One-time Use Cameras (1)
Introduction
Several suppliers offer this type of camera, a very basic
low-price plastic camera , pre-loaded with film. The consumer returns the camera in
its entirety to the development shop.
I tried a few of these cameras to investigate two questions:
Here are my personal, subjective findings. (And again, I apologize for the poor quality of my scanner. I have adjusted the images for contrast and brightness, but not for sharpness.)
Application Situation
Think of the following scenario. You arrrive at your holiday destination only to realize that you have forgotten your trusted SLR or point-and-shoot camera. No problem. Almost every photoshop will sell you a camera that looks like a carton box with plastic container inside, loaded with a 24 (+3) exposure negative film, starting at around US$ 6 for the basic version without flash or waterproof case.
What are you getting? The typical camera will have a 400 ASA film loaded (800 also available now), an f=30...32mm, 10...11 fixed aperture lens with arround 1/100 shutter speed. In essence this is a moderate wide angle lens. The short focal length and narrow aperture makes for a great depth of field, claimed at about 1.1m to infinity. The combination fo 400/10/100 (film speed/aperture/shutter) is designed for correctly exposed picture in sunny to slightly cloudy environments. Of course, the great latitude of modern films allows for picture taking at one stop below and 3-4 stops above. In other words, a picture in bright sunlight will still turn out well, even though it is rather over-exposed.
(c) Christian Wagner, 2001