One particularly stressful Saturday I planned to go for a short hike with a couple of close friends, as you do. And climb a big rock. The plan was to bring ourselves, some food and some drinks, some good conversation topics and enjoy the outdoors. Of course, I can never resist bringing a camera with me. And most recently the camera I have been carrying around with me has been the Polaroid SX-70 Sonar. A beautifully elegant chrome and black leather engineering feat, complete with a plastic sonar autofocus module grafted on top.

I was always more a fan of Fujifilm Instax film for its cheaper prices and more reliable results. But as I no longer own the Instax Wide 300 and between the Instax Wide printer losing some of the ethereal magic and uniqueness of instant photography and without any affordable high quality lens Instax Wide cameras with manual controls, I was forced to look elsewhere or simply not shoot instant film. Simultaneously, I have been in a downsizing and selling gear mood, really honing down my collection to just the cameras I shoot and will continue to shoot into the future reliably (read mechanical/known to be repairable as I’m beginning to fear electronic failure; I have been far too fortunate for this to continue especially considering that I don’t baby my cameras). The downsizing procedure was going well and without a hitch until I stumbled across a camera I’d long wished to try, the Polaroid SX-70 (Sonar, which is really just a bonus). In any case I justified it to myself because I still operated by the means of selling one camera and purchasing this one so at least my collection did not grow (yes I know, that’s not the same as downsizing), and additionally I got it for a very good price. I paid 90€ for it and so far I am very much happy with that investment.

The camera I want to talk to you about today is the Leica Mini Zoom. I picked my copy up cheap thinking it might work for a friend who wanted to get into photography with something for everyday situations that was more advanced than a disposable camera. I tried to convince her to get an old used Sony RX100 series or other compact that would suit her purposes well and would be cheaper in the face of increasing film prices and reduced colour film availability. I was unsuccessful. I showed her a few options and she fell in love with a camera I had often flirted with, the Yashica Samurai 3.0X and found herself a decent copy on ebay.

In the time between when she bought it and it arriving I found the Leica Mini Zoom and purchased it, thinking either she likes it or I just pass it on to the next person. I did what I always do when I find/purchase a new camera and ran a roll of Kodak Gold 200 through it. Thank god I did because this camera houses a surprisingly fantastic Vario Elmar 35-70mm f4.0-7.6 lens.

When I test compacts I like to use them as they would be if I just handed the camera to someone who doesn’t really know what they’re doing. I do not focus and recompose, I simply point and shoot. I regularly hand them to my partner or friends and see how they find it as well as shooting in varied circumstances. All of the following photos were developed at home by me and scanned using my home scanning rig. And yes, I did manage to get 37 shots out of this compact, so far I find I get an extra shot every roll, which is always appreciated.