I buy, sell, test, and review a lot of them here: analog.cafe/analogue-camer… . I consider myself a knowledgeable, diligent buyer. But I’m also a bit of a cheap-ass, which had, unfortunately, cost me hundreds in $$$ and weeks of lost time.
Many of my cheap camera copies from eBay do not work as described. The sellers refunded me, but I won’t get the time and fees it took to receive the cameras back.
I think I’ll need to adjust my buying strategies. 🤔
Fujifilm’s Cardia Tiara II is another camera that I thought looked really cool. I love the thin sliding door piece and its film-loading mechanism is particularly interesting: the film door opens only a sliver — unless you disconnect a hinge. It’s almost as if they wanted it to have the same experience of sliding a roll of film in as with a vintage Leica camera but with the convenience of an automatic film-winding motor.
The Konica Recorder is very high up on my list but for a few years now the cheapest copy I can find with a seller that guarantees it works costs approximately USD300. From what I have read the manual ISO selector takes priority so in essence you can play with underexposure or overexposure.
Oh yeah, they are surprisingly expensive! Half-frames are a relatively rare breed tho and I haven’t yet seen any other than the Recorder that are pocketable point-and-shoots.
The one I held in hand was actually a little bulkier than some of the full-frame point-and-shoots I tried. But it still looks very nice and makes 72+ frames. I have a really nice scanner that could produce 60MP images from half-frames, so it could really be something.
Dmitri Jun 1, ‘23, edited on Mar 13, ‘24
Dmitri Jun 1, ‘23, edited on Jun 1, ‘23
Dmitri Jun 1, ‘23
Katie Yang Jun 12, ‘23
Dmitri Jun 12, ‘23