Ilford HP5 throw away camera

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eugene
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Well not quite , as i want to reuse it again . Just experimenting with the cheap Ilford camera and want to reload it with something else after using the HP5.
Question: How do you get it apart without damage ? Are there any masters of the technique here ?
 
I used a screwdriver and a big hammer.

I re-used bits of it in a collage. :)

Seriously though, I'd be very surprised if it can be reloaded. But you never know.
 
Well not quite , as i want to reuse it again . Just experimenting with the cheap Ilford camera and want to reload it with something else after using the HP5.
Question: How do you get it apart without damage ? Are there any masters of the technique here ?
The problem is that the camera comes with the film completely wound out, then winds it back into the cassette as you take the photos, so there is no other way to wind the film. Even if you get the camera open, you would need to load the film in complete darkness and wind it out before re-assembling the camera, still in complete darkness. Whether the battery is still up to rewinding it would depend on how much the flash has been used, so that's why folks generally don't do it.
 
Well not quite , as i want to reuse it again . Just experimenting with the cheap Ilford camera and want to reload it with something else after using the HP5.
Question: How do you get it apart without damage ? Are there any masters of the technique here ?

Basically what the others have said.

Personally I consider disposable cameras a very expensive way to shoot 35mm film.

Even buying a dirt cheap SLR and only using it a few times has, imo, got to be a financially viable option and the photos are pretty much nailed on to be of better quality.
 
Some you can and some you can't and I processed an ilford HP5 recently and IIRC it was in the highly unlikely category. As has been said the film is wound out of the can at the start and then gets wound back in as you take the shots. On some there is little door on the bottom left (looking from the back) and this allows access to the spool on to which the film is initially wound. If you can get that open without damage, get the camera apart, put in a 35mm film in, hook the leader on to the spool, put the camera back together ... you can then wind the film out on to the left hand spool and away you go.

As I said I think the Ilfords are some of the more difficult. The fuji seems a bit better and my daughter had one that was intended to be reloaded but I don't know where she got it from.
 
Well we will see !!!, never used one of these before , my philosophy is if it goes together it can be taken apart, how many times is anyone,s guess as plastic components dont like being stressed time and time again and possibly not at all . So all i can do is have a go .
 
Well we will see !!!, never used one of these before , my philosophy is if it goes together it can be taken apart, how many times is anyone,s guess as plastic components dont like being stressed time and time again and possibly not at all . So all i can do is have a go .
I opened a HP5 single use camera a month or so ago. Admittedly I didn't set out with the intention of re-using it, mainly because of the "film wound out" issue mentioned earlier. But I was as gentle as I could be... and there was no way that camera was going to go back together again!

Also, an issue not mentioned above (I think) is that these cameras contain a battery and a big capacitor for the flash. There are plenty of warnings on the web about risks from shorting that capacitor in some way. Just opening the camera in daylight, it seemed to me the risk was minimal. But you'll need to carefully assess the risk if you're planning to insert and wind out a new film... in the dark bag!
 
I opened a HP5 single use camera a month or so ago. Admittedly I didn't set out with the intention of re-using it, mainly because of the "film wound out" issue mentioned earlier. But I was as gentle as I could be... and there was no way that camera was going to go back together again!

Also, an issue not mentioned above (I think) is that these cameras contain a battery and a big capacitor for the flash. There are plenty of warnings on the web about risks from shorting that capacitor in some way. Just opening the camera in daylight, it seemed to me the risk was minimal. But you'll need to carefully assess the risk if you're planning to insert and wind out a new film... in the dark bag!
Some circuits will "drain" the capacitor when not in use, others you can just short it with a screwdriver or something then it's safe to touch untill recharged.
Many years ago my old studio had a processing lab upstairs, I reloaded lots of single use cameras just playing around. If I remember right you had to reset the film counter for them to work before reloading (not sure now).
The lad running the lab would frequently throw me the circuit board or a charged capacitor for a laugh, I had quite a few shocks over the years and I'm still here. Although it can be risky if you have some heart conditions.
 
Reading around (Google is your friend!), it's probably easier to reload a Fuji disposable than the Ilford one. Found a couple of u-choob videos for disassembling the Ilford ones but none for reloading - there are a few on reloading Fujis.

A decent film compact can now be had for noralorra cash and may well be a better bet - Elastoplasts get expensive!
 
IM GOING TO GIVE IT A GO ANYWAY BUT CAN SEE THE POINT IN A CHEAP DEDICATED 35MM FILM CAMERA .
Its just that i,m curious as to what the result will be , its all subjective this photography and that,s the fun bit . Just thinking wildly here , wonder what E6 would look like through one of these, Hmmm.
 
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Given the cheap plastic lens, I would only put a cheap film in it! (But I'm the guy who tries ICM with expired Reala 100 AKA the best film in the world, so wadda I know?)
 
As others have said, if it’s purely about photographs then a cheap point and shoot will be a far better bet.

If, on the other hand, you’re really curious about whether it can be done, then the potentially poor results and likely waste of a roll of film are probably worth it for the fun of the experiment. If this is the case, then I say go for it. I’d be interested to see how you get on, so maybe document the process and share it here so we can see what happens?

Good luck and have fun!
 
I would expect E6 film to get wildly wrongly exposed.

Good luck with the reloading. Don't forget to reset the frame counter. Fairly sure it'll be quite easy to get the exposed film out but dismantling it to reload a fresh film will be less easy and reassembling it in the dark even less so. Don't forget to put a roll of black insulating tape in the bag before reassembly, especially if any of the plastic clips/lugs get broken during dismantling. Have a good look at the original film roll's ends - they're often different to normal 35mm reels so you might need to adapt any new reel.

As Nige said, good luck and have fun!
 
Somewhere I've got a waterproof throw away I reloaded and never used. I think I got it pretty waterproof but never got around to trying it out
The other ones were ok quality, not great compared to a cheap compact and way short of something like the olympus XA or pen F.
 
Just thinking wildly here , wonder what E6 would look like through one of these, Hmmm.
These cameras have a fixed aperture and shutter speed and rely on the wide exposure latitude of negative film to give you results that look OK in a reasonable range of conditions. This one is f/9.5, 1/100s, which means that 400 ISO HP5 is over 3 stops overexposed in 'Sunny 16' conditions (bright sunlight), but you get away with it. E6 has much less latitude, especially to overexposure, and slide film of the same speed (if you could still find it) would probably look completely washed out. Today, you'd probably load something like 100 ISO E6, which 'matches' the 1/100s shutter speed under the Sunny 16 rule, about right for shooting on a slightly cloudy day with that f/9.5 aperture:

https://www.nicoleandermatt.com/sunny-16-rule/

Of course, you can find a proper reusable camera on ebay that will expose your film correctly through a decent lens in a range of conditions for less than the price of a roll of E6 + processing...
 
Ah i see , thanks for the info . I think this might be a one off just as an experiment .
 
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