I am always on the lookout for a good point-and-shoot with an f2.8 lens. I seem to be looking for the holy grail camera to compete with the high-end ones that are way out of my price league. While on another perusing mission, this camera popped up for a very reasonable price. Hello, flip-up flash and f2.8.

It was produced around 1989 by Chinon. You can read lots of technical details about it on this website.

I loved the look of the camera, especially the flip front cover which not only protects the lens but also houses the flash. Flipping up the cover also turns on the camera.

It is a rebadged/rebranded/remade camera with a few differences from its parent alternative, the Chinon 3001. This great review mentions the Chinon was the first camera to have multi-beam focusing. It also mentions that Kodak took efforts to change the look of the camera from the original, which is true. If I hadn’t read that article I would never have known about the connection.

I loaded mine with some Ilford HP5 and wandered around Leeds with some friends, then went to Stoodley Pike with another friend, and finally to Llangollen in Wales. It was small enough to fit in my hiking bag with plenty of space for other things…erm… **cameras**.

Here are some of the results from those excursions:

It didn’t cope with large expanses of sky too well and underexposed the shots to compensate. The flash is also better used as a fill-in flash like on the shot with two people.

After that, I used the camera to test a bulk roll of Ilford Pan 400. It was the short end left after I had loaded the rest of the film in cartridges. These were taken on my cycle home from work:

So, overall I think this is a great little camera that can still be found very cheaply…if you are living in the USA. I think I was lucky to find this one in the UK. In the end, I decided not to keep it even though I had positive feelings about it. I have gained quite a few cameras recently, including point-and-shoots. This one was donated to a friend. Spread the film love!