27 Shots

That's odd - a strange number of exposures for a film camera... I remember the 20-shot 35mm film cassette from the old days. Also the 36-shot one - for when you had more money to spend and were confident that you wanted to shoot it all on one emulsion and one speed. Then it would appear that we got 24-shot cassettes. Now a 27-shot disposable camera. I'd be willing to bet the number of shots is related to the diameter of the film roll that can be squeezed into the plastic housing - I suspect there is no separate cassette in there. Since you turn the thin into the processor intact and get your results eventually as a scanned disc or prints or both...the loading and unloading of the contents is not your concern. Question: do the used disposable cameras get returned to their makers for a refill or are they just junked? We squeak about plastic straws and bags and the waste of manufacturing plastic and energy...surely something as complex as this disposable camera must be recycled in some way. Well, that's for the processor and Harman ( Ilford by any other name ) to decide between themselves - you just have to concern yourself with what you do and what you get. You pay out $ 23 for both of these cameras and hope for 27 good monochrome images eventually. The difference is not in the ISO rating - they are both nominally 400 - but in the process for development. The HP% camera can be souped in standard photo chemistry - and this is something that you can readily do in a home darkroom. The C-41 is destined for a minilab, professional processing lab, or other facility that handles colour negative films. Curiosity got the better of me - I tried to find out what developing and printing would be at our best-known local professional lab. They have a marvellous website and a number of tempting offers for film sales ( as we do ) but I was unable to access actual prices for D&P. I suspect it might change frequently as prices of chemistry go up. Nevertheless, they welcome a phone call or an on-line enquiry and this might set a figure. Not daunted, I sent out wider terms of search and tracked a lab interstate. They seem to do D& one set of 6 x 4 prints for some $ 30 - I'll take this as a reasonable figure, though you won't be walking into their store in Kent Street any time soon...If you opted for D&Scan you can cut $ 10 off that processing price. So - $ 23 + $ 30 + $ 53 for 27 prints. Just under $ 2.00 a print. TAd dearer per image than the mobile phone pic. However... a. If you don't have a mobile phone or camera with you - or at all - and you need a couple dozen monochrome pictures, this is the solution. b. If you hate technology but don't mind pictures, this is also for you. c. If you can never remember to charge anything, this is your answer. d. If you need a standby camera that needs no maintenance, this is actually quite brilliant. Photography on emulsion is not dead by any means - go look in our film cabinet and watch the new waves of analog shooters as they use some of the most famous film cameras - now sadly reduced in numbers. A lot of digital shooters do not miss analog photography, but you'd be surprised at the number of film photographers who don't miss digital...!