Inevitable inevitability
Last year I had a one-roll stand with a compact camera, an Olympus Mju II Zoom 80. After it was gone I missed it more than I thought it would. I didn’t keep it because, fun as it was to have something so small, the lens was light hungry and the resultant need for flash crushed any advantage the zoom could offer. It was however a genuinely pocketable camera with auto focus, (placing it above my Olympus Trip and Pen because I’m crap at zone focusing). In the piece I wrote about the Zoom 80 last year I noted that there was a version that shipped with a 35mm f/2.8 lens, and intimated what would happen if one crossed my path. That happened a few weeks ago, and unsurprisingly I bought it.
Film compacts, I’ve had a few…
There’s been some talk recently about how expensive some compact film cameras are becoming. When Hamish Gill posted his review of the Mju back in 2013 when they were available for between £20 & £50, these days the humble Mju will set you back a bit more than that. Between celebrity compact shooters espousing the awesomeness of particular cameras, (Kosmo Foto wrote a nice piece on this last summer), and the growing revitalisation of the film camera market, prices have been climbing in some cases (and rocketing in others). These cameras rely on autofocus motors, electronic metering circuits, and plastic frame advance mechanisms that have aged since their assembly. The Mju II was introduced in 1997, which means mine could be 22 years old. Admittedly its a clean example, but how long can I realistically expect it to last? When it does go I’ll have to decide whether can I find another, (or a second broken one and commission a cut and shut). I have made my peace with the fact that this camera is going to fail at some point, and be beyond realistic repair. I paid the kind of money that means I shall be downhearted when it bricks, rather than livid and desperate, (that’s provided I actually get some mileage out of it).
The Moon on a Stick
The more I’ve used it the more I’ve been led to wonder why there isn’t something similar on the market now. Surely the manufacturers can see the growth in what must be moving beyond a niche market? Would a digital equivalent see significant sales? A quick scan though my memory made me realise that there are options in this regard, nothing transposes perfectly but there are cameras to try: The Sony RX1R mk II is one of those unicorns that hovers on the edge of my consciousness: full frame and fully featured, rocking a 35mm f/2 lens, it sits there drawing me in with its specification and capability and warding me off with its GUI and price point. The Sony RX100 series is both more pocketable, and significantly cheaper than the RX1R even in its most evolved form. It still has that GUI and now we’re rolling with a 1″ sensor, a zoom lens and an over-reliance on AI. If one were prepared to have a an APS sensor then the Fuji X100 range makes sense, except once again, it’s no longer fit for anything but the largest pocket. I had one briefly, and still had to take a camera bag with me when I wanted to carry it. As all of my bags fit DSLRs my bag was lighter but no smaller, in the end it was easier to stick a 40mm pancake on a Canon 6D. There is the Ricoh GR series which solves the pocket issue and packs a very sharp lens that is a little too wide for my taste and they don’t seem to last very long. The Fuji XF-10 is a maybe, but the lens is wider than I’d like.
Massive Bonkers
In many ways the closest thing I can find to the thing I want is the sublimely ridiculous Leica M10-D, which is by all accounts a digital film camera, complete with vestigial frame advance and screen-less rear panel. It’s precisely the camera I was craving after my mooch around Rome last year, it would require further investment to add a lens, still wouldn’t fit in my pocket, and (at £6500) makes the RX1R seem like a sensible purchase. The combination of a full-frame sensor, a decent prime lens, a screen and/or viewfinder, operating system and control interface is never likely to fit in a pocket. The price combining these things would command, would immediately cause people to shout “where is the video capability? “Why can’t this shoot 4k? Does it have at least 3 card slots? Is there a wideangle telephoto adapter? It should have a prime zoom lens”. I know I sound like a spoiled and finickety jerk, and having aimed my own daft criticisms at each of the cameras on this list, moving the goalposts as I go, I come to realise that the camera I’m after is some kind of impossible dream, like a tiny weightless tripod that extends to become both tall and rock solid.
There is every chance that this rant will continue in my head and will be levelled at my more understanding friends ad-infinitum, at least until I do something silly, like buying a Ricoh GRIII later this year, or a Leica M10-D in my next life. In the meantime, the Mju II stays, now loaded with Ilford XP2, and on for a two-roll stand.