Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim
Tiny, fun, and now strangely overpriced
Most cheap cameras produce cheap photos but sometimes cheap cameras produce vignetted dreamy photos that are aesthetically pleasing in a very unique way. The UW&S producess such interesting photos it has garnered quite the cult following. You will find more articles about it online than many technically superior cameras. It’s so loved it will run you 45+ on eBay for a camera that should be a 5 dollars. These are all plastic except for some springs and screws honestly seem like they should have been given away during promotions and probably were. But they are so loved other companies like Superheadz produced their own expensive clone version of this camera and if you are dumb enough you can go buy one for a 100 dollars then go watch some episodes of The Big Bang Theory. If you can get one for a decent price go for it they are incredibly light, small, simple, and most importantly fun to use. Point and shoot that’s it. You get the “shot” or not because there is nothing else to control except for composition and even that shouldn’t be over thought if you are following the Lomo philosophy.
It’s a pretty straight forward fixed focus and fixed speed camera besides the magic in the lens the only other unique thing is the film advance wheel is on the bottom left backside of the camera while most cameras have it on the top… because that’s where your thumb is. That move also makes rewind crank on the other side of the camera and on the bottom of the camera. The shutter release button is covered in fake chrome which peeled off easily on my copy. It also has some interesting art deco influenced styling which I like. The knurling on the ring around the lens made it looks like there was some adjustable qualities but it was purely for aesthetics. It really is small though I could fit it in any of my pockets even a shirt pocket of a button-up. There are few cameras I can think of that small besides Olympus XA, Minox GT, or Chinon Bellami but they are much heavier (and a far superior cameras and I will definitely write about those marvels later) than the UW&S. If you find a cheap copy absolutely pick it up but I can’t justify spending 50 dollars on one.
-Dindo 12/28/21
Specs
- Aperture: F11 only
- Speed: 1/125th only
- Focal length: 22mm
- Power: Human power