Blue Deluxe, Kodak S 100 EF, and Vivitar Champion II

No idea who made this camera other than it was made in China.  I got it because I had not seen this design before.  A single shutter speed and aperture camera.











Despite the urgings of my higher self I have developed an affection for the cheap plastic point & shoots of the 1980's and 90's. So a camera like the Blue Deluxe is hard for me to resist.  As its color would suggest, with its 1/125 shutter speed and f/11 aperture, the Blue Deluxe is a camera for sunny days and blue skies.

Many cameras of this sort have the defect of occasionally taking a technically decent image. The Blue Deluxe seems to be free of that defect.

The viewfinder is a problem in this camera.  When originally framed only the door and a small area around it was shown in the viewfinder.  Obviously the camera is taking in a much larger area.

I felt an unexplainable affection for this Kodak S 100 EF when I first saw it at an antique shop this weekend. The only thing I can think of is that it is a reincarnation of a camera that I knew in a previous lifetime. 





The Kodak S 100 EF is a little more advanced than the Blue Deluxe.  It has three apertures and a flash.  It can work without batteries.  Two AA batteries are only needed for the flash to work.  The lens is a doublet.  The camera originally sold for 59.95 and was out from 1989 to 1993. 

The Kodak S 100 EF appears capable of taking images superior to those of the Blue Deluxe - at least from a technical viewpoint.

I don't know much about the Vivitar CHAMPION II.  It appears to have only one aperture and one shutter speed.  These will work without the battery which is needed only for the flash.







I imagine that it would be a challenge to collect all the Vivitar cameras of this type.  Just making a list of all the ones that were made would be a major feat.  The Vivitar CHAMPION II is one of the rare cameras that I was unable to find example pictures for on Flickr.