These are the voyages of budget camera hunting. The mission to explore strange used gear, to seek out budget numbers. So how about a 1 quid digital bridge camera with a very quirky LCD set up from 2004. Offering a 4MP and X10 zoom alongside the weirdest EVF in the business, the Z2 was actually reasonably priced with a street price of $380USD/£240GBP according to DPReview. Mined arrived boxed with Brucie Bonuses but some issues for meer quid. But should set phaser to stun or bin Macro mode shooting is quite pleasing with this camera. Oddly this has a rare colour cast issue for an outdoor shot ..read more

It’s rare for me to be so critical of a camera . But given not surprisingly old 110 cameras are quite available still for peanuts, there are plenty of better fish to fry. And given the Skina is by far the worst 110 I’ve ever used, trust me save your pennies.. One of the better images but the subject is 1-2m away. T601 with Lomography Color Tiger CN200. Processed and scanned by Photo Hippo. Early 2023. Click on image for full size 110 – the Film that came back from the dead In the the 1960’s there was bit of craze for subminature cameras driven by the likes of those classic Minox and Minolta sp ..read more

The Lomourette isn’t technically fully launched yet but you can already get your hands on Lomography’s replacement for the Diana Mini. But it’s the same camera with less features The Lomourette’s biggest issue is existence the Diana Mini. If the latter never existed, I’d probably be happier with this Diana series camera. I’d have though fun little hommage. But even then there are a few issues… But it’s not This half frame diptych has some of the best images I took across. Lomourette with XP2 2024. Click on image for the original And the fact that you can still buy the Mini for the same money ..read more

I commented on Flickr as important as it for Leica to continue to launch cameras like the M6 reboot, it was hardly gonna attract the kids. That’s especially true when you can still by a decent AF SLR for the price of a takeaway pizza. Some said I was wrong those days are gone. But I stand by that comment. But even I surprised myself with the EOS 500N. A SLR for a quid in 2023 and they still sell for as little as 99p despite being rather good. Canon EOS 500N with Canon EF 28-90mm 1:4-5.6 III Ilford Ortho Plus. Processed and scanned by AG photolab. Edinburgh Feb 2024. Click on image for original ..read more

I’ve been musing about the new Lomourette camera. It is heavily based on the Lomography’s Diana Mini, a Lo-Fi beast with a bit of cult following. Turns out it wasn’t only based on the Mini. It’s replacing it. The Diana Mini is dead. I’d had some email chat with Lomography’s press team about the Lomourette. They were surprised to hear me mention it and I get that as their big focus has been on the new 110 shooting Lomomatic. Lomography Lomourette. The successor to the Diana Mini. Looks similar but is stripped down. I speculated that the Lomourette was being test marketed in Asia but within my e ..read more

“That looks a Diana mini” you might be tempted to say. And you’re right. Lomography’s latest camera is a tweaked Diana Mini shooting half frame images. But you’d struggle to know the Lomourette existed. And why the name change? Let’s open up the box and explore. This is only a unboxing review and my thoughts. A full review will follow. But I’ve some niggles, not least the name. So we’ll get to the camera in a mo. 3 versions of the camera exist. This is Water Lilies one is £10GBP more expensive than the basic classic colour one and the light green Picnic edition. I suspect that’s ‘cos they use ..read more

Before some of you get excited this little digital is not made by Lindoff. It was sold by UK supermarket Tesco in the 2000’s as one of several cheap digital devices sold under the Technika brand. But how does the SH-340T, a basic 3.1MP stack up in 2024 For non British readers, Tesco is the UK’s largest supermarket commanding around 27% of the UK market share with top dog status that has shifted very little over the last few decades. It sells quite a range of non food items notably these days clothing and kitchenware. A decade back you could also pick up a wide range especially electronics alth ..read more

Lets be honest I wasn’t impressed by the flash ONE35 when it arrived. Much of my frustration related to the app and server stuff which for some reason seemed to have been rushed last minute. These are working better and I decided to give it a second chance but head to head with it’s key lo-fi digital rival, the Camp Snap, as well as a lo-fi film alternative. A wee disclaimer. None of the companies asked me to do this. The cameras are all ones I bough for myself. Camp Snap did approach me to try 2 test filter firmwares as detailed here but I wasn’t paid by them for that and those aren’t used he ..read more

In Early September 2023 an image started to appear on Facebook, X and other social media. A tin type photograph that appeared to show an approximately 8 meter tall human in what was claimed to be Kandahar. It spread like wildfire amongst social media group focused on theories of ancient giants. Trouble is it wasn’t real. It would be joined by other AI images of Former Presidents, wars and Kids holding paintings. It’s all Fake News And this isn’t alone. When new broke that former US president was going to be indicted and arrested to appear in court a series of AI generated images of him being c ..read more

The Escura Snaps 35 Half is Escura’s half frame modified version of their Dubblefilm Show clone the Escura Snaps 35 camera. Mine arrived from Hong Kong decorated with Chibi of One Piece. That’s the manga series that has recently been launched as alive action series on Netflix. Whilst other designs are available are they all Pirates ahoy or sunk at sea ? Dumfries 2023. Escura Snaps 35 Half with Colorplus 200. Click on image for link to original This is just a one roll review. Mainly ‘cos I’ve already reviewed this camera in Agfaphoto Half-Frame guise. They just are slightly cosmetically differe ..read more