is that simple compositions work best.  Fine details don't always look so great, so a strong composition is a good idea.  However, this camera's lens is pretty sharp, as you can see from the shots below.  I developed the roll of Ultrafine Extreme 100 in D-96 for 8.5 minutes, and I have to say that the negatives look great.  

Here's a few examples from my roll.

As you can see, the images are fairly sharp, there's a bit of vignetting, and the exposures are satisfactory on 100 ISO film. The very top photo was partly cloudy, but I think it really captured the scene.  

You can purchase the RETO Ultra Wide and Slim from just about any photographic online store, such as the Film Photography Project Store, What would really be nice is to see these on the racks in major retailers, photo stores, and gift shops.  This is a fun camera to take everywhere.