What's in a name?

RETO is the latest name stamped on the face of the little point&shoot film camera with a 22mm lens. However, the camera was on the market over a period of more than fifteen years with a long list of other names.  When I acquired mine close to its debut in the U.S. it bore the Vivitar brand name along with "Ultra Wide & Slim" which has persisted through most of the naming permutations.

All of the versions of the camera have seemed nearly identical except for minor cosmetic differences, and all appear to have been made in the Sunpet Industries factory in Zhongshan, China. Reviewers over the years have used terms like "toy" and even "crappy" to describe the camera, but the Ultra Wide & Slim actually embodies some very sophisticated design enabled by high-tech machinery for the production of ultra-precision plastic aspherical lenses and other camera components as illustrated in the company's website.

Sunpet Industries Limited

In the years I've had an Ultra Wide & Slim it has made more pictures for me than any of the other cameras in my collection including some high-end models with sophisticated features and advanced lens designs.  So, the little plastic camera has met and often bested some serious competition. Some of that, of course, can be attributed to my own biases and infatuation with the seductive combination of sharpness and a wide-angle perspective.  Many others, however, have experienced the same thing; the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim group on Flickr is home to over forty-five thousand images.

My latest images with the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim were made on some expired Kodak Gold 200.

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Sunpet's decision to revive the Ultra Wide & Slim line has clearly stimulated some interest and enthusiasm for the outwardly simple but capable camera, as well as for film photography in general.  How durable that interest will be is uncertain.  When the camera first appeared the digital revolution was not far beyond its infancy and there were still many choices in photographic films available at nearly negligible prices. Today, many varieties of films have disappeared and those remaining are priced beyond what seems reasonable to many of us who cling to the analog traditions.

South

We spent four days visiting family and friends in Las Cruces.  I managed to fit in a couple of hours in the Organ Mountains and a morning walk in Old Mesilla.

Spring Forward

The fine Spring weather has brought the old cars back to the Plaza Vieja in Old Town.

The pretty red '40 Ford is a newcomer to the informal weekend car show in Old Town.  I asked the owner about it and he said he had bought the car recently from a fellow in Rio Rancho for the modest sum of twenty thousand.  

The stylish little Bilora Bella offers some basic controls over aperture, speed and focusing, and it makes maximal use of the 127 format, producing negative images that measure 4x6.5cm.  That is nearly three times the size of the 35mm format, although the camera is no bigger than a compact 35.

+That is nearly three times the size offered by the 35mm format though the camera is no larger than a compact 35.  

I am able to shoot my 127 cameras using some old bulk Portra 160 which I roll into backing paper from a couple defunct film brands.  I am always a little surprised to get eight mostly ok images from such an effort as fumbling in the dark through the process of getting the film properly onto the little 127 reels seems a real hit-or-miss project.