With all the talk of people turning disposable camera lenses into mirrorless lenses lately, it seems disposable camera demand is on the rise. Answering the call is Ilford, with their new 54-shot half-frame single-use camera (SUC).
Unlike most of Ilford’s products, the Ilford Ilfocolor Rapid Half Frame (buy here) actually shoots colour images. It’s rated to ISO400 and includes a built-in flash.
Ilford – Heros in a half frame!
The half-format uhhh.. format, essentially cuts your 36x24mm frame right down the middle, resulting in two 18×24 frames – or 24×18, if you prefer the longest edge first). This essentially results in a 4:3 aspect ratio image instead of the typical 3:2 we get from 35mm film (or full-frame/APS-C DSLRs).
While many may knock the drop in “resolution”, for prints up to about 7×5, you’re probably not going to really notice all that much difference between full-frame and half-frame images, especially with a disposable lens.
Ilford Ilfocolor Rapid Half Frame Specs
The Ilford Ilfocolor Rapid Half Frame camera has a fixed 31mm focal length, with a fixed f/11 aperture. The shutter speed is fixed at 1/125th of a second and as mentioned above, the film’s rated to ISO400.
So, bear all this in mind when considering the conditions in which you want to shoot it. Indoor conditions may be too dim, while outdoor conditions might be too bright. An exposure of 1/125th @ f/11 and an ISO of 400 overexposes the Sunny 16 rule by almost three stops.
The minimum (again, fixed) focus distance of the camera is about a metre, stretching all the way to infinity. It comes preloaded with an AAA battery and has a built-in flash to help in those darker conditions.
Reusing the single-use camera?
Despite my semi-joke comment above about turning disposable camera lenses into mirrorless lenses, I do wonder what this one would create. Given that it’s a half-frame camera, it’s doubtful that it would cover a full-frame sensor. But might it be big enough to cover an APS-C sensor? I suspect it probably would.
Knowing YouTube, I don’t think we’ll have to wait too long for somebody to tear one of these apart to cannibalise the lens. Although the regular disposable camera lenses obviously cover all sizes smaller than full-frame, that these may cover smaller sensor cameras means few of them may ultimately go to waste.
Price and Availability
At the moment, the new release is limited to Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. It’s hoped that it’ll be coming to the USA, Europe and the rest of the world in due time. Exactly when this may happen, is unknown.
In Australia it’s currently available from C.R.Kennedy for AU$29.95 (about US$19.38). I think we can expect it to be around $19.99 when it’s eventually released in the US.
[via Digital Camera World]
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