The Shitty Camera Challenge: On Holiday With The Ilford Pixie 35-II

The Shitty Camera Challenge: On Holiday With The Ilford Pixie 35-II

This year there was an extended Shitty Camera Challenge, from 01 July to 30 September 2026. As usual, it coincided with our annual pilgrimage to Meco, where we spend five weeks doing nothing apart from laying on the beach, eating and sleeping (or eating and sleeping while on the beach). Of course, what this means is that I don't really get to participate in most of the Challenge during the summer. That said, I was determined to take along some shitty cameras and at least think about making some images for the Challenge. 

The three cameras I chose this year were the little pink circuit bent action scamera, a new (to me) Pentax Optio I-10 digital camera, and the wonderful Ilford Pixie 35-II. With the Pixie I brought two expired films, both Fujifilm Superia, one which expired in 05/2007, the other in 03/2003. In the event I only used one of the rolls of Superia, the one that expired in 2007.

I'd bought the Superia from Cano Ameralo in Porto just as a test, along with some other expired films. I chose to use it in the Pixie since I've used low ISO expired film in this camera before, and on sunny days at the widest aperture (to get maximum blur) it's worked a treat. I calculated that applying the 'give one stop extra exposure for every 10 years past the expiry date' rule, I should expose the film at roughly ISO 50. Normally, I would use the Camera Meter app to measure the proper exposure and adjust for correct exposure with neutral density filters. But I was on holiday, and it's the Shitty Camera Challenge, so I thought 'sod that,' and just exposed the whole roll at f6.8.

When we got back from holiday, after a week or so in the bedside cabinet, I took the film to Forever Blue for development. As I wasn't sure if I would get anything, I selected the develop only option. When the negatives came back, I was actually quite impressed; there were images, and they weren't bad. I scanned the film at home with an Epson Perfection v750 Pro flat bed scanner and Epson Scan software. If you're interested, I’ve posted the whole series in an album on my Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/gp/147583812@N06/6U5hLR331M).

After scanning, the images were very soft and 'hazy'. Part of this was a result of the camera, of course, but I reckon that the 30-year-old film had a lot to do with it. However, at least the combination of the sunny day and a wide open aperture produced something from this film. With a little editing of the images with Snapseed, and after some experimentation with the curves, brightness, and contrast, I think I got pulled some nice images from the film, and I was really happy how they came out.

As mentioned before, the radial blur from the Pixie is amazing. It's also interesting that the field of view from the Pixie is really wide. For example, in the view of the sculpture in Alfarim, it completely filled the image in the viewfinder, but in the final photograph it was in the centre of the image surrounded by radial blur. Likewise, the final image of the apartment block in Lisbon filled the viewfinder frame to the point that the top and bottom was cut off. But in the final image there was plenty of space around the building. For me, that's what makes this camera really special.

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