Wallace Koopmans Artlog

Back in 1999 this camera would have cost you around $230 while a just emerging 1.5mpixel digital camera would have set you back 2-3 times as much and trust me digital cameras of that time would not win any design awards for their aesthetic beauty.

Thanks for proving my point Sony Mavica FD91.

I really like the design of the camera the rubber material references the use of leatherette from the past without mimicking it and the metal body is sleek and looks great too.  When not deployed the flash is barely visible adding to that minimalist look.

While the lens is able to produce fantastic results in good light it is let down by its slow aperture. So slow in fact that Canon neglected to provide specifications for it in their literature although they were able to tell us that it has ‘Super Spectra’ coating on its 7 elements in 6 groups (Its f4.5-10.9 if your really curious)

One thing about one camera: The Canon Sure Shot Classic 120 uses a hybrid autofocus system.  It initially sends out an IR beam if that isn’t reflected back to the camera it then switches to a passive AF sensor that looks for contrast in vertical or horizontal lines. That may sound familiar in terms of a modern DSLR’s  autofocus but remember this is a film camera it had to have a separate CCD sensor just for this purpose.

Nikon Press release ‘This camera is targeted at those looking for a lens-shutter camera with a wide-angle zoom lens, as well as those who want to be able to take pictures easily virtually anytime, anywhere.’

Thanks Nikon just what I was looking for a camera with a lens and a shutter because the pinhole coffee tin I was using everywhere all the time just wasn’t cutting it.  After all the marketing drivel what you have left is a plastic camera with a 28-70mm f5.6-10 lens.  Its nothing to write home about or Snapchat about as the kids say.  ( If your reading this past 2015, Snapchat was a photo messaging service where the message disappears after a period of time I’m sure something else has come along to replace it by now)  Back to the camera,  as much as I wanted to like this camera because of the 28mm wide end it just isn’t that good and 5.6 as a maximum aperture at 28mm is pretty slow.  It’s because of cameras like this that we shoot digital today.

I will cut the camera a little slack as I always seem to do.  The film I used was 400 speed drugstore film that I got from a sandwich bag at a thrift store so there is always hope for a better tomorrow.