Why buying disposable 35mm cameras is bad for the environment and for your wallet

To get one or all of these for yourself, visit these here links to our website listing:

• for Fuji DL-120: https://www.catlabs.info/product/fuji-dl-120-compact-35mm-camera-with-35mm-f3-8-ebc-lens-in-box
• for Olympus Epic(s): https://www.catlabs.info/product/epic
• for transparent 35mm cameras: https://www.catlabs.info/product/transparent

Don't forget to check BFL X CatLABS out at:

• @boston.film.lab
• http://www.bostonfilmlab.info/

Alrighty. Hi. Hello. Welcome back. It's great to see you again. If this is your first time encountering this newfangled blog: Hi. Hello. Welcome.

Sit down, y'all, because we're gonna be tackling the good ol' plastic remnants of the 80s and 90s: Disposable 35mm cameras. 

Those of us who experienced the original hype of the disposable camera back in the day, it's a great feeling and a privilege to define our experience as vintage. I kid you not, technically, a disposable camera and photo albums filled with prints from CVS fall under the time limit (at least 20 years) to deem them as vintage. *Existential crisis occurs veiled under a blissful listen of Believe by Cher*

Amazingly, the disposable camera has persevered through and into the digital age. I do remember the ominous feeling of seeing them less and less in the store fronts of CVS and Walmart. Yet, they're still among us. Even through the production and consumption of digital cameras from Nikon, Canon, and Sony; and through the emergence and take-over of smart phones, these little plastic cameras are here and are being bought. Honestly, in recent time, there was a moment when I would only connect "disposable, single-use" cameras to wedding receptions. 

For the most part, single use cameras were out of my radar, and I imagine it was out of most of the world's radar. What is the need? What is the allure? Oddly enough, it's not the older crowd that is bringing back these snap-shot cameras, unless you're buying a ton for your wedding. It's the younger generation that has been hooked onto going to any major consumer store where the "simpler times" have been capitalized on and marketed. 

We understand, in general, the analog, film photography industry is not very eco-friendly: the amount of material and space that goes into a film production factory, the film itself, the darkroom printing paper, the chemicals used in developing and processing (some toxic, some not at all), etc. That's to say, here, we advocate for re-using and recycling material whenever possible. There are many other emerging as well as established small businesses selling and producing recycled material or more safe, eco-friendly chemicals, paper, and film. In regards of equipment, in CatLABS like in other such small businesses, old cameras from 35mm to large format are taken in cleaned up, fixed, refurbished, taken for parts to keep the already existing material here and functioning instead of filling trash cans.

As a camera store and film lab, B.F.L x CatLABS has encountered its fair share of disposable cameras and people seeking to buy more disposable cameras (B-T-DUBZ, we don't sell disposable, single-use cameras. Pass it on). Film, the "film look", the aesthetic of the 90s and early 2000s has made a comeback. Our stance on it? Well, first and foremost, thank y'all for shooting more film! Thank you, younger generations, for taking interest and elongating the life of film and film photography. We do take in disposable, single-use cameras to process their film. Second. Disposable cameras are not ethically green and create more waste than is necessary. Disposable cameras are not able to be recycled and must be taken to the landfill. 

Also, also, they don't have the best quality in lighting or lenses. So, you are making multiple, pretty-penny payments for "eh" photo and camera quality. Money-wise, that's not the smartest way to spend money, as all that money accumulates and nullifies the "cheap" aesthetic and mentality of getting disposable cameras. Especially when there are those refurbished, already existing, multi-use solutions: Point & Shoot cameras (or compact cameras). Make one payment for the camera itself and you can use any, and I mean absolutely any, 35mm film you see out there in the big wide world. 

Photos by CatLABS

And they come in so many shapes and colors and designs! :D Woot Woot! The choice is yours my friend!

Here at CatLABS, we have an absolute tremendous amount of point & shoot cameras in stock with a broad range of prices. We are more than happy to walk you through each camera if that's what it takes to persuade you to come to the (camera) obscura side. Truly though these are cameras that are for everyone at any skill level that live along side you for as long as you want. Then if you don't want it anymore, pass it along, pass it forward, re-sell it, donate it. Share the fun. Reduce the waste.  

Anywho, those are my two cents on disposable, single-use cameras. Ya'll can find our point&shoot cameras on our ebay and our website. Imma leave some links for a certain few that are pretty cool 👉👈.

Thank y'all for coming to my TED Talk. Truly so kind.

***P.S. Anybody who mentions this blog post will get a free roll of 35mm or 120 when they purchase something at this good ol' store***