Disposable Cameras

[Mike Drinkuth]

I'm looking for image quality, especially in medium light (I just assume LOW light and disposable cameras don't mix well) and ease of use.

With this in mind, Is there one disposable camera that stands out as better than others?

Are there any you've seen that are ~at all~ water resistant????

[Don]

can't comment on personal experience, however my son used eight or 10 disposables on a trip to Utah several years ago. Used both Fuji and Kodak. I can't say I was impressed with the overall quality of the prints. low light prints were not very good at all in part because he had no control over the flash. Sunny day photos were better. Admittedly, this was a few years ago and the quality should be better in newer versions...The problem, I think, is that in order to make the cameras disposable, firms will skimp on lens quality and that results in ok small snapshots as long as teh prints are small...

Have you considered a point-and-shoot like teh Olympus stylus instead. There is a discussion elsewhere on whiteblaze about its virtues...

Happy photo shooting..;l.

[Virginian]

I used throw aways on the first part of my hike and I tried about three different ones. They all sucked in low lite. I finished my hike with the Elf Jr. it was very compact and took great pics. It used Advantax film. Not too expensive. I saw a lot of people with tele-lens and wished I had had one at times. I missed some great moose and bear shots. I did see a water resistant throw away, expensive at Wal-Mart.

[chris]

I initially used disposable cameras and have gotten good pictures from them. I found no discernable difference between the Kodak ones and the generic ones. Low light wasn't so much of a problem. The makers usually put fast film in the camera. A larger problem was lack of a timer. I have a bunch of nice pictures from early solo trips, but none of them have me in them. I'd love to see what I looked like then. Most (all?) disposables use a plastic lens for cost purposes.

I think point and shoot cameras are a more economical option and one that thruhikers might want to consider. I now use an Olympus Stylus Epic for longer trips. Picture quality can be good, but I have to careful with exposure. Since it can't be adjusted, I have to be careful with where I point it. But, it works well enough. I got it for $70 from B&H. A 36 exposure roll of print film costs me $1.50 (B&H, Fuji). It didn't take too many rolls of film to make the Olympus more economical than disposables.

[hikerat2002]

I have not used many cameras in my life. They have gotten really cheap in price though, you gotta admit, compared to 15 years ago. If you are not leaving for a few weeks, maybe do a side by side test of two or three disposables you are interested in by taking photos of family, friends outdoors and indoors and taking pictures of stuff outside in sun and near dark, etc. If it was me getting a camera, I'd just look at taking multiple pictures of same vista, people, AYCE tables, etc. to sort out better photos. If you go digital, you can trim off the developing cost and just need to bring memory and batteries for the camera. Price-wise though, digital may be way outside what you want to spend totally on photos.

[Kerosene]

I've used Kodak disposables for my last two hikes. I agree with other comments that they're terrible for low-light shots. However, at 3 ounces, they are as light as you're going to find. I would definitely consider the Canon Elf, Canon Powershot, Minolta Dimage Xi, Pentax Optio S, or Sony Cyber Shot DSC-U20 digital cameras which weigh in at 4.5-8 ounces with memory card.

[bhoopes]

I have found the fuji once use camera about the best in quality. But all once use cameras skimp on quality of lens and with a fixed f stop and shutter speed your quality will be poor. When a fast speed film is used you may have a grainy picture if you want to enlarge the picture to 8x10. Yes there is a waterproof once use camera. I have seen them in a few places. You may find them in a Walmart or even a drug store. They are a little bit pricy for the number of prints you can get out of them. That is because they are in a plastic case which increases the cost to produce.

[WVKAYAKGIRL]

USED A FUJI DISPOSABLE/H2O PROOF ON A WW TRIP A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. WAS SATISFIED WITH THE PICTURES. OF COURSE THEY WEREN'T OF THE SAME QUAILITY AS MY OTHER CAMERA BUT THEY DID TURN OUT BETTER THAN I HAD EXPECTED.

[Jaybird]

Mike:

I do have experience with "disposable cameras" & can tell you from my experience....they are GREAT!
They dont weigh much (compared to a regular 35mm camera body...i have a Canon Rebel EOS)...& most of the "disposables"
now come with "fast" film, usually 800 film, good for low lites, or high action.

I've used them on section hikes for the past two years on the A.T. (4 each year) & have NO complaints.

"Jaybird"

www.trailjournals.com/JaybirdandJigsaw

p.s.: most of the photos you see on my trail journals website are taken from "disposables".