Cheap camera challenge with an M4 for a prize :0)

stevelmx5

stevelmx5

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Steve
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Hi all,

Hamish who runs 35mmc.com has just launched his cheap compact camera competition with the prize being a Leica M4 he purchased from donations to his site. I figured some of you might be interested in entering too, we've got until the 19th July to enter. All Ts&Cs are on the site but the basic requirements are that the camera has to cost less than £10 and only be worth that (so no charity shop bargains!) and the photo has to be taken this year.

http://www.35mmc.com/19/05/2016/win-leica-m4/

"The rules:
I have a strong idea of what I am looking for, so as I say, I am going to be really strict with these. I hope I am leaving no grey areas but if any come up I will add to these and tighten them up as I see fit.

  • The photo must be taken with a camera bought for less than £10 (or the equivalent in your local currency).
  • The camera must not be worth more than £10 if you were to resell it. So no charity shop bargain Contax T2’s please!!
  • The camera must be a 35mm point & shoot camera like the examples above – if its made of plastic you are probably on the right lines!
  • The camera must be autoexposure or fixed exposure! (exposure compensation is fine)
  • The camera must be autofocus or fixed focus! (as long as is no way of adjusting focus it’s fine)
  • Only one photo to be entered per person!
  • The photo must be taken this year!
Please remember this is supposed to be fun. I know it is a really nice prize, but all this is supposed to be about a reflection of how positive the film photography community is! If you don’t shoot with these sorts of cameras usually, go out and buy one. There are millions of them on ebay, in charity shops, at car boot sales etc. Find one, load a roll and take some photos – you never know, you just might enjoy yourself more than you expect!"

I'm going to give it a go, always good to have an excuse to buy more gear even if it is a cheap P&S!

Cheers
Steve
 
That looks fun, I might have a trawl around the charity shops (or my pile of cameras).
 
A great excuse for some more test rolls in the plastic point-and-shoots my auntie with the car-boot addiction has gotten me. Unfortunately, the ones I've already taken are in cameras (L35AF, MJU 1) that fail the £10 value point. (I really must sell the L35AF, they're going for over £50 on eBay)
 
Oh, this might be fun. Not sure what 35mm p&s I've got lying around.
 
I figure it can't hurt to go fully automatic for a change although I've got some ideas for getting some manual control over the results still.
 
Cheers Steve, I was looking for a photo for this last week but got waylaid midway and forgot about it!
I'll start again now!
 
The biggest sticking point is the resell value, i've got camera that can go between £5-20 on ebay depending on who bids so it's hard to judge a camera to pick. Shame the Mju-II is out as i got both of mine for £10 each but people on ebay pay way more, got a Nikon Lite Touch 120 ED AF which i got for £5 at an auction house, but goes for more on ebay, anything from £7 to £45.

Might be nice to make up a little list of cameras that could qualify.
 
I wonder if I could use my old original Fuji DL10? It's crap and plastic. I think my Samsung zoom thingy would be too valuable ;)
 
I'm sure Hamish will be happy to confirm suitability of any camera if you drop him a message through his site ;0)
 
Shame this challenge isn't after september as I have three canon sureshot p&s cameras that i reckon would qualify that I would have brought to the Peaks meet for you guys to make use of.........i doubt they can be worth more than a few quid each.
 
All the later compacts give a good picture...and for the common ones if anybody pays over a tenner they are mad :D
 
excalibur2 said:
All the later compacts give a good picture...and for the common ones if anybody pays over a tenner they are mad :D
Click to expand...

As I was saying in Another Place, the L35AF was $210 in 1983, which is anywhere from $500 to $1000 in today's money, depending on how you calculate it. The camera, assuming it's in good nick, is exactly the same as it was back then. So, I don't think it's mad to pay the market price of £50 for one now. I wouldn't pay it, but it's not mad if someone else does. It's got a cracking lens, that people were willing to pay a LOT of money for back in the day.
 
abdoujaparov said:
As I was saying in Another Place, the L35AF was $210 in 1983, which is anywhere from $500 to $1000 in today's money, depending on how you calculate it. The camera, assuming it's in good nick, is exactly the same as it was back then. So, I don't think it's mad to pay the market price of £50 for one now. I wouldn't pay it, but it's not mad if someone else does. It's got a cracking lens, that people were willing to pay a LOT of money for back in the day.
Click to expand...

Well I gave mine free to someone here :eek:
 
Film compacts go cheap because a mobile phone is more useful....h'mm I've never used mine yet for a shot o_O
 
abdoujaparov said:
I stand corrected - the perils of using Ken Rockwell as a source for anything.
Click to expand...
I have no idea where he pulled that number of $210 from, i couldn't find the launch month of the L35AF so i dug around more issues of 1983 PP using Adorama prices (since rockwell seems to love them). The L35AF first appears in the June issue as the 'NEW L35AF' priced at $119.95 which is even cheaper still.

If you are curious yourself here is scanned copies of every issue of Popular Photography from January 1981 to December 2008.
 
Ah memories of the old days...but go to a bootie and you'll pick up a plastic fantastic (and metal ones) compacts from 10p to £3.....10p? I jokingly said to a seller I'll give 10p for his Pentax Espio and he said Ok, I didn't buy it as I had plenty of compacts already that I had passed to my wife also for a joke.....well the joke was (until it got stale) was when she used to say "oh no not another camera"
 
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