Disposable cameras are a lot of fun. Despite the technical limitations, or even because of them, they give you great memories of holidays, weddings and parties.
Although they are very easy to use, there are still some questions about this topic. The answers to these questions can be found in this article.
What is a disposable camera?
Disposable cameras are plastic cameras filled with a preloaded film. After you have filled the analog film with pictures, you give the cameras as a whole for development. There the film is taken out and developed in chemicals. The result are the film strips with the pictures. Then prints can be made from the film strips or they can be digitized.
Possible fields of usage are a wedding, a party or a holiday, some models come with an underwater housing. The cameras are usually easy to use and you can not do much wrong or broken. Therefore, they were also well suited in the hands of children.
Which disposable camera is good?
Which model is the best? In general, the models do not differ much from each other. The biggest difference in most cases is whether a flash is built into the camera or not. In most cases you won’t notice much of a difference in image quality.
How long do they last?
Just like milk in the supermarket, disposable cameras have an expiration date. The expiration date printed on the camera refers to the film in the camera. Analog film can loose light sensitivity over time and color rendering can change. This also depends to a large extent on the storage conditions. It is therefore advisable to pay attention to the expiry date. Nevertheless, you can still use cameras that have been out of date for some time without hesitation. Especially with disposable cameras you don’t want technically correct pictures.
How many pictures can you take with one camera?
Usually you can take 27 pictures with one camera. Some models allow more pictures, 36 or 37.
Are there cameras for black and white pictures?
As a rule there are colour films in the plastic cameras. However, there are also some disposable cameras for black-and-white images. The company Ilford offers about two cameras. The difference between the cameras is the inserted film. The XP2 can be developed in the same development process as color films and is therefore easier to handle. The HP5, on the other hand, must be processed in a black-and-white developer. This can be cheaper if you already have the appropriate equipment at home, but also more expensive if you have it for development in the lab. The company Lomography from Vienna also offers a camera with a black and white film.
Are there filters for the cameras?
You can make filters for your camera from transparent coloured film. These filters can be attached either in front of the lens or the flash. It should be noted that you lose light as a result.
Where can I buy disposable cameras?
The widest range of cameras can be found online. At Amazon, for example, there is a wide selection of cameras. But you can also find them on eBay or one of the specialized dealers. The prices for a disposable camera are usually in the range of 5 to 12 euros, depending on brand and film.
What does a disposable camera cost at DM?
A camera costs about 6 Euro at DM-Markt in Germany. The camera of the brand Paradies comes with a flash and an ISO 400 film with 27 pictures. At DM you can also hand in the camera for development.
What does a disposable camera cost at Rossmann?
The prices for a camera at Rossmann, a German drug store chain, are in a similar range to DM. The development of the full film is also possible there.
How are the cameras developed?
If the film in the camera is filled with images, the camera must be developed. You can bring the camera to a photo lab or a drugstore nearby. There are also some photo labs where the camera can be sent in by mail.
How long does the development take?
The development time depends on the laboratory. Some offer development in 24 hours, others require you to wait a week or two for your pictures.
How can I digitize the images from my disposable camera?
The answer to this question depends on your equipment. If you have a flatbed scanner with a transparency unit, you can use it to scan the negatives. It is not advisable to use the cheap negative scanners. One gets better results by photographing the negatives with the smartphone or digital camera and the following conversion on the computer or by app.
It is also possible to scan the prints of the pictures.
Can you reuse the camera?
Most models can theoretically be reused. The simplicity of this process varies from model to model. The biggest difficulty is to get a new film into the camera.
Main Photo: Alberico Bartoccini