Photo Cameras

Pocket compacts, Instax and cameras that take a roll:

each answers a different wish, and what sits behind the lens matters more than the badge. Old CCD point-and-shoots like the Canon PowerShot and Sony Cyber-shot have a second life with people who prefer their harsh flash to a phone’s processing. At the serious end, a Sony RX100 or Canon G7 X puts a one-inch sensor behind a zoom that runs from wide views to portraits in a jacket pocket, while a Fujifilm X100 or Ricoh GR has a larger APS-C sensor behind a fixed lens: you frame with your feet and get a cleaner picture in dim light in return. Interchangeable-lens bodies, mirrorless or reflex, are where a camera becomes a system, and the lens mount you buy into outlasts the body. Fujifilm’s Instax comes in Mini, Square and Wide, and the film does not cross between them, so the format decides what every pack costs for as long as you own the camera. An older Polaroid 600 runs on 600 packs, which carry the battery that powers it. On 35mm, SLRs like the Canon AE-1 and Pentax K1000 take lenses that swap, and point-and-shoots like the Olympus mju have turned collectible. Camcorders and action cameras sit under film cameras, and cameras that watch a driveway all night under security and surveillance.

The Pentax K1000, the Canon AE-1 and the battery question:

the difference between those two explains most of the film market. The K1000’s shutter is mechanical: it fires without a battery, which only runs the light meter. The AE-1 will not fire at all without one, so an AE-1 with a dead battery tells you nothing about whether it works. For a first roll, colour negative is the safe choice. Colour and black-and-white film are developed and scanned locally without fuss, while slide film is harder to get processed in the country.

Instax packs and a roll at the lab:

the camera is the cheap part. A pack of ten Instax Mini shots sits around ₡7,000 to ₡8,000, which puts every print at several hundred colones, and developing a colour 35mm roll starts at about ₡7,500 before you count the film itself or the scans. That is why a used instant or film camera is worth more with unexpired packs or rolls in the bag, and why so many Instax cameras bought for one party come up for sale once the owner has added up the film.

Dry-firing a 35mm body before you pay:

open the back with no film inside, set the slowest speed and fire, then the fastest, and watch the shutter from behind: at slow speeds it should open a clean, full frame. An AE-1 that squeals as it fires needs a service. Press the foam strips around the film door: if they are sticky or crumbling, the light seals have gone and will fog the film, a cheap fix but one to take off the price. On a digital compact, switch it on and off a few times: a lens error message usually means sand in the zoom barrel. On an Instax, open the film door and look at the two metal rollers at the top, because dried developer on them leaves streaks across every print.

Scans from the last roll sell the camera:

for a film camera, put a few scans from its last roll in the listing beside the photos of the body. They prove the shutter, meter and seals better than any description can. Say whether the seals have been replaced and which battery it takes. For an Instax, show a recent print and say how many packs come with it. For a digital camera, photograph the screen switched on, include the charger and say how many batteries are in the bag. A buyer coming from Grecia or up from Puntarenas to see a 35mm body will want to fire it with the back open, so leave it empty and put a fresh battery in.