Super Compacts, Super Prices!
Yes that’s right. The cameras that follow command a LOT of money and folk look at their size and ask “Are they really worth it?W
Yes they are! Demand versus supply in a free market determines that and supply is very limited..
That aside, we need to remember that these were made to a very high spec and were not cheap when new…that often reflects in the photographs they are capable of making.
Where to start?
Why not here, with examples from the Yashica T series?
Armed with an amazing Carl Zeiss lens any Yashica T Series compact could be considered to be most unfair to many other cameras!
The most sought after now are the T4 and T5, with prices reaching levels that keep these are arms length for most.
Over the years we’ve used them all: T3, T4 and T5. Great but it’s the T* Zoom that gets our vote.
Maligned by owners of other models due to having a zoom lens, T* Zoom feels better in the hand, has a selection more usable features especially in terms of flash and exposure manipulation plus it’s metal bodied.
The maximum f4.5 aperture might be a minor concern but the 28-70mm lens is wonderfully tack sharp throughout the focal range. Other plus points, the built in dioptre makes this the best for glasses wearers, tunable and crystal clear viewfinder making it even more of a joy to use and you can even get an infra-red remote for it. Very handy for long exposures.
What we have found is clearly shared by others too with prices rising so fast they’re up with the fixed lens models.
Here’s some sample photos made with Yashica T* Zoom
Olympus…
Best known for the Trip 35 in this environment, Olympus had a great footing to go further and that is exactly what they did.
Commanding the bigger money is the Mju II which is probably the most sought after of their 35mm compacts.
A very tidy design and feature rich there’s no big surprise there really is there?
It’t the All Weather version boasting “Large Aperture” that gets the attention
Personally, I really didn’t gel with this camera. Finding it awkward and not so nice to handle so only a couple of frames to offer by way of demonstration.
I fully recall not liking that they don’t have the flash and fill functionality of the others and found the lens a little soft too…but don’t let these words be a deciding factor as this could be pilot error or a lack of compatibility between us!
The more solid contenders from Olympus really come from the XA Series. There were several models made, mainly consumer versions with zone focusing but for this article we’re looking at the top end remember.
A FYI here: My Mum used an XA2 for a long while (still got it and that too is still good!) even selling photos taken while on duty at their weddings to customers she took on that tiny camera.
So of all the cameras we’re featuring here the much loved, XA is the odd one out perhaps being that you focus it!
A full on manual focus, rangefinder a aperture priority pocket marvel with a legendary good lens.
Shipped with dedicated flash unit, once removed that makes the size plummet to one of the smallest 35mm around.
Manual asa setting is a bonus though some my find that acquiring focus can be a tad fiddly, on it’s bum you’ll find battery test lever combining a sensible +1.5 stop over expose function and that’s about it.
Terrific f2.8 lens and aperture priority auto exposure makes the XA one of the handiest pocket sized marvels to have about the person…especially in the street.
The only real issue to be aware of on these is the electronic shutter release that can get dirty or die even, and thus cost to repair.
Watch too, like any Olympus of the time for fungus in the lens. Light seals will be needed if not done recently, we offer a kit for that, just to make life a lot easier!
Sample photos:
Konica, The Most Prolific Compact Camera Builder?
We have a long way to go yet so let’s get stuck into Konica.
When considering a compact camera almost anything this maker is a bloody good option. These guys made millions upon millions of them far too many for anyone to list let alone collect!
To that end we’re just going to take a quick peek at a couple that have seen surging values over these last few years starting with just one version of the incredible Big Mini series.
This one is not the most desirable of the range, that honour belongs to the BM-301 but hey, see the sample photos we managed to take in the short while we had it.
Overall impressions: Bloody good, defying it’s tiny size. Nicely built and armed with a pretty good lens.
Not the overall control in terms of functionality of many others but it’s easy to see why this series is attracting something of a cult following.
So now to something a tad unusual and it comes in the form of the Konica Recorder aka AA-35.
As I write this the analogue world is all up in arms to varying degrees due to Pentax (I always knew they’d be the ones to make the first step back 😉 ) who have just released a new film camera. It’s a half frame camera.
No new thing but I think a well considered camera and one that will be, you mark my words, a landmark camera.
Anyway you can understand my digressing I hope when we consider this brilliant little weapon. Meet the Konica Recorder (aka AA-35) half-frame super compact:
Not much to look at is it?
It’s a bit more chunky than these photos make it look, it has a limited but 3 way adjustable asa range and unusually but sensibly the film track of this half-frame runs vertically making for normal landscape rather than portrait orientated photos.
That film track is what accounts for it’s bigger than expected physical size though still very very compact but heavily constructed they were clearly very popular in their day.
A pretty neat tool when all is said and done but offering no frills, closing down neatly for protection, this one is a literal point and shoot with an on/off for the flash, and one close button.
Viewfinder being located half way up the left hand side confuses me every time!
Now here’s the important bit…being half-frame means half the quality right?
See for yourself in this following gallery with photos made using outdated film, but put it this way…we have printed photos from Recorder at 16×12 inches but could go larger 😉
Being unintentionally manufacturer driven…
Let’s move onto another prolific maker of compact cameras, perhaps the one whose range now comprises of some of the more desirable money can buy.
Ricoh, now part owner of Pentax also made millions of little cameras. These guys excelled at making 35mm compacts clearly designed with the photographer in mind. Maybe more so than the other makers in this article.
Top of this particular Christmas tree would be the GR21. Given that prices for this fabled camera armed with a super wide 21mm lens, the only one with such a wide lens don’t fall below four £UK figures means that I have never seen one even. Never likely to!
So, let’s push that aside and come down a notch to the GR1 series.
Original GR1 can still be had at reasonable money, but stepping up to the GR1s is better the last and top of the range GR1v being the most costly now but from all I can see offering little over the middle model.
All Ricoh compacts of this ilk, this body shape are susceptible to many of the same issues. The lcd display in fully working order is a rare find almost, usually sections of the film counter stop working leaving the feature selection visible.
That’s fine, anyone can work with that, but as and when that section goes too then you can can the button presses required and still work what will be an fantastic camera.
They are prone to other problems too, but hey look, after 30 years what electro-mechanical device isn’t?
In fact my own GR1s recently committed hari kari and was sold for spares.
But hey look….look at those controls and how well laid out they are!
Only a photographer could have got it that right and thus we’re left with a seriously fantastic range of pocket sized marvels that not only have the features we want presented so perfectly, but a killer lens too.
I must get another…you’ve got my juices flowing now! 😀
Here’s some sample photos off of our late GR1s:
I think you can see from those just how much I loved that little camera.
Was it my favourite?
That’s a brilliant question and one that I just can’t answer so just bear with me and see why with what comes next because….much as I loved the GR1s it wasn’t that which is almost constantly by my side.
I’ve been through about three of them now and refuse to be without a Ricoh R1 ever again!
It was a devil to find a good one when our previous ones died…a tendency not particular amongst compacts but can afflict these and the GR1 more than most.
You can save a couple of quid if you don’t mind one with sections of the lcd display not working…a common issue on these as well as the much more expensive GR1 series.
However I was ever so lucky and found this gorgeous set and yes, paid a fair bit for it.
Again, these are hard to find without the lcd problem as outlined above, in fact this one is now showing symptoms but never mind that, the real reason we want the R1 is because of it’s lens.
Nothing but nothing from any class of camera nearly, out-sharps this little tool. No jesting.
The lens in this baby is an absolute killer as you’ll see. It doesn’t end there either…this little gem has another trick up it’s sleeve. 😉
There’s a little oddity on these that can make them more attractive; the panoramic feature drops in an extra lens and to set the wide format activates blinds to crop the top and bottom of the frame.
Disabling these (try not to be destructive!) to keep the full frame then leaves you with a compact camera armed with a switchable 24mm ultra-wide lens!
Okay, it’s soft at the corners and will vignette but that can be used to great effect. Back on the normal lens…it is an absolute killer…sharp as sharp can be and it’s never yet failed to shock people as to just how sharp such a small camera can be.
Due to that, prices have shot up from say, £75-£80 a few years ago, and now you’re going to struggle to find a good one for under £200.
DO DO DO heed my previous advice though…only get one if it’s working. You will never fix one of these.
Right then…lots of sample photos from over the years made on several Ricoh R1!
Before we move on to the best until last thing we’ve one more Ricoh Super Compact worth a mention here:
The R10.
A lovely little camera, again endowed with a terrific lens, lots of the usual handy feature and this rather entertaining gimmick of being able to add little messages to your photos!
Aye of course not for everyone but look…it’s a great camera, makes lovely photos and is still fun!
Piece de resistance…
We’ve covered so many fantastic cameras here already. Even so, just a few of oh so many and that’s without delving into lesser but also brilliant hardware that comes in at a fraction of the cost of some of these.
You see, there’s something for everyone in the world of compacts but the one that stands head and shoulders over all that I’ve use….the one that just deals with whatever I throw at it is….
Nikon 28ti (and 35ti)
My God I love these!
Our amazing Nikon 28ti one is now like an old friend!
Whatever we throw at it….it deals with (apart from fog…the lack of contrast can confuse the autofocus!…it doesn’t care much for fog) You’ll see from our sample photos just how well this copes with some awkard conditions.
Loves Rollei RPX100, our FT-12, adores Kodak Double-X and Portra 800 and well…anything you can put in it really!
Physically it’s a bit lardier than some but the titanium construction is beautiful and tough. The retro looking analogue display is really cool but a bugger to see at times but flash control is the better of the two.
Aperture ppriority is a nice feature but to be honest, just leave it in program mode….it has the best program mose, better even than on our F5.
Flash capability is also excellent, nicely balanced with the camera being intelligent ennough to fill flash automatically in heavily backlit contitions. Spot on!
Demand is pushing prices ever more horbital on these and they are now rapidly heading back towards the new price in 1994 of £1200, when they were very much thought UNFAIRLY, to be a rich man’s gimmick.
They are way way far better than that believe me.
The sister version in silver titanium, the 35ti is pretty much identical but carries a slightly smaller coronary in terms of price.
The lens again is fantastic and lovely, but flash control via buttons better suited to dainty Japanese fingertips is the only niggle really
Can’t go wrong…allow me to demonstrate with loads of photos made using one or the other of these little marvels using a variety of films. Note the incredibly sharp detail and how it copes with backlit and low light conditions. Utterly amazing.
Well you must be a bit fed up by now…
Well that’s okay because we’re at the end of the article. It’s been quite tiring this one but fun too.
I feel like I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of this subject but sticking to what I’ve used and experienced was the whole point. There are other high end compacts but due to the problems I outlined earlier, those are not cameras that I’d be prepared to even take a punt on.
So, how about we leave this by saying that you don’t have to spend heaps of money to get a brilliant compact. How about we leave this by saying that less can be more…big fun for small bucks?
So I shall say sayonara now and leave you with a small gallery of some of the other notable 35mm compacts we’re had through the shop over the years. Including some truly odd, strange, funky and rare ones.
As you can see, there’s something for everyone. A whole galaxy and a whole thesaurus to describe them!
Once again, thank you for your patience 🙂
Very good article.