Canon Snappy 50

Why, hello again!

I've been toying around with compact cameras a bit lately, including the Canon Snappy 50 and the Olympus Trip AF Motor... but unfortunately I seem to have lost the roll from the Trip, so that will have to come later...

So the beast I am talking about today, the Canon Snappy 50, is from the 1980s. It is fully automatic, with AE for ISOs of 100 and 400, and it has an eensy 35mm 1:3.5 lens. I picked it up because I heard that it has a bit of a cult following. Don't ask me where I heard that (I think it was a Craigslist ad) because I have nothing to back it up. But it's a fun camera anyway... I mean, just look at it! I get some weird looks when I walk around with it.

Rumours aside, here's what I think of the camera: for what it is, a cheap, light, and easy-to-use machine, it's alright, but not amazing. I ended up with some interesting shots with nice contrast and colours, and it has a flash which is handy for on-the-fly shooting at night. BUT! Parts of this camera, like the clamshell lens cover, are quite flimsy, and the image quality is nothing to write home about. You'll see in the examples below that there's quite a bit of distortion by the lens.

 If you're looking for an inexpensive, simple camera that takes beautiful photos, buy an Olympus Trip 35. If you want to recapture the essence of your photos from the 80s and 90s, the Snappy 50 might be the camera for you. I used it to document my husband's high school band playing at their 10 year reunion, so it was kind of perfect for that situation. It's also just a quirky showpiece, if you're into that.

Without further ado, here are the photos. They were taken with Shopper's Drug Mart 400 film.

Happy 4th of July!
-Canuck Caity