I was give this cheap and cheerful camera by a friend who was lucky enough to win it in a competition, but actually already had one. So I got the spare.

That is just about the only photo I have of it as I will explain. I loaded it with a roll of Candido 400 just before a trip to London to meet a new friend. As I have lived in Japan, another friend asked if I would come along to a photo walk where a Japanese photographer would be joining us.

I have mentioned Keiko on a previous post here. Anyway, as we got out of the car I suddenly decided to zip through the roll of film and hand the camera to Keiko on meeting her. If she wanted to, she could then take the camera back to Japan, reshoot the film with the camera and complete a film/camera swap. It was literally and instant thought, so I only had a short walk on a dull morning to finish the 36 exposure film. I just shot everything and anything, very “tokimeki”.

I finished the roll just as I got to the coffee shop meeting place. I reloaded the camera and handed it to Keiko.

She loved the idea and took it back to Japan to complete. A couple of months later I received a message with a link to the results and here they are.

The results are interesting, I especially like the one where we both captured a coffee shop in each country on the same image. It was a big coincidence. Due to the way it was done, there was no planning to the project and it shows in the photos. For me, the point was the connection and the fun of shooting from the hip. Not all the shots worked, but I don’t mind. Nothing in life is perfect, but fun can be found anywhere.

Oh and the camera…it was perfect for this project. It was light enough that it didn’t cause a baggage problem. It wasn’t complicated so I didn’t have to explain how it worked to Keiko. It was reliable and kind of funky looking. If you want a cheap and cheerful new camera, then this one is a good choice.