All cameras are film tested unless new and sealed in packaging. Any repairs or modifications will be described. If it runs on batteries, they will be included.

(This page is rarely updated. There’s more in the lab, drop by!)

Cameras

Canon Snappy Q / Canon Sketchbook (a.k.a. The Sunfish) – $45

35mm f/4.5 Normal-wide lens. (Fixed focus)

Shutter: Fixed at 1/70(!) second. Not a typo. Pan and track to capture moving subjects in sharp detail with blurred and flowing backgrounds.

Programmed auto-exposure.

Rated for 100~400 ASA 35mm film, but nothing stops you from loading faster or slower film.

Automatic flash, can be forced off. Easy to trick into “flash always on” mode. Cover the light sensor with a finger, half-press the shutter button, and watch in horror as your sunfish pops a red rocket.

A mechanical self-timer lever, for some reason.

Drop-in loading, motor advance and motor rewind.

Takes 2 AA batteries.

Has a switch that allows you to shoot through the textured lens cover, which doubles as a “sketchbook filter.” It’s fun in spirit, even if it doesn’t really look that good.

Comes with lanyard strap.

Dreamlike rendering. This is probably one of the strangest cameras Canon has ever made. They were just churning out EOS cameras and sober brick-shaped automatics around this time like everybody else, when they broke rhythm and released this goofy surrealist lump of a camera.

Minox C – $200

Uses 8×11 Minox cartridge microfilm. Sold and developed at Mayfield Photo Lab!

15mm f/3.5, fixed aperture. Manual focus from infinity down to 8 inches. Equates to a roughly 40mm wide-normal field of view.

Shutter speeds from 1/15 second to 1/1000 (in manual mode). Slower speeds are only available in Auto mode.

Programmed auto-exposure with easy manual override.

Viewfinder frame-lines are connected to the focusing dial, and will automatically shift for parallax correction.

AE system rated for 6~400 speed film. Use manual mode for film speeds beyond this range.

Has freewheeling mechanism. Can be opened and closed without wasting a shot, unlike older versions.

Accepts a single PX27 battery.

Designed to be a pocketable low-hassle camera that anyone could use, the inventor of the Minox was disappointed to see inventory being snatched up for state and corporate espionage for much of the 20th century. The Minox is now completely obsolete in our modern day as a spying tool, meaning it can finally be used as its creator intended: dropped in a pocket and forgotten until drawn for a candid snapshot, or close-ups of desserts, loved ones, flowers, and cool bugs. A fully automatic/manual film camera that takes up the same pocket footprint as a vape.