Monochrome Mania No. 7 Available

It's taken me longer than I anticipated, but The Magic and Allure of Toy Cameras, Vol. 2 - 35mm, is now available from my Etsy store. At 40 pages including the covers, it's chock full of information and images of 35mm toy cameras, from the very first "35mm" the Kodak 00 Cartridge Premo, to the latest Reto Ultra Wide and Slim.   You can purchase The Magic and Allure of Toy Cameras, Vol. 2 - 35mm at my Etsy store.

First of all, let me tell you about my journey with 35mm toy cameras.  Starting in 2000, when I was really becoming a student of photography - not in the literal sense as a student, but as someone serious about learning all that I could about photography, toy cameras were not on my mind as a creative tool.  I had grown up with the Kodak Instamatic as the camera that was close at hand, and when I got my first 35mm SLR, an Exakta Exa 1a in 1973, it was my every-day camera for a number of years.  My experience with "toy cameras" didn't really happen until the early 2000s, and when I started playing around with them, I found them to be fun adjuncts to the more serious Nikons and my Rollei TLR, and as I shot more with the Holga and other crappy cameras, I saw how they could become a real asset to anyone shooting film that wanted something out of the ordinary.  Over the years, I have always had my share of toy cameras, and when I published the third issue of Monochrome Mania that featured 120/620 toy cameras, I knew that a follow-up with 35mm cameras had to be done.  It turned out to be not as simple as I thought it would because there are so many more cameras, and I also needed to hunt down and purchase certain models that I knew had to be covered if I were to do a more complete guide to them.  

some sample pages from MM #7.

So, after quite a few more months, I had written a large part of the text, but it really wasn't until late in 2021 that the issue really started coming together. Some days. I would find myself down the Google rabbit hole pursuing information on cameras that just a decade ago, were brand-new, and now very hard to find.  I also knew that there was no way that I could test them all in time for the this issue, nor could I actually get my hands on every single model.  My goal here is to give the reader a good overview of the history of these cameras, with examples of the many types that have been available.  One could spend many years tracking down every example of a 35mm toy camera, and I'll leave that for some other soul.  I think that you will certainly get a lot from this issue, and I hope that I sell them all in a short time!

Due to the full-color printing and the price increases in the publishing industry and postal rates, I have raised the price of MM #7 to $12 + $3 US shipping.  Friends tell me that I am underpricing this issue and should sell it for twice the price.  However, I want to keep it affordable for everyone so long as I cover my expenses and make a small profit.  The price certainly doesn't include the money I spent in obtaining cameras to test and photograph.  I'll recoup those expenses by selling many of these cameras in my Etsy store, so after reading this issue, be sure to check what I have on Etsy in a few weeks, as I start including some of the cameras in the zine in my Etsy offerings.

I look forward to hearing from the readers what they think of this latest issue!

This image

shot with this camera.

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.