Disneyland on a disposable
Last October I spent a weekend at the French house of the mouse, Disneyland Paris. As with every holiday I take, my biggest decision was what camera to take along. To capture that Disney magic, I decided I would bring my Olympus Trip 35 and Olympus OM-2. However, by the time I was at the airport, I was already worrying about bringing not one but two precious cameras to a theme park, where we would be on and off rides all day. Both of those cameras would be more expensive to replace now than when I originally acquired them. Not to mention, the Olympus OM-2 starts to feel a little heavy after a while.
Enter the humble disposable camera
While browsing in Boots (a pharmacy chain for those not familiar with it) before the flight, I found a little 35mm disposable camera. I can’t remember the exact cost but I believe it was under €20. On the Boots website today, they appear to have gone up in price to €23. There was very little information on the box other than that there are 27 exposures, a flash, it is colour film and I believe 400 ISO. I picked one up and threw it in my bag.
We arrived in Paris and made our way straight to Disneyland for our first day at the parks. I left the Trip and OM-2 with our luggage and headed off with only the disposable. I was happy with my decision as the weather took a turn and it began to rain, so it was nice not to worry about my cameras getting wet in the backpack. It was raining on and off most of the weekend and was dull and overcast. I wasn’t sure what that would mean for the photos on my disposable but I snapped away regardless, not worrying about it, just capturing memories (or so I hoped).
In a way it felt risky to use an unknown camera to capture my weekend, but in another, it was freeing. I didn’t need to worry about my ‘good’ cameras getting bashed about in my bag on rides, or getting wet in the bag due to the weather. I also knew I was never going to get pictures of the quality that I would with those cameras and while the photos aren’t super sharp, they have a charm to them. Quality was not the goal here, the goal was to just capture photos of a fun weekend in Disneyland. Holiday snaps I can look back on and relive our time in the Disney bubble! I also fondly remember my first ever trip to Disneyland Paris with my family way back circa 2002. We exclusively used disposable cameras on that trip and still have albums full of those photos to this day. When I look at them now, I’m struck at how good the image quality is and how vibrant and clear the photos are. The Boots disposable doesn’t seem to provide the same quality as those early 2000’s disposables.
The Results
When I got the photos developed, I scanned them at home. Some were quite dark and needed a little brightening in Lightroom but I had expected this due to the overcast and rainy weather. In some of the photos though, the colours really pop. As previously noted, they aren’t sharp or perfect by any means, but I love the feel of them nonetheless.
Overall I was happy with the results and they were what I expected from a cheap and cheerful disposable. Reviews on this camera online are largely negative and tend to focus on the increased cost of the camera, which is a little steep for a disposable and only 27 shots. For that reason, I wouldn’t recommend buying this disposable camera as you can easily pick up a cheap reusable point and shoot on eBay for around the same price. This will likely provide you with better quality images though of course you need to factor in the cost of film too. This is what I have done for my upcoming trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. No doubt I’ll provide a review on that one when I return once again from the Disney bubble. In conclusion, there’s definitely a place for disposable cameras and this one served its purpose for me at the time.