Last month, Dubblefilm introduced the SHOW camera; a reloadable 35mm camera intended to replicate the format of disposable cameras with a semi-wide angle 32mm lens, an f8 aperture and a 1/125 shutter speed together with built in flash powered by a single AAA battery. I guess I'm sorta semi-collecting these now since I already have all x4 Lomography variations, the JCH Kassha and the Harman reloadable (and blog posts to follow on ALL of those, once I actually get round to using them!) so to add to my collection I picked one up! I opted for the manly black variety but there is also a really nice looking pink version that Chloé liked. Check it out on Dubblefilm's website!
At first impression; it's a really nice looking camera, feeling very light and easily pocketable but at the same time sturdy enough to take a bit of rough and tumble. The wind-on mechanism does feel a little bit fragile though and I think if you really hammer the usage with the SHOW it might start to weaken over time, but these are plastic cameras and therefore can only be so robust. The 32mm lens is a plastic element, therefore you aren't going to get razor, pin sharp images, and there will be a degree of soft focus but that's part of the charm that comes with using disposables and cameras like this.
So if you're going to test drive the SHOW, then what better film to pair with it, than Dubblefilm's own branded film right? I picked up a roll of Dubblefilm Jelly and took that combo with me to Brighton for a long weekend with Chloé to shoot some autumnal film photography by the sea!
I went into this with no pre-conceptions about how these images were going to turn out; "don't think, just shoot" I think is the mantra Lomography puts forward, but I knew shooting ISO 200 film in an f8 1/125 camera was going to be... interesting... and pretty much all the photos I took indoors using the flash didn't turn out! That was disappointing, but I knew I was running a bit of a risk. Owing to the autumnal overcast cloud a handful of my shots turned out underexposed, but when there were breaks in cloud and the sun shone through, the results look really nice.
I think these photos pretty much capture the atmosphere quite nicely; they're fragile and lethargic. Both myself and Chloé going into the weekend felt listless and mentally drained (thanks to these "unprecedented times") and we both needed a holiday to relax, rewind and reset and ironically without evening intending it, I think these pictures have captured that really well.
I really like the very slight vignette on each picture, and the very slight lens warping together with the soft focus of the plastic element that gives the pics a disposable camera aesthetic, but instead of being constrained to the regular varieties of disposable camera, here you can get creative with redscale film, slide film, or other special effects / cross processed films and that's where these reloadable cameras really shine. I'm looking forward to toying with the SHOW some more, especially in brighter weather, and with more variety of exotic films, and also putting some of Dubblefilm's film varieties through my other cameras as I'd never used one before now. And if you're thinking of buying a SHOW in the UK and want to avoid the massive international posting charges, the dependable folks at Analogue Wonderland have got you covered!