Buying a 35mm Point & Shoot

These things SUCK but I love them so much. 35mm point and shoot cameras are such a wonderful way to get into shooting film. By now you've probably heard heard the adage that the best camera is the one you have with you, and what's better for always having it with you than a camera that fits in your pocket? Unfortunately a lot of them won't fit in your pocket, not if you wear tight pants anyway, but they fit in a jacket or a purse just as well. The real problem with these is that they can be expensive or unreliable, and that's the last thing you want in a camera you intend to carry with you on a regular basis. So as someone who has bought (and been hurt by) many point and shoot film cameras over the years, I thought I would write up a guide with some of my favorites and some tips for finding something that will work well, hopefully for some extended period of time.

The first thing to understand is you are gambling on the life span of any camera you buy. Anything with auto exposure, auto focus, auto film advance, any electronics at all will fail at some point. It could be years from now, it could be moments after you turn it on. I have shot hundreds of rolls through already heavily used cameras, and had nearly unused cameras die after just a few rolls. Point being it's kind of a total crap-shoot. I still think it's worth buying expensive cameras if you know what you want. The Contax T2, for example, is a beautiful camera with a stellar lens, and unfortunately prices have skyrocketed ever since Kendall Jenner brought one on The Tonight Show. If you can find one for a reasonable (to you) price, and can accept it's potentially short lifespan, it would be a great camera to own. I have one that's broken, it came to me that way, and until I send it off for an expensive repair it exists only as a beautiful ornament in my cabinet. This is all to say that, especially if you're just starting out with film, a less expensive point and shoot is probably the way to go.

You also probably want to avoid point and shoots with zoom lenses. I think this could be a controversial take, because zoom lenses offer a lot of versatility, but close-range is where point and shoot cameras really shine. In my opinion, and having use many both digital and film, they're most useful for snapshots of life, selfies at parties, photos of your friends and the dog you see while walking down the street. Point and shoots are for documenting your life as you see it, and we see in wide angle. My personal preference is for 28mm, and 35mm is a great (and possibly the most common) focal length as well. Zoom lenses will also be generally less sharp than primes, which you may not care about, it may not be noticeable to you, and quality will vary by model and manufacturer, but the clearest and nicest photos tend to come from lenses specialized to one focal length. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, it adds more electronics to your camera than can fail.

On the topic of lenses, don't worry too much about the widest f-stop of the lens. A lot of people want the Contax T2, Olympus mju II, and others for their fast f/2.8 aperture, but many other cameras are at most 2/3 of a stop slower at f/3.5. Your camera will also likely only open to that aperture under very specific circumstances, as lenses are always sharper stopped down, and will likely only be programmed to open up in very low light if you disable the flash. The Contax T2 won't even let you select it manually, forcing you into automatic mode until you stop the lens down. Plus, and this is only my opinion coming in again, but if you're trying to get a shallow depth of field for portraits a point and shoot is the wrong camera from you. You should probably buy a camera with interchangeable lenses and a 50mm f/1.4 or something but this isn't a guide for that.

I could very easily recommend some specific models, but my experience is limited compared to the wide range of cameras available, and anything I recommend could easily become desirable and expensive the moment a youtuber decides to make a video praising it. What I do feel comfortable giving is advice on where to buy a camera. If you have a little more to spend, buying from KEH or Kamerastore is a great option. They demand a slight premium over other options, and their cameras still run the risk of dying at a moments notice, but you can trust at least that they've been looked over by professionals and will almost certainly arrive at your door in working order. That said the cheapest cameras (and potentially the best deals on more desirable models) are usually found at thrift stores, yard sales, and flea markets. If you feel comfortable shopping around and taking greater risks with the condition of the camera you can really find some gems shopping this way. In this era of connectedness though, many have caught on to the market rates of cameras and deals are harder to come by than they might have been ten or so years ago. Of course eBay offers a great middle ground. You have to put a lot of trust in the sellers, but eBay purchase protection has been pretty solid for me on a few cameras that showed up not in working order, and the only thing really wasted was my time.

Tips for using 35mm point and shoots

I think a guide on buying point and shoot cameras would be unfinished without some tips on using them

1. Read the manual for whatever camera you buy. You can find manuals for so many cameras and accessories on butkus.com courtesy of Michael Butkus Jr.
2. Use the flash!! Your camera has a flash for a reason. Lots of point and shoots will give you the option to override it and turn it off, don't do that! Film generally does not have a very fast ISO and point and shoots generally don't have very fast lenses. I've seen so many friends turn off the flash because they "don't like it" only to have their photos turn out predictably underexposed and blurry, if anything comes out at all.
3. Make sure your cameras battery can be replaced. I've bought a few with batteries that were impossible to replace. One of my favorites, the Fuji DL-200 has soldered in cells and I had to rig something up with aluminum foil to get it working again. It was ultimately worth the effort and is one of my favorite cameras, but I dread the day the batteries die again and would never recommend that model to a friend.
4. Don't buy APS or 110 cameras! Or do, I'm not your boss, but those formats are difficult to find, expensive, and the available types of film are limited. There are people cutting down 35mm into APS cartridges, and lomography packages some stocks in 110, but you will also need a lab that can process those formats, and not all labs will.
5. Get your film processed locally. I know that in Chicago there are plenty of hobbyist and professional photographers who will develop and scan your film for $5-10/roll. The same probably exists in your city, and if it doesn't I'm going to recommend Memphis Film Lab. Normally I wouldn't advertise for free, but they're as affordable as any local hobbyist and provide great results.

I may update this if I think of something else, but I think that's all I have to say on the topic.