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Tale of Two Photographers
“Want to go photograph a Pro Wrestling match Thursday evening?” I asked Sito Colón as I walked into Overland Photo Supply to grab some film.Who could say “no” to that? Well, Sito didn’t.I gave him the
I’ve had this plastic, piece of crap, toy camera laying around for years. I don’t even remember where I got it, but it was in a box, on a dresser, on a shelf, in a box again, back on my shelf again, and then in my hands with film in it.
It’s the Quickshot X3000 and it boasts a “NEW OPTICAL LENS,” in all caps, on the front of the lens, so it HAS to be good. Curiosity made me shove a roll of 35mm film in it and take it along on a photo walk. Or maybe it was the name that grabbed me…X3000…sounds like something out of Star Trek. It is not.
It rattles when I shake it, makes almost no sound when I push the shutter, and I had no reason to think it worked…but I took it out, anyway. I don’t remember what kind of film I shot, but probably 400 T-Max, as I walked around the West Bottoms with a group of friends.
After about ten shots, or so, I gave up. “There’s NO WAY this thing works,” I thought.
Well…ummm…it did. I got my partially shot roll back and was oddly and pleasantly surprised by the results. So pleasantly surprised that the idea came to me that I need to play with other toy cameras and see what I get.
BONUS: Light leak!
I just did a quick check and you can get these CHEAP on eBay. I just saw one with owner’s manual for ten bucks.
Here is the gallery of shots from the Quickshot X3000.