Just wanted to let you know that my toy camera review on the Holga TIM is now posted on toy camera dot com. It includes some pros/cons, details about the camera and some examples.

I hope you like it!

So recently, I’ve been talking a lot about all my favorite toy camera/lo-fi online hangouts and supplies so I thought I would give a quick run down of two of my faves.

The background, over a year ago my aunt Kate showed me something she got from a photographer friend of her’s for a Holga contest, Holgapalooza. She knew that was really into my Holga and thought I might be interested in entering – she was right! This introduction to the contest got me interested in Light Leaks magazine and helped me find the toy camera community.

I probably visit the Toy Camera website and forums at least once a day – it’s the best crowd I’ve found in terms of people willing to help and offer advice. There is always examples of what people are doing and images to see and commentary about the latest and greatest toy and lo-fi cameras out there. The website does reviews of cameras, article on photographers and galleries. Recently, I’ve gotten some great advice about Japan and comments on my first Gakkenflex images in the forums. When I started the traveling toy camera project I went to everyone and said, who’s in and what camera should we use? And over 25 people have signed up so far.

Light Leaks magazine is awesome! (And, no, I’m not just saying that!) I love the reviews, how-tos and seeing the amazing images submitted by the Light Leaks community. The greatest edition to Light Leaks has been the shop - a Canadian run camera, film and accessories shop. With affordable, fast and reliable shipping and $2 film, my dreams have come true! It’s also wonderful to be able to support a local company and independent magazine. Preview Issue 17 of Light Leaks here!

On Monday I kept my day open to FINALLY build my Gakkenflex TLR camera with GC. I had read that it took other people about an hour and a half so we were hoping it would be no different for us.

Challenge 1 was the shutter – I think the work I did building my pinhole camera helped me with the building of this shutter.

Once the shutter was done it was just a matter of figuring out the rest of the assembly. Part of the challenge was that all the instructions were in Japanese and I’m sure there were some tips in there somewhere but overall I found it not too bad to build.

Part of the challenge for installing the mirror was that you either needed to leave the screws a little bit loose or what I did was install one side and then slide the mirror piece in and then attached the second side.

The camera once the mirror was installed from the front.

Here is my completed Gakkenflex – with my breakfast sandwich in the background…

Now, my Blackbird, Fly has been my fav 35mm camera as of late but the Gakkenflex has many positive qualities as well. For one thing I find it considerably smaller that the BBF and I like that you can see in the viewfinder when things are in focus. It’s also pretty sweet to use a camera you built yourself.

For me there are a few cons, for example, I wish it had a bulb mode. I’m sure there will be some mods out there but my skills aren’t there yet. And there is no hot shoe so you can’t use an external flash. It also didn’t come with a strap so I borrowed one from one of my Holgas for now.

For these few cons I would still recommend this camera. I’ve seen several photos already that other people have shot and have been impressed. Also, at $50 this is a very affordable TLR and the 35mm film means it will be easy to process and will be quite affordable to do so.

It would also been very easy to make this a flip lens camera which is pretty fun and I’m sure more mods will present themselves as more people experiment with these cameras.

I shot a test roll today so I will post some photos as soon as I get them back.

If you are interested in one of these fun little gems you can buy one at the Light Leaks shop.

The Traveling Toy Camera Project has been really successful so far and I’m thrilled about it!! The camera has gone from Ottawa to Vancouver and Vancouver to Chicago, now the camera has traveled on to Oregon now. Soon it will be making the jump across the pond and doing some time in Europe!
Check out the most recent photos on the blog:
http://travelingtoycameraproject.blogspot.com/

And our photos in the flickr group.

This past week I’ve had an unfortunate cold and eye infection (I will spare you the details) but I have been rather excited because I’ve been organizing a traveling toy camera project with the cool kids at ToyCamera (which is easy when you are in bed all day).

What is a traveling toy camera project you might say? Well, it’s when a group of people from around the world share one camera. Each individual gets to shoot a roll of film with the camera before passing it along to the next person. After that each person develops their roll of film and posts the results to the blog: http://travelingtoycameraproject.blogspot.com/

I have always wanted to be a part of such a project but have never managed to learn about them in time to participate. For this particular project we have a few Canadians, plenty of Americans and some Europeans to get us started. And we already have a suggestion for the next traveling toy camera project!

For this project we are using a Vivitar UWS – it was suggested by another participant and since I’ve never used one I thought it would be great idea. Not only that but it takes 35mm film which is great since it’s affordable and accessible to those wishing to participate.

I really can’t wait to see what everyone photographs and watch it travel the world!

Christmas has come early when I received this little Japanese magazine with a build it yourself plastic camera. I have been experiencing some issues with one of my eyes – although it’s not full blown I am being mindful. So although I would really like to start building this plastic toy I think I’m going to have to wait.

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I was very excited last week to read this news release on one of my favorite websites www.toycamera.com – for everyone who has a polaroid or had one knows what fun and amazing cameras they are. I know I was so disappointed when Polaroid stopped making their instant film and instant cameras as I’ve had many a fun days and nights with my Polaroid. So it’s very, very exciting that they have announced that Polaroid is back!

I definitely look forward to seeing what they release and picking one up myself!

“We are pleased to herewith announce a history making cooperation between Polaroid and The Impossible Project:

As we have created quite some buzz about Analog Instant Photography over the past 12 months, the Polaroid licensee – The Summit Global Group – now can’t resist any longer and announced at a press conference on October 13th in Hongkong that they will re-launch some of the most famous Polaroid Instant Cameras.

Therefore they are commissioning The Impossible Project to develop and produce a limited edition of Polaroid branded Instant Films in the middle of 2010.

The Impossible Project is proud and excited that its ambitions and all the relentless work that has already been invested are now becoming the foundation for Polaroid’s comeback as a producer of Instant Cameras.

Large-scale production and worldwide sale of The Impossible Project’s new integral film materials under its own brand will already start in the beginning of 2010 – with a brand new and astonishing black and white Instant Film and the first colour films to follow in the course of the year.”

http://www.the-impossible-project.com/

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In preparation for Holgapalooza I’ve been trying to shoot more with my holga and today I got back the results – here is a taste of the new images. I was really happy with the results and the quality of these images. Here is one of Ottawa from the Chaudiere bridge. Read the rest of this entry »

For Christmas my sister got me a really cute toy camera

It takes 110 film and basically is a point and shoot – zero options but is totally cute and fits almost anywhere!

I did a test roll and then forgot that I never picked them up and fortunately got a call on Tuesday and went to get them. The results varied and I think a lot of photos didn’t turn out because I would accidentally press the button when the lens was closed but that said I did get a few interesting shots.

Of course, I always have to get a picture of Lily on my first roll – this image is super grainy (still no printer or scanner at home so these are pictures of pictures) but at least the color quality was pretty good.

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