Thoughts on Kodak’s HD Power Flash Single Use Camera
In a world obsessed with gear, I thought I’d go back to the basics and give another one of Kodak’s disposable cameras a shot *pun intended. * Armed with a disposable each, my buddy Cole and I hit the streets of Hollywood in search of good energy, light, subjects, and maybe a street hot dog or two. Our instincts (and probably our noses) led us to one of my favorite corners in LA- Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave. The energy of the street was alive and after a couple hours we were winding up the last couple frames back into our little plastic cameras and heading to the lab to see what we had made of the chaos. Gathered around our film scanner, we shared our thoughts as the few key moments from the day reappeared on the monitor.
Pros-
One of the nicest things, to me, about this camera is the focal length it shoots at (somewhere around a 28mm). I am a big fan of wide angle lenses when I shoot because, by allowing more information to enter my frame, I miss less of the random and beautiful interactions that happen simultaneously on the street. Another great aspect of shooting a disposable on a street like Hollywood Blvd is that people usually just assume you are a tourist rather than a photographer, making the camera you’re blasting in their face a little less threatening. I am also putting photo quality down as a pro because, having managed our expectations, Cole and I were both surprised with how clear the images turned out.
Cons-
After talking with Cole, we also found a few things we didn’t like about this disposable. Even though the camera was shooting at around a 28mm focal length, the viewfinder was probably closer to a 35mm. Knowing this, it would be easy to take an extra step closer to your subject, but without this bit of knowledge one might be disappointed after receiving their scans and feel that they were a bit too far away from the action. The speed of this film is also a bit of a question. Even though it’s advertised as containing 800 ISO film, I would never recommend shooting this thing without the built in flash.
To wrap it up, I really enjoyed shooting this little camera on the street. For me, it was a great experience setting down my gear for a change and just grabbing a camera that simply gets the job done without all the frills. Even though the quality of the images aren’t going to be at a professional level, I felt the compact and stealthy nature of a disposable allowed me to get some content that I may have been more hesitant to shoot otherwise. Going forward, I think I’ll be reaching for a few more disposables as I pack my camera bag for the day just to mix things up have some fun.
