It's a simple little plastic box, with a single speed shutter and an uber wide 22mm lens. No controls, just point, compose, click, and you are done.
I like that! The photo above was made from the passenger seat.
Many of my shots are done this way because I like the feeling of the road passing by and making occasional snaps when I get the urge.
Another shot made from the passenger seat. This was one of those days I wished I'd loaded color, but black and white is my habit, and since I use home-brew caffenol to develop my films, it's likely to remain my first choice.
Occasionally I get a shot that kind of makes me shake my head because it looks like it might have been made with a better camera than a simple box with a single speed shutter and no aperture control lens.
I could go on and on and load pages of photos made with the little Vivitar, but you get the idea. It's easy to love a camera that needs no batteries and is ready at a moments notice to hit the road!
I haven't shot much b&w in my vuws, but your results certainly inspire trying that option. It would be interesting to track down the designers of the ultra wide. I have always thought they deserve a lot more credit than they usually get. I've shot about fifty rolls in mine over the past ten years and it still works perfectly. Unlike most simple cameras with single-element meniscus lenses, the little Vivitar has a lens with two meniscus elements arranged symmetrically on either side of the shutter/aperture. That is a wide-angle design which dates back to the mid-nineteenth Century which minimizes distortion, coma, and chromatic aberration.
ReplyDeleteIt is a small wonder of a camera and I think it's just a modern spin on a very old design as you mention.
ReplyDeleteI like to think of it as a "less is more" kind of thing.
It also suits me that it's a perfect camera for this hot summer and doesn't require a lot of accessories to just pop in a pocket and hit the road.