more plastic

[camfiend]

has anybody else bothered to gather together a collection of DISC cameras such as these
there are a lot of different makes of them out there for a style of camera which just never seemed to take off


Sure they were a tiny format and cheaply produced but I would have thought that would have made them more popular then they seem to have been...  thought they were worth showing anyhow... they have there place in collections, I think



So what do you think... where are your disc cameras   come on admit it, you have a few...

[belgiumreporter]

Well, i have to confess i haven't got a singel one. The disc cameras never appealed to me not when they where new and not now when they can be found in the 1€ baskets in sharity shops and such. I guess i'm not the only one to wich the disc cameras have no appeal as i never saw one sold for a premium price. The fact that they are without exeption all very simple cameras with a dissapointing image quality must have something to do with that. The same goes for 126 fomat cameras, allthough some people seem collect those but mostly by "fun" collectors who buy them because they are to be had very cheap and still ooze out some nostalgia. I miscalculated myselve in thinking polaroids would be worth something someday, upon till now after 40 years of collecting i've only see the prices go down ( save one or two exeptions) here in Europe prices can be sometimes "fair" but what i've seen on American ebay even the older ones can be had at rock bottom prices. The polaroids did learn me a lesson though ( and scolarship cost money) If you want to avoid dissapointments in collecting collect things because you like them, not because you think they will be worth something someday or it 'll bring you a profit. As long as you're okay with that you can collect anything you want and be a happy collector. ( providing you've got enough place to stack it all and have no or a very understanding wife) 

[camfiend]

they were definately a nothing camera producing poor quality pics but for happy snappers they were like pocket cameras.. go anywhere with you but they never seemed to meet with any popularity at all.. there were so many other photographically useless cameras out there with a seemingly unending market ... Never owned one myself while film was still available for them so never had the pleasure of trying one out... but I find room for anything in my collections that takes my fancy... and no longer any opposition from the missus

[Stephen]

To Kodak's designers they seemed an answer to everything, it made developing and printing easier, especially the reprints, as part of the whole disc system. Simple loading, short focus aspheric plastic lens that required no focus, fuss free and tiny......and there was the fatal flaw that nobody at Kodak saw, the whole thing was too small.
The negatives were tiny, easily scratched, and difficult to re order if the contact sheet was lost.
Despite their best efforts the shot were grainy, and low in contrast.....we had dozens of customers who were most unhappy, and had the change to other cameras.
It appealed to customers who wanted small and simple, but they tended to be older, and found the negatives too small to deal with.
The Disk cameras were a deep mistake, ans without the film and processing, now as useless as a chocolate teapot.

Stephen

[yashica1943]

I must admit that I bought a used disc camera in the mid 1980's - to put aboard a model aeroplane! I cannot even remember what make it was, possibly Konica or Kodak. The attraction was the low weight lack of focusing and one action shutter release and film wind-on. Easy to achieve with one servo, most small cameras needed to be wound-on after each exposure. I still have some prints taken with it at about 100 feet over a derelict wartime airfield, very fuzzy. I remember that the flash operated every time it worked, a good indication. Might find one and put it up on here.)
Now things are completely different with tiny self focusing digital cameras, better lenses, video, remote control, electric flight motors that can be shut off for every exposure. I even have a very acceptable video shot with a keyring camera I bought for £7 on a 34" wingspan foam electric aeroplane.
I am not going to mention drones.

[yashica1943]

This was the best one that I took from my radio control model aeroplane, with a disc camera, about 1985. The location is Beaulieu Airfield, Hampshire. The blue dot at the top is my camper van. The arrow points to me. Not a masterpiece but the camera was strapped to the side of a moving aeroplane with a two-stroke engine idling at the front. Full frame 5x 7 print scanned with a cheap all-in one.