Shock Horror, a digital camera on a film camera blog??!! Well, I have written about digital cameras before, for instance, converting them to infrared. This digital camera was sent to me by Alan at Canny Camera to play with after he had finished his review. He has tried a number of these types of cameras and has compared them. I would recommend reading his review if you want to know more about this style of camera.

The Flashback is a digital camera made to replicate the feel of a disposable film camera. I haven’t tried anything like this before. Honestly, I didn’t see the point of them, so I had never looked into buying one. Borrowing Alan’s gave me a chance to try the format for free. My initial thought was, why would I not just shoot with a film camera?

Then I had the camera in my hand, and I started to change my mind. I found that my first impressions of the Flashback were actually quite positive. I loved how it looked, especially this see-through version. It was small and light, but not overly cheap-feeling. I especially loved the wind-on wheel. It activated the camera and reset it for the next shot. To be honest, the wheel was totally superfluous. It was a digital camera, so the functions could have been achieved with a button, but the dial was so satisfying to turn. I ended up using it a bit like a fidget spinner, though it does come to a stop when you have artificially cocked the shutter.

To retrieve photos and set the shooting style, you actually need an app, which I downloaded and explored.

Alan sent me lots of information, but I decided to shoot it blind, so to speak. I didn’t read the instructions, just charged it, looked at the app, set the film type, and went for a walk. Using it was easy, just point and shoot. The only issue was the viewfinder. At first I thought it was my eyes, but no, the viewfinder on this example was a bit out of focus. I read about the same issue in this review. He called it muddy. A few others said it was intentional to replicate the disposable camera feel.

Once you had woken the camera by turning the wheel, you get 27 shots before you need to ‘develop’ the photos. You do need to offload the ‘film’ as the camera will not shoot any more photos until you do. The counter will remain at zero, and the winder will keep continuously winding. That made me wonder what would happen if you did not have a signal on your phone? Would the camera stay unusable until you get one? No worries, it connected by Bluetooth.

The app allows you to set the wait time after you have sent them for ‘developing’. You can wait 24 hours to view your photos, just like with a real film, or you can see them instantly. For the first roll, I decided to wait the full time. It was surprisingly exciting to see the counter going down and then finally be able to view the shots. There is no screen on the camera, so no chimping beforehand. I found that made me take fewer repeated shots. I pointed, ‘shooted’, then moved on. It reminded me of a video a friend sent me. It is about William Eggleston and how he takes one shot and moves on. This camera would be great for that style.

Here are some of my first images, taken in the ‘classic’ film format.

As I had to return the camera, I stayed near my home. You can see I used the flash on the first shot. I was explaining the camera to my dad. He was a little confused by the concept. As for the shots, the highlights are a little blown out, but the focusing is quite good. I was surprised at how much was in the image. The viewfinder is not at all accurate; I would hesitate to say that it shows about 75% of what you actually get.

I reloaded the camera with the black-and-white film and set off for another local walk. Again, I waited 24 hours to develop the film.

I took the selfie just to see what the focusing would be like at that distance; it actually had quite a close focal distance. Again, the highlights were blown, but very few aberrations shooting into the sun.

As a matter of interest, the portrait shots are not rotated in the app. You have to do that manually, post-process. The way the app shows the roll of film prohibits any rotation.

After this, I set the camera to develop the film instantly. You still have to download them after 27 shots, but you no longer have to wait for 24 hours. My final roll was in the ‘gold’ mode. I say final roll as I have now sent the camera back to my friend. He said there was no rush, but I like to be efficient. These were taken on a trip to see my relatives, who don’t want to be featured. The dog wasn’t bothered. We ended up walking to a local airport as the red arrows were taking off; it wasn’t the best camera for that 🙂

The shots you can’t see are amazing of course!! The last two shots are interesting. The first was taken with the flash into the sun, the camera didn’t seem to handle that well. I thought it would act like a fill-in flash. The second was without the flash and from a different angle.

I used three of the film formats. There are 8 in total on the app, though the last, green one, seems to have appeared while I was using the camera, as I hadn’t noticed it before.

Apparently, you can also download the ‘negatives’, they are the images before any filters have been applied. I didn’t feel the need to do that. The ‘redevelop’ option means you are not stuck with the film you shot with. You can redevelop the rolls in any film format. That was good for me, as I didn’t know I had set the camera to monochrome for the very first roll and had shot lots of flowers. I simply redeveloped it as the classic film.

So what are my overall thoughts about the camera? I absolutely loved it!!! From the moment it arrived and I started using it, there was something about it I loved. I liked the 27 shots, the choice of films, and I even liked waiting 24 hours. I was really sad I had to return it. The concept of the camera, not chimping, was so relaxing. I even liked the thumb wheel. As I said, it was like a fidget toy for me. It would be a camera I would keep in my bag, as I could charge it in my car if need be, or from a power pack. I am not a big point-and-shoot camera fan, so this digital alternative suited me perfectly. I do have digital compacts, but I find myself obsessing about shots and retaking them. Sometimes, I don’t even take the shot as it doesn’t look right on the screen. With this camera’s lack of a screen, all that is taken away; I shoot and move on.

I haven’t added any technical details because, for me and this camera, they are not important. It is a purely for fun camera. You can read more technical details and comparisons to other cameras like this on Alan’s Canny Camera website. I feel he is the expert in this field.

Well, that really was fun! I would buy this camera.