How are the Reviewed Point and Shoot Film Cameras Chosen?

I‘ve talked previously about the methodology used for reviewing point and shoot film cameras, but I’ve not talked about how I chose the cameras that are reviewed. Also, where do the reviewed cameras all come from?

The answer is really quite simple. It’s completely random and arbitrary. I generally review cameras that I happen to stumble across in charity shops, op shops, thrift stores, call it what you want (instant film cameras and 35mm disposable cameras being the only brand new film cameras still available). Once the cameras have been reviewed, many of them get donated straight back to the charity shops that they came from.

Do premium point and shoot film cameras really take images of such a high quality that justifies their price?This is also why I tend to review compact film cameras from the cheaper end of the market. And this trend will probably continue, unless I happen to get lucky and stumble across a good deal on one of the high-end camera systems, such as one of the Nikon 28ti or 35ti cameras, a Fujifilm Klasse or one of the Leica compacts for example.

One of the rare exceptions, so far, has been the the Fujifilm DL Super Mini, Cardia Tiara, which I happened to find online at a decent price. It’s a very nice camera and a bit of an oddity, so I wanted to add it to my collection. Although, some of the models in the reviews of vintage compact cameras, could also be said to be premium. The Voigtlander Vito B and the Zeiss Ikon Contina 1b, for example, probably weren’t that cheap when they first came out. Indeed, even now, good working models of the Canonet QL17 GIII and even the Canonet QL19, aren’t that cheap second hand.

But another reason, is that I’m aware that there is still much interest, even a resurgence, in the use of film cameras and this is driving prices up. Especially for those so called ‘premium‘ compact film cameras, like the Ricoh GR1 series, one of the Contax T compacts, or the Konica Hexar, which seem to go for more than some good quality film SLRs.

And do these premium cameras really take images of such a high quality that justifies their price? Especially, when most of the images are scanned with fairly cheap home scanners? Personally, I’ve taken some of my best images with a Ricoh FF7 or Olympus mju II. Either way, with so many cheap point and shoot film cameras still in circulation, I wanted to provide a resource that gave a bit of information about some of them.