Flawed Gems

It’s embarrassing but true: I’m a disposable-camera junkie. Ever since my last real camera started making pathetic whirring sounds as it struggled in vain to advance the film, I’ve lived in denial, telling myself I’d buy just one more disposable to tide me over. That was two years ago. Since then I’ve gone through a dozen, guiltily toting them to weddings, Caribbean vacations and weekends in the country. But I’m sick of grainy pictures that should have been great and puny flashes that make a walk in the woods look like a midnight stroll. And after paying $15 a pop for that many disposables, I’m know I’m not saving any money.

I hoped the latest advanced photo system cameras would solve my problem. As leery as I am of APS film, whose most obvious distinction is its high price, I’m tempted by the cameras’ handy, lightweight designs. Because the cartridge is smaller than 35 mm and the film requires no threading, the cameras can be very compact. They take pictures in three sizes and replace negatives with a single contact sheet that displays thumbnail images of an entire roll at a glance. So I decided to put three brand-new models from Canon, Konica and Minolta to the test. My bar: they had to be sleek and light and come with a 2X zoom.

When I first showed my gems around the office, I got plenty of oohs and ahhs. They’re gorgeous! Then I played tourist for a weekend, snapping flowers and the New York City skyline and taking more preening self-portraits than I’d like to admit. But I soon discovered that while all the cameras were easy to use, had similar features and cost about $250 apiece, each was flawed.

I loved the mid-roll-change option on Canon’s Elph 2, which lets you swap partly used rolls in and out. I could save one roll for impromptu pics, then switch to a fresh one for parties or vacations. But the viewfinder was noticeably dull, actually discouraging me from taking shots. Minolta’s silvery Vectis 2000 was the lightest of the trio and has a slick pull-open case. But it didn’t seem so slick when I had to slap a piece of Scotch tape on the battery compartment to keep it from popping open. And the hatch marks that showed up on the edges of the viewfinder when I switched to classic or panoramic views were distracting.

That left the winter-green Konica Revio as my favorite, until I noticed that you can’t operate the self-timer with any special settings like red-eye reduction, landscape mode or night view. Instead you have to buy a $25 remote control (also available for the Elph and Vectis) to do the trick.

As excited I’d been at the outset, I felt deflated that none were as spectacular as they looked. And when I tried to get my film developed, finding same-day APS processing on a Sunday was a pain. Estimates ranged from overnight to three days, until I located a shop (Fromex) on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. As for the prints, the Konica did better on close-ups, but overall it was a toss-up.

So I decided not to decide. As sick as I am of disposables, I won’t settle for a less than perfect replacement. Looks as if I’m back to window shopping–and packing disposables.

Visit minoltausa.com usa.canon.com or konica.com for more on each camera. E-mail Anita at hamilton@time.com