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Graphics Software

Reusable Disposable Cameras? 29

Posted by Cliff from the extending-it's-usable-lifetime dept.
Darth Cider asks: "A friendly film developer showed me how to open a disposable camera. Nothing to it, just pry them open. They're reloadable, and the flash versions contain two ordinary AA batteries, worth keeping. The film can be removed without tools for developing whether you return the camera or not. So I'm wondering about Kodak's Max HQ, with two-element aspherical lenses said to be as good as those in their 35mm cameras. Advanced flash unit, too. Haven't found one on the shelf to check it out. Anybody tried to hack this camera? Retail price is said to be under $20." This might be something to look into if your planning any photo projects for fun.
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Reusable Disposable Cameras? More

Reusable Disposable Cameras?

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  • Of course you're supposed to reuse them! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    We've been reusing disposable cameras for years now starting with the 110 film ones. Even the underwater ones are refillable. Just pry out the film and send it in for developing, stick in new film and you're set. Obviously you're gonna be lacking zoom and whatnot but who cares if you loose it? And the 330v capacitors are oh so fun. Just don't leave them lying around charged, it tends to suprised curious people. "What's this? OWWWWWWW DAAMMN" They don't hurt much at all, it's just a big, nasty, fun shock. I've been shocked ~20 times or so by them nothing bad has happened. Fun to put LEDs over the capacitor leads. Oh, and cut the leads of the capacitor at different lengths so you know the correct polarity when recharing them. Once recharged just don't touch the metal bits and go throw it at people/water. Not small people tho. Or pacemaker/old people. Healthy people. Mike
  • A cheap new 35mm compact camera will cost you maybe $50 (probably less) so what's the point?

    Buy a decent camera instead, it does make a difference (I just upgraded to a Rebel2000/EOS300 from a Canon compact; my new pictures are *so* much better.).

  • Just be careful... (Score:3)

    by Bazman ( 4849 ) on Sunday April 22, 2001 @04:58AM (#274466) Journal
    Disposable cameras with flash normally have warnings on them, and for good reason. A friend and I took one apart and hacked out the circuitry that charges the flash. By poking the switches with a wooden spoon we could charge the flash up and then discharge it. Then my friend broke the flash bulb.

    He then charged the circuit up. But because the flash was broken, there was no obvious way to discharge it. So he picked up someone's penknife and shorted across the flash terminals.

    Nice bang. Nice flash. Nice shower of sparks. And two tiny notches taken out of the blade of the penknife. We didnt want to find out what it would do to soft wet flesh...

    Baz
  • I worked at a high end one hour lab for about 4 years and we only recycled the disposable cameras for about the first 3 months I worked there. Kodak had a program for returning them but it costs the photofinished to ship the empty cameras back.

    The only recycling that went on was all of us who worked there reusing the batteries, flashes, and some of the nicer disposables.

    Some are very easy to reload and WILL take normal film. But for most you have rewind your own film onto the original spool and use a new cartridge case. It's a pain but some other friends who were into photography got a real kick out of me giving them "disposable B&W" cameras.

    I also used the flashes which with a little bit of work can be made into nice slave units. At college I was able to blow off using the studio for some projects because I had enough little flashes to get the same effect at home :)

    Also when I first started working at that lab I was still in high school. I put together a project where I made a bunch of B&W disposables and gave them to incoming freshmen who were interested in photography. Kind of like shooting with a Holga to learn about how it's not the equiptment but the photographer....only this is even cheaper :)

  • Not at Wal-Mart, that's for sure. There, they use a very large, (Appeared to be a foot long or more), standard screwdriver to open the disposables. They jam it into the seam on the end, then rip the entire flap off. Of course, they could be trying to open it properly, and succeeding in the same way they succeed in providing lower prices, customer service and cleanliness.

    --
  • Well I realize that, but I guess I didn't expect the AAs to be able to load the coil that much that quickly.

    Dammit, I need a new place, with space for a workshop.

    --

  • All I remember was that I was pumping gas, then I heard the unmistakable sound of an electrical arc

    YFTS "and I stopped pumping gas and ran". :)

    --

  • Bah! That never stopped a true tinkerer. Though most of them are careful enough not to bust the flashbulb in the first place, and when they do, they give up or find another bulb-like thing.

    I'm surprised that 2 AA's caused the spark you talk about, but then again I've seen the kind of sparks a 9V can make.

    Someday I'll show you the gouge in the screwdriver that I accidentally shorted across live AC current. I'm only here today thanks to the insulative nature of the handle. As they say, plastic makes it possible... :)

    --

  • Allegedly, they are recycled... (Score:3)

    by AtariDatacenter ( 31657 ) on Sunday April 22, 2001 @04:10AM (#274472)
    I'm told (was it from reading the package) that when you turn the camera in, the components of the camera are 'recycled' into making new ones. I certainly don't know the process, but it makes sense if some of the components have a good price/weight (for shipping) ratio.

    Never tried reusing one, though. Sounds like a simple project to tinker around with.
  • Someday I'll show you the gouge in the screwdriver that I accidentally shorted across live AC current.

    Yeah, I did that once - but with one of those changable bit screwdrivers - let's just say you can't change the bit anymore (it is now welded).

    Actually, the worse electrical "shocking" experience I ever saw happened near a gas station at a Circle K. Across the way, a guy was working on an A/C unit on top of a hamburger joint. Well, he fucked up, and forgot to turn the power off. All I remember was that I was pumping gas, then I heard the unmistakable sound of an electrical arc (like from an arc welder), but MUCH louder. I turned, and saw this guy stumbling back (damn near fell off the roof!) away from a two foot long "jet" of electrical "fire" shooting out the side of this A/C unit. Lasted for about a second, then stopped.

    I am not sure I would hire that company for my A/C repair needs...

    Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!
  • Considering that the hamburger joint was a good 100 feet away, and that it flame cooks them on an open grill (suffice to say, this wasn't a McDs or Booger Sling), had there been gas fumes that far away, everyone pumping would be dead (lack of oxygen), and the Circle K would have exploded long ago (actually, the burger place I mentioned is called Lucky Boy, near the corner of 16th Street and Osborne in Phoenix, AZ - great burgers, if you don't mind the wait).

    Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!
  • Since a cheap camera is more likely to bust open if you drop it

    Not Hardly. Unless you've tinkered quite a bit with a disposable camera, they are difficult to open "accidentally". there's the Kodak sticker covering the seams on all 4 sides, plus the groove / latches to deal with.

    Don't get me wrong; These are easy to open with screwdrivers, especially of you don't care what latches you break and how ugly it might be when you put it back together. But they aren't likely to voluntarily divulge their contents as the result of rapid deceleration following a fall of less than 15 feet.
  • I opened one up on the way to the developer once. It was a long car ride and I got bored. In the one that I opened (a Kodak MAX something...) the film was 35mm, but it did not have a normal sprocket for the camera to wind it with. It was a strange shape so that normal film couldn't be wound it it, nor could the film be used in a normal camera. You actually take pictures in reverse order from normal.

    In addition, in a normal camera, you wind film out of the canister, then rewind it back when you're done. In a disposable, you are actually rewinding it while you shoot each picture, it comes unwound inside the camera already.

    Here is a bit of information about reusing disposable wide angle cameras [tripod.com].
  • In a disposable, you are actually rewinding it while you shoot each picture, it comes unwound inside the camera already.

    That's actually not that unusual. My dad has a Canon EOS Rebel II (very nice camera for 8 or so years ago) that pulls all of the film out when you first insert the roll and then pulls it back in as you snap pictures.

  • A few of y'all from RPI [rpi.edu] may know me. I was a teaching assistant there, and taught Intoduction to Engineering Electronics for 2 years (fall 97-spring 99). We dismantled these cameras for one of our labs and reworked the flash trigger mechanism to go off in the dark. Not too complicated, but anybody thinking of taking these things apart needs to be specifically warned about the capacitor. Flashes need high voltages to flash. In this case, the voltage was measured to -300 to -312 volts. This is not only enough to hurt, but enough to burn you. Not seriously, mind you, but the two white spots on your thumb will certainly hurt like a bitch. Take care and short the capacitor out with a paperclip after you remove the battery. Always treat it as dangerous until you've removed the battery and shorted the paper clip. Now that you've been warned about that, this can be a really cheap (free, if you go the right lab) way to build a high voltage generator that runs off AAs. With this kind of voltage, you can build coin flippers or crude linear motors (read as coil gun). They can be put in parallel to give more current (between 6 and 9 in parallel will be enough to blow a flash bulb in a very bright explosion of glass). YMMV. Don't do this at home. This explanation is provided for scientific purposes only and not intended to suggest anything destructive.

  • Many high end cameras now support this function. The reason should be pretty obvious: If the back is opened for some reason ("Gee, I thought it was empty!"), the film with your Ansel Adams quality pictures won't get wiped out.

    Since a cheap camera is more likely to bust open if you drop it (or tinker with in the car while driving to Florida...), you'll only lose the last 1 or 2 pictures.

  • Ya. (Score:2)

    by photozz ( 168291 )
    Speaking as on who spent better than nine years shocking the crap out of myself on these, I can agree the hastle is not worth the effort. Instead of going over old ground, let me say this. The lens quality, while "comperable" to a 35mm camera is still crap. The focus is fixed, there is no exposure compensation. The film will recieve indiquate exposure with an underpowered flash. These cameras are for inexperianced users who are not particulatily picky. Don't bother. spend the $200 and buy a camera with autofocus and a real exposure system. You will be much happier. Yes, you can make tazers out of the old flashes.

  • I can't vouch for this particular camera, and a google search didn't reveal any more details to help me form an educated guess.

    Most disposables just use 35mm film. Depending on the camera, they might need to be reloaded in a darkroom, but there are some which do not.

    You might want to dig through the results of This google search [google.com] for more details.

    Heck, if this encourages you, why don't you get one and rip it open and let us know what you find?

  • One problem (Score:3)

    by flikx ( 191915 ) on Sunday April 22, 2001 @09:45AM (#274482) Homepage Journal
    I've worked as a photo developer for about 2 years (and about two years ago) .. the problem is that the film has a different shaped sprocket at the top of the spool. You cannot load regular 35mm film canisters in them without modifications.

    The big question is, why bother? You can get a cheap 35mm camera with better optical quality for around $30 or less; and it will last longer than a disposable unit. Now go out to your nearest K-Mart and buy one of those kids' cameras and give up the silly idea of "hacking" something useless.


    --
    "One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us."
  • A guy I know took one apart and hooked two wires up to the flash with solder bulbs on the end. He would charge the flash and then touch the wires to someone. It would leave white burn marks on people's skin. I have been shocked twice by a disposable camera. It really hurts, wouldn't recommend it. -DexteR-
  • Just the flash units. With a small addition of a photo SCR and the removal of the reflector, these can be stuck inside table lamps as slave flash units. (get the kind that auto recycle after the picture, not the cheap ones you have to hold the button to charge). In a dimly lit room, the slaves make the table lamps look lit, but without the reddish tint. They also don't provide the green tint of compact florescents either. I like putting them in the plastic housing from some dead compact florescent lamps as a diffuser and to hold them in the lamp socket. Be sure to remove the old bulb and electronics and seal the base. A photo SCR needs only a couple very cheap components to make it a photoflash trigger. If you can't find a photo SCR, a regular SCR and small silicon solar cell from a dead solar calculator hooked up the the SCR gate works wonders. If you are not an eletronics builder, a pre-made slave trigger can be found at most good photo shops. Obsurve polarity!
  • I'm not sure what all the parts are, but they are all recycled as much as possible. Why make new parts when old ones work just as well? Reloading is possible but difficult due to the way it's wound backwards- there's a little gear that turns in one direction only. Not too badly an impedient if you are careful tho.
  • ... and got knocked thru the air into the drywall when I accidently touched a trace. The tubes on the board would explode as they ionized differently- there was no mechanism to sync two tubes when one didn't ionize at the exact instant as the other. Result? Pain, and lots of it.

  • theres a surprise inside (Score:3)

    by NevarMore ( 248971 ) on Sunday April 22, 2001 @04:26PM (#274487) Homepage Journal
    sitting around in a hotel room at about 2 AM on class trip, me and my rommates got bored and started dismantling these. they were pretty much the only camera everyone was using so we had plenty.

    kodaks are the easiest to take apart. when you're done taking pictures wind the wheel for a while to get the film wound all the way into the canister. pop the tabs on the sides of the camera and take outthe film and AA. now pop the tabs on top and bottom. as mentioned earlier the flash circut can zap you. for the saftey concious (being people who wont work on a power supply turned on and plugged in) take a metal object with an isluated handle (screwdriver, needlenose, hammer) and touch both terminals on the big capacitor. as soon as the afterimage of the sparks goes away, pop that circut board out. you now have a flash or a low end tazer. simlpy put the battery back in and press the button. when we were fiddling with these we got zapped about 20 times before we got smart enough to cover the board circut board with tape.

    the other posters are correct in that the camera is reloadable and reusable. practice first with old film. take the case off, and remove the flash if you dont want/need it. wind it around the spindle on the left using a screwdriver to wind the film out of the canister. you will need to recalibrate the dial that tells how many pics are left. that done place the cover back on. when you use good film load it inside a very dark room or a box with holes for your hands (available at photo stores, but if youre ganna reuse a disposable camera.....).

    i can see these cameras used about 3 or 4 times, after that the tabs probly wont hold the case together, and hey you never can have too many flash boards.

    sorry i rambled but im heavily caffinated right now.
  • Let me qualify this by informing y'all that I worked in a photo lab for a few years -- I'm not talking about CVS or Wal-Mart, I'm talking a quality 1 hour place that also handled a lot of artistic photographers in the area. We took in a lot of disposable cameras -- we're located in a pretty crazy tourist spot -- and I too was fascinated by the recycling of those cameras. We had a pile of the old batteries that would come in the things, and we'd stick 'em in cameras to test, etc.

    Anyway, the main problem with this is winding new rolls of film into the cameras then keeping them light-sealed. When you open up most disposable cams, regardless of how carefully you do it, you generally tend to break and bend up the plastic, which in most cases (but not all, if you're ridiculously careful) will create various light leaks, exposing your film. Also, it's hard -- near impossible -- to get your film to wind in the entire way, as disposable cameras tend to be wound out at the factory and when you advance film you're actually pulling it into the can. You've got to expose more of the bottom of the camera to get this to wind right, and it's gotta be done in total darkness. If you can't afford a cheap 35mm consumer-grade camera, don't bother trying to mess with these -- you'll need a dark box, etc. just to reload film. Kinda pointless.

    Though, people would bring in these wedding cameras, and we'd tear them apart and they'd be like "be careful! those were expensive!" ...they came with insanely shitty film and most of the $30/pop disposable wedding cameras have been recycled 291239 times and are in really horrible shape. People used to be pretty pissed off that we'd tell 'em that...
  • I've taken some of those flash units apart, and the caps are only rated at about 350 volts. They don't store a heck of a lot of energy, but 350 volts is more than enough to give you a nasty poke.
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  • I built a unit with a voltage doubler (two caps and two diodes) that ran off line current. It was current-limited by the caps and could recharge the unit in about five seconds. I hooked an SCR to the neon "ready" light to make it self-triggering, so it would flash continuously.

    This only works with some varieties of flash unit; the polarity or wiring of the "ready" light versus the trigger circuit is wrong on some others.
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  • Is there any possible way to sync them together?
    Yes. Leave the flash circuits separate, but connect the trigger lines in parallel to a common switch. Trigger the switch, all the flash units go off. Make absolutely certain that you have all the polarities the same, and use only a single model of flash unit.
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  • Is there any possible way to sync them together?

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