My first and last vintage 110 camera: Minolta Pocket Autopak 450E/ ppp’s Camera Review
My impulse buying experience of an analogue camera
As a film photography newcomer, I first saw 110 cameras when I was searching the vintage cameras on eBay. It seemed like lightweight, portable and handy which met my expectations of a pocket camera. It’s not difficult to find one in perfect condition in low price and has an aspect very different from the traditional 35mm cameras, however, they seemed unpopular in the second- hand market.
“Why not give it a try?” I thought and picked one up online without doing research.
What is 110 camera?
110 camera is a vintage one loading the miniaturized negative size of 110 film. The four frame negative measures about 110 mm so it calls 110 film.
Lomography 110 film is usually pre-exposed with the frame line with its name and number which is smart and makes it iconic.
The negative is fully housed in a little plastic cartridge. The film is incredibly simple to load and unload, just pop it in and you’re ready to go! It does not need to be rewound.
110 Camera gained popularity quickly in the 1970s because of its small size and easy to load film cartridges. It looks so cool. What a pity that you cannot take a selfie photo with it. Better to be shot like the magazine photos below.
How did it fall out of favor with film lovers?
The first problem I met was where I could purchase a 110 cartridge nowadays?
The big brands like Fujifilm have ceased 110 production for more than a decade, therefore most of the 110 films on the market are expired, except Lomography. Lomography revived the format in 2011 and currently offers several types of new and refined films while they are still actively promoting their miniature and adorable 110 camera, Diana Baby 110.
I finally purchased a pack of 3 rolls of Color Tiger CN 110 ISO 200 on Lomo official e-store when I couldn’t find any at local stores. It’d be the end of the world of 110 camera when Lomography no longer producing this photo formats, like APS.
OK! I got some fresh cartridges, then …
“Where to get the 110 film developed?”
I asked several local stores on Facebook and fortunately, one of them still processes it. However, he suggested me not to buy a 110 camera if I was planning to.
“It’s too late.” I thought.
It’s difficult to enlarge and get high-resolution scans because this negative is too small. It’s often associated with prints and scans that are grainy and lacking sharpness.
“Never mind,” I convinced myself. “I can just save a digital copy without enlarging it. Let’s see how it goes……”
My camera
Minolta Pocket Autopak 450E was a Japanese old man who was first released in 1977. Compared with Diana Baby 110, it provides more focus ranges and has larger aperture so I picked Pocket Autopak over it.
Pocket Autopak was a very simple point-and-shoot with 5 focus. It focuses nicely down to just 0.9 feet, providing some good chances to separate foreground and background details on the small 110 negative size.
Add to this the ability to select aperture switching between sunny mode with f/3.5 and cloud mode with f/11. The shutter only being able to handle the speed of 1/200 sec.
The photos are sharper than I expected and so far, it works well on the sunny and cloudy day.
Because of its unique feel and grain, photographers continue to use the last batches of 110 camera.
Keep shooting~
