Post by PeterW on Nov 28, 2005 7:35:30 GMT -5
Hi all,
Let's get a bit of interest in this section.
Sounds like a silly question to ask what is a point and shoot camera. But to me some of the cameras listed by Ron (not having a dig, Ron
aren't P&S at all. They've got speeds to choose from, an aperture to select and you even have to guess distances and focus some of them. I mean, heck! - we're getting to 'real' photography here 
.
To me, P&S should be just that, a camera you can hand to a kiddie or for that matter anyone who isn't the slightest bit interested in photograhy as a subject - they just want to take pictures. They should be able to use it, and get pictures, after a coup[le of minutes instruction. Remember 'you press the button, we do the rest'? The simple box camera is an ideal example of P&S.
In the 1930s P&S began to look more like 'real' cameras with eye-level finders or, with a big reflecting viewfinder, looked like a real TLR.
By the 1950s and 1960s, box cameras were really old hat. Dozens of eye-level P&S cameras with simple fixed focus f/11 meniscus lenses and single speed shutters, or at the most T and I, flooded on to the market. Most took either 120 or 127 film. Some were cheap plastic, but others like Bencini's Comet and Koroll had quite handsome polished aluminium bodies. Some of them had a choice of apertures but no 'technicalities' like f-stops to confuse the non-technically minded, just a little lever with two positions marked Dull and Bright or with little symbols of a sun and a cloud. A few of the more 'advanced' ones had focusing but to avoid having to guess distances in feet or metres there were again little symbols of a head and shoulders, a family group and a faraway mountain.
Then Kodak (as usual) gave P&S picture taking (I almost said photography
) a shot in the arm with Instamatic 126 cameras. No need even to learn how to load and unload a roll of film, just drop in a plastic cartridge, wind on, point it and shoot. Kodak made more than 70 million 126 Instamatics.
They were followed by millions of 110 P&S cameras, again initiated by Kodak. Some had 'Normal' and 'Tele' settings with a supplementary 'tele' lens which slid in front of the main lens. Others also had built-in electronic flash for indoor shots. They were easy to understand and simple to use.
Countless thousands of family albums were filled with 6x4 inch prints from these simple cameras. And, used intelligently, they can produce surprisingly good pictures.
The final expression of P&S film cameras, brought by cheaper and cheaper mass produced electronics and precision plastic moulding, gave us compact 35mm auto exposure, auto focus and even auto flash cameras with 'top brand' names like Nikon and Olympus. Some even had zoom lenses. They were quite sophisticated cameras capable of producing excellent results with a minumum of operating knowledge. Now they have been pushed out by simple compact digital cameras and a flood of cell phones with built-in digital cameras.
Beneath consideration for collecting? Depends on your interests. If your interest is only in high quality precision cameras then yes. But if, like me, you're also interested in the history of photography, social as well as technical, there's plenty of interest in the history of P&S. At the moment you can pick many of them up for the price of a cup of coffee - even cheaper if you like going to Starbucks for coffee! I think every non-specialist collector should have a few representaive examples from over the years.
What's the viewpoint of other members. Let's hear the pros and cons for collecting P&S.
Well at least think about it.
Peter
Let's get a bit of interest in this section.
Sounds like a silly question to ask what is a point and shoot camera. But to me some of the cameras listed by Ron (not having a dig, Ron
aren't P&S at all. They've got speeds to choose from, an aperture to select and you even have to guess distances and focus some of them. I mean, heck! - we're getting to 'real' photography here 
.To me, P&S should be just that, a camera you can hand to a kiddie or for that matter anyone who isn't the slightest bit interested in photograhy as a subject - they just want to take pictures. They should be able to use it, and get pictures, after a coup[le of minutes instruction. Remember 'you press the button, we do the rest'? The simple box camera is an ideal example of P&S.
In the 1930s P&S began to look more like 'real' cameras with eye-level finders or, with a big reflecting viewfinder, looked like a real TLR.
By the 1950s and 1960s, box cameras were really old hat. Dozens of eye-level P&S cameras with simple fixed focus f/11 meniscus lenses and single speed shutters, or at the most T and I, flooded on to the market. Most took either 120 or 127 film. Some were cheap plastic, but others like Bencini's Comet and Koroll had quite handsome polished aluminium bodies. Some of them had a choice of apertures but no 'technicalities' like f-stops to confuse the non-technically minded, just a little lever with two positions marked Dull and Bright or with little symbols of a sun and a cloud. A few of the more 'advanced' ones had focusing but to avoid having to guess distances in feet or metres there were again little symbols of a head and shoulders, a family group and a faraway mountain.
Then Kodak (as usual) gave P&S picture taking (I almost said photography
) a shot in the arm with Instamatic 126 cameras. No need even to learn how to load and unload a roll of film, just drop in a plastic cartridge, wind on, point it and shoot. Kodak made more than 70 million 126 Instamatics.They were followed by millions of 110 P&S cameras, again initiated by Kodak. Some had 'Normal' and 'Tele' settings with a supplementary 'tele' lens which slid in front of the main lens. Others also had built-in electronic flash for indoor shots. They were easy to understand and simple to use.
Countless thousands of family albums were filled with 6x4 inch prints from these simple cameras. And, used intelligently, they can produce surprisingly good pictures.
The final expression of P&S film cameras, brought by cheaper and cheaper mass produced electronics and precision plastic moulding, gave us compact 35mm auto exposure, auto focus and even auto flash cameras with 'top brand' names like Nikon and Olympus. Some even had zoom lenses. They were quite sophisticated cameras capable of producing excellent results with a minumum of operating knowledge. Now they have been pushed out by simple compact digital cameras and a flood of cell phones with built-in digital cameras.
Beneath consideration for collecting? Depends on your interests. If your interest is only in high quality precision cameras then yes. But if, like me, you're also interested in the history of photography, social as well as technical, there's plenty of interest in the history of P&S. At the moment you can pick many of them up for the price of a cup of coffee - even cheaper if you like going to Starbucks for coffee! I think every non-specialist collector should have a few representaive examples from over the years.
What's the viewpoint of other members. Let's hear the pros and cons for collecting P&S.
Well at least think about it.
Peter
;D LOL
