There are loads of cameras with incredible capabilities out there that make getting images under even the most difficult conditions possible. However, could you spend just a few dollars on a camera and still take great images? This fun video shows what you can accomplish with a 30-year-old camera from a thrift store.
Coming to you from Willem Verbeeck, this fun video follows him as he shoots with an Olympus Infinity Stylus point and shoot camera he got for $3 at a thrift store. When it was launched in 1991, the Olympus Infinity Stylus was the smallest and lightest fully automatic 35mm camera in the world. The camera features a 35mm f/3.5 lens with three elements in three groups, a 0.4x viewfinder with autofocus frame and close-up correction marks, a focus range of 1.1 feet to infinity, a film speed range of ISO 50 to 3,200, automatic film loading, and automatic flash. And weighing in at just 6 oz (170 g), it is a ridiculously portable camera. I always enjoy these videos, as they challenge the photographer to forgo modern technology and really return to a purer form of photography. Check out the video above to see the images Verbeeck took, and maybe pull that old camera out of the boxes in your basement and go shoot!
Here's a picture I shot using a basically worthless 1955' Vredeborch Felica (f/8 single element meniscus lens, max shutter speed of 1/50), but it's still one of my favorite pictures I ever shot. Hell, I even sold a print of it :)
Cheapest film camera at my local thrift shop was a $100 Yashica FX-3 with 50mm lens and they couldn't tell me whether it worked or not... I envy people who have thrift shops that sell things for less than "Excellent-Condition" eBay prices. :/
I recently scored an Olympus OM-1 with its Zuiko 50mm/1.7 lens for $29. And I live in Switzerland, where a Big Mac cost almost $7... I guess the supply exceeds the demand around here!
The Olympus MJU is amazing, but finding it for $3,- is plain lucky. In The Netherlands they go for an average of €50,- to €75,- on the used market.
Doesn't change the fact that this is one amazing camera though!