My Obsession with Old, Crappy Cameras — I Love Them

I thought I was losing touch with my photography, then I discovered these junk drawer gems: the tiny Fuji part one.

Two Saguaros on my daughter’s ranch. This majestic couple have been in the desert for a long, long time.

OK, look. I love good camera gear, and I have no intention of throwing it all away and embracing the 4MP Sony I have on the desk. I will embrace the Sony, but I will also keep my premier gear as well.

I began feeling a bit sluggish in photography when I got Covid last New Year’s day. Recovery (covid brain) took a while and all I did during recovery was shoot my walking therapy with my iPhone.

And my iPhone 13 makes a pretty decent photo. And about as unique as a potato. Everyone who shoots the iPhone gets the same image. Clear, sharp, colorful with a bit of HDR thrown in to keep the blacks from blocking u and the whites from soaring into the zone of non-recovery.

But — all three lenses are the same on everyone’s phone.

Let’s go back. Back to when I began this insane journey of being a still image evangelist, and into the depths of the psychology of cameras and humans.

We had formats. Back in ’87 we had damned formats.

When I was thinking about a job, or a photo for my book, or whatever, the first thing I would think of was format.

“I have to do this on the Deardorff”, I would think, already imagining the shot as it came out of the fixer.

“Perfect for my 6x7 cameras”, would be one of the first things I thought about when the specs called for the kind of shooting those cameras excelled at.

And if it was a gig that called for moving fast, handheld, and more “loose” in the layout, the trusty Nikon F3s were called to duty.

And don’t get me started on film choice; Ektachrome 64, 100, 200 or Agfa. Perhaps we would shoot it on black and white T-Max 3200 or the grainless C-41 based monochrome film. So many options, so many ways to deliberately involve ME into the choices and decisions.

Then digital happened.

And all the cameras are one format.

No more dark cloth caverns of perfection. No more looking down into a viewfinder and eliminating all context but the image on the ground glass.

Hold camera to eye. Click.

The varied and wondeful differences between formats and film and processing were gone and replaced by pixels that can be more malleable, more adjusted, more easily manipulated.

Color and line… even warped line from a deficient lens… perfect.

And that has been how it has been — for all of digital life.

And I fight that by also shooting film, although I rarely share my film photography online. It seems more… what… special?

I don’t share everything online. I am in no way hiding it, but when we share everything, we run the risk of eliminating those surprising elements of our art that could be protected.

Then one morning I was going on a walk and grabbed a little Nikon I had from back in the day. 8MP.

Tiny.

Red.

Canna Lilies on the front porch.

And when I was out walking I became more and more excited to see what this relic from 2006 could do.

And it did fine. I actually had a little viewfinder, and the camera felt like a camera, a tool for making photographs. Albeit a bit clunky.

And waiting for the camera to focus before it actually TOOK the shot was interminable.

Fat boy losing weight?

We are completey spoiled.

The images were lovely.

Partly because the little Nikon had pretty good color, and partially because they did NOT look like my iPhone.

They were a bit noisy, they were not as sharp on the edges as my good cameras. The color, while pretty good for a P&S was not what I expected.

And I loved them.

I have since purchased a few other old, P&S digital cameras and find that each has a look all its own.

My budget is less than $50 and the camera must be in good condition — AND come with a charger and battery if needed.

14MP Fujifim XP ca 2007 or 2008. All the images in this story were shot with this camera.

This particular day, I shot the little guy above. 14 Megapixels, jpeg only, and no stabilization. Only a 5x zoom, but for walking around — it fits in the same pocket as your keys and change and still doesn’t bulge the pants.

Leaves on the weathered concrete.

My daughter’s breakfast nook.

Rusted pipes on the ranch.

I took my granddaughter on a walk. We were thinking it may be a grand idea to jump a freight train and go be hobos for a few years. Unfortunately she has boots on BOTH legs and can’t run fast enough for that boxcar. (She is a tomboy and really active kid.)

So we walked around the homestead and I made a few images of stuff that caught my eye.

I love cactus, and always take the opportunity to make a spiney shot.

After an hour or so, she decided we needed to go over to the nieghbors to pet the horses.

“Sounds better than hopping a freight, but I need a photo first”.

“OK, papa… but just one.

“You’re gonna take more than one, aren’t you papa”? She knows me too well.

I will be sharing more of the fun stuff these little cameras can produce in future stories.

I am a photographer, designer, and photo editor. You can find me at my self-named website or at Project 52 Pro System (enrollment begins January 6, 2023) where I teach commercial photography online. This is our tenth year of teaching, and it is the most unique online class you will find anywhere.

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You can find my books on Amazon, and I have taught two classes at CREATIVELIVE.