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

Canon Scoopic-16

Hey, hi, hello!

The lovely beast you see above is none other than the Canon Scoopic-16, a handheld 16mm camera that was produced in the 60s for use in news production (hence "scoop" ic). It is upside-down in the photo, though, because it is extremely top-heavy and I couldn't get it to sit for the picture, since I don't have a tripod that's sturdy enough to hold it. (The books behind the camera are comics by Lucy Bellwood I picked up at the Vancouver Comic Arts Fair last weekend. If you're like me, and love the ocean and tallships and nautical tales, her little comic might be for you!)

So, the Scoopic-16, which was followed soon after by the Scoopic-16M (with a macro function), and the MN and MS, was a well-loved machine that was also ideal for documentary filmmaking. This one was given to me by the film program's technician at UBC, who found out that I collect old cameras. I can only assume that it was popular with students as well!

What's the big deal, you might ask? I think that it was so popular because of its ease of use. It has a big ol' zoom lens, semi-automatic film loading and an automatic exposure setting. A beginner would be able to use it easily, but it also offers quite a bit of control. And it has four frame rates: 16, 24, 32 and 48!

Unfortunately, I don't have a battery pack or any sort of power source with which to test this guy, but I will include a youtube video of someone else's test at the bottom of this post. If you're interested in getting into filmmaking, the Scoopic-16 and its protegés are still good cameras with many fans. You can buy them from 16mm enthusiasts, and film is available from Fujifilm and Kodak (for now, at least), and you can still get 16mm processed in bigger cities. However, that probably will not be for much longer. Kodak's not the only company feeling the hurt from the shift to digital, and a lot of places won't be doing 16mm processing or telecine any more.

In other words... if you want in on the 16mm train, now's the time to do it.

Now, enjoy these images!





xoxo, C.