Hi everyone and welcome back to my channel. So today I wanted to talk to you about the Ilfred Sprite reusable camera, which was apparently the best-seller reusable camera this year. I think that I went through quite the natural progression when I started to dabble in film photography. So many of you might be able to relate. It all started with disposable cameras, and then I wanted to be able to pick out my own film stocks, and in general I didn't want to be quite as wasteful buying disposable cameras all the time. But for some reason I was a little bit worried about buying a secondhand point in shoot, because I was worried that if a camera was previously owned it might not work when I get it, or just of being scanned online by a reseller. At that point I didn't yet understand fully that if you want to shoot film you're probably going to have to buy a camera from the 90s. I wanted to buy a camera that was brand new, and so I went with Ilfred Sprite, which for better or worse, is a toy camera. And I did what I usually do with literally anything in my life. I went to YouTube to get some opinions on the camera and see how it worked for other people. And I found a bunch of great videos by really wonderful creators who have had really good experiences with this camera. I literally didn't hear anything negative about it. Unfortunately that was definitely not the case for me. So I will be telling you about why my personal experience was not the best, and maybe suggest some better alternatives for you if you want to dip your toes into film photography. Because this camera is a hit or miss, and there is like a 50-50% chance that it might disappoint you too. And who knows it might even discourage you from pursuing film photography more, because it did certainly quash my excitement. I will show you some of the pictures that I took on this camera, which did come out fine, but mind you that was probably one out of every seven pictures I took. The rest were completely useless. So first for the characteristics of this camera. It has a 35-millimeter plastic lens, so pretty much the same thing you will be getting with a disposable camera. Which is something that I'm definitely not frowning upon, because the plastic lens also has a very unique aesthetic, which in some situations can really be great. Next, the Ilford Sprite has a fixed aperture of F9, and a fixed shutter speed of 1 1 20th of a second, both of which are appropriate for well-lit daytime photography. Being a toy camera, it also has a fixed focus. It has a flash, which takes a couple of seconds to load, and when the red light turns on, like this, you are good to go. It requires batteries to power the flash, which is all pretty standard. So here I thought I was beating the system and saving up on not buying disposable. But it turns out that out of my first roll, only about four shots turned out all right. That is a big step down from your standard disposable camera, where you can expect pretty much consistent results. You can usually count on all of your photos to turn out fine. So as usual, my first thought was, I'm doing something wrong. Luckily I didn't get discouraged by this, and I purchased my first SLR, and I experimented with film photography a ton. I just kind of left this thing on a shelf, and pretty much forgot about it. I picked it up once or twice throughout my film photography journey, thinking, now I know what I'm doing, kind of. So I should probably get better results with it. That did not happen. But I definitely did give this camera a few fair shots before I made this video. All I really did with this was waste a ton of film, and the results did not get any better. I might even say that they got progressively worse. Plus I really wanted to like this camera. I love Ilfer. They make some really good film stocks, and I definitely trust their brand. That hasn't changed really. I just don't trust toy cameras anymore. So why was my experience with this camera so bad? So the main issue that is the most significant is that the winding wheel which you will use to wind your film between shots didn't work. Now that was not a technical issue pertaining to this camera only. It is a very recurring problem that happens to a lot of users. Some have reported the film winding back on its own, so you would wind to your next frame, and it would just walk itself back for some reason. And the problem that happened to me specifically, and a lot of other users, was also with the winding wheel. It was that after a few exposures, the catch right here, which is supposed to grasp onto the film perforations, would no longer grasp onto the film. So at one point it would just release the film, and you're done. Now I'm showing you as best as I can because I refuse to have another roll of film fall victim to this trap. Now I should also add that I went back to the film lab where I bought this camera. I explained what happened, and being the angels that they are, they exchanged my camera for your charge. So I was now in my second ill-ford sprite, and guess what? Same thing happened again halfway through my roll. This confirms even further that this was not just a one-off glitch. The salesman from the lab also told me that I'm not the first person coming in with this exact same issue. He told me these cameras are all the hype right now, but they have someone coming in, at least once a day, complaining about the same thing. He told me that perhaps you can secure the film onto the wheel with a little bit of tape, so I guess it's a solution if you're about that life. Now there are a couple more little inconveniences about the camera, but none of these are as big a deal breaker as the winding wheel. One is that it really doesn't do good with anything less than bright daylight. Even if you load a higher ISO film, a few clouds will render it completely useless. These photos were taken on a day where there was no bright bright sunshine, but it wasn't that overcast either, so these pictures should not have come out as dark as they did. The grain was also really pronounced, but all of this is more or less standard with these types of cameras. The main problem really was the mechanism. It also appears that many, not all, but many of these reusable cameras have the same problem. Users have reported the same thing with the AFA reusable, for example. You could say that what you pay for is what you get, but with this camera costing anywhere between 30 and 50 dollars depending on where you live, you could easily get so much better for the same price. I went on Etsy to see if I could find some good autofocus point and shoots for less than 30 dollars and sure thing I found a bunch. And these were all working tested cameras from verified sellers. For the same price or lower, I found multiple cameras from present manufacturers such as Olympus, Fuji or Connika. So why not just put the same money into a point and shoot? Which has stood the test of time and will provide you with consistent results? Or if you want that disposable camera plastic lens look, which some situations do call for. But you do care about getting some usable pictures back, just go with the disposable to avoid the big gamble. Like I said, there were many people that have had a good experience with this camera too. And that's great because it does have some really good features. It looks good and modern, it's easy to use if it works and it's super light. It is plastic, but also very sturdy. And the flash actually works really well. My best photos on this camera were actually the ones taken with flash. It could also be a great alternative to bring to places where you would be scared to bring your actual proper camera. Because if it breaks, you probably won't cry over it. And lastly, it is of course much more eco-friendly than a bunch of disposable cameras. The look of your photos could also be a selling point if you're going for that low-fi vintage look. There is a little bit of distortion around your edges and some chromatic aberration from the plastic lens. That is the outline of unwanted color along the edges of the objects in your photos. It's that quote unquote trippy effect that people actually try to recreate using editing in some situations. So it's definitely a vibe. But would I say that this camera is all bad? No. In theory, it's great. But would I recommend it? Not really unless you like to gamble. But do let me know down in the comments if you've used this camera or another reusable. And how it has worked for you. I just thought that I would hop on here and give my opinion, especially since according to Amazon reviews and also to my lab. My experience is definitely not a unique one. So this is it for me today. I know it was a little ranty, but I accidentally ruined a lot of film rolls on my own. So the camera I'm using should not be contributing to these casualties. As always, thank you so much for watching. Don't hesitate to like or subscribe. Have an amazing day and see you all again very soon. Bye bye.