Sometimes, I have to admit, I just a sucker for vintage/retro packaging. I had been trying to resist the urge to buy one of Ilford’s color disposable cameras, but the more I saw them pop-up, the harder it was to resist. And so, I finally broke down and bought one. And after shooting with it, I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised!
What I assumed about the Camera before Even Ordering it
Ilford had been around a long time as a film manufacturer and even have a very good line of black and white disposable cameras using their HP5 and HP4 films. But I’ve never even really heard of them making a color film stock in recent years. I assumed that the Ilford Rapid Retro was more or less a repackaging/rebranding of another disposable camera with a 3rd party film. I couldn’t find any examples of the photos taken with the Ilfocolor film, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. The film was rated at ISO 800, and what I expected was some of the cheap and absolutely awful Chinese film stocks that I often see in Etsy disposable cameras. But what I found actually surprised me!
The Ilford Ilfocolor Rapid Retro at First Glance
The packaging was cool looking, it had basic instructions. It appeared to be a slightly above average disposable camera once I opened the shipping box! Fuji and Kodak disposable cameras don’t really come in boxes any more so the packaging was far better than the norm!
The Ilford Ilfocolor Camera
The camera body here was definitely not a new design or even one that Ilford had used before. Shutter Junkies develops a lot of disposable cameras from all over the world and we’ve only seen this camera body type a few times. The body used to be sold here in the United States as some cheaper third party brands. But since film fell off they’ve all disappeared. This body is still used more in Europe however as we’ve received some newer cameras from there with this same body.
The body itself is standard. Basic film winder, exposure counter, shutter button, nothing fancy. The only really distinguishing feature is the flash’s on switch. Kodak disposable cameras have button you press to charge and Fuji disposable cameras come with a small slider that slides up with a prism that glows red to indicate that the flash is charged and on. The Ilfocolor Rapid Retor features a sliding switch that slides out, extending past the border of the camera body. Its a strange design and not particularly attractive. The one good thing is that you won’t forget that your flash is on!
The Form and Function of the Ilfocolor Rapid Retro
Beyond the goofy flash switch, the camera feels solid and works well. It fits nicely in your hand, and all of the winding, shutter, and flash switches work nicely with no excess play or sense that the camera is poorly made. The Rapid Retro is a solid build little disposable camera!
To be honest, the camera feels to be a little better quality that the Fuji cameras out there. Fuji cameras feel like they are just made from the cheapest plastic ever. The Ilford Ilfocolor feels a bit more solid. I decided to chase my children around the house and yard and see if the camera and I could keep up. I didn’t have a problem winding and shooting at the speed my little kids were moving. Overall I was somewhat impressed by the quality and build.
But I couldn’t help wondering with each click of the shutter, what kind of film was in this thing? What are my pictures going to look like??
Ilford Ilfocolor Rapid Retro Pictures
I opened the camera and pulled out what appeared to be a standard generic 800 speed film. There was no branding or indicator markings of any kind. This definitely wasn’t an Ilford film. The film canister looked very similar to that of the Lomography Color Negative 800 film, which is an amazing film stock that I absolutely love shooting with. But without any branding, I just assumed the worse.
I developed the film and watched impatiently as the film dried. The images looked decent. Most of the images were dense enough. There were a few I purposefully under exposed just to see how the film would perform. I had tried to take photos in a variety of lighting settings, similar to what I see my customers sending in with their disposables. We took some outside with and without the flash, inside with and without the flash, running, walking, and standing still. I could definitely identify the images where I thought I was underexposing. The negatives looked exactly as I expected. So far, the film was performing ok, like a normal color negative ISO 800 film in a disposable camera body.
Once the film was dried, the film went right to the scanner where I can finally say, I was very pleased with the results! The film itself still had no markings to indicate a brand, but the colors and the feel of the images really remind me of Lomography Color Negative 800 film. The images were saturated in some colors and a little more subdued in others but all of the colors were vibrant. The contrast to me felt a little low so I bumped it up in the software, but the unedited image was a nice colorful flatter style which was ok. It was nice to have some latitude to work with/edit with though. After reviewing the images over and over, I had to finally admit that I liked how they turned out! I don’t think I would recommend this camera for weddings or company events, but for individuals capturing moments that want a warm, personal, retro feel, the Ilford Ilfocolor Rapid Retro would be a great option!
The Final Word on the Ilford Ilfocolor Rapid Retro Disposable Camera
If you’re looking for a fun camera that will give an interesting and fun stylized look to your images, this camera is for you! A solid camera, easy to use, really just down right fun to use, performs consistently with other big-brand cameras on the market, this camera definitely does not disappoint. I expected the worst yet the results I got were exciting and fun!
If you’re looking for a slightly different experience with a disposable camera, the Ilford Ilfocolor Rapid Retro is the camera you should pick-up!
