Chinon 21street on the street…
Chinon 21street
The Chinon 21street is a rebranded version of the 35M-AF, and although shares many common aspects of the 3001, is not the same camera. These 21street’s are uncommon compared to other point & shoots and asking prices are high. It does have a 35mm f2.8 lens like the Nikon L35AF and Olympus µ[mju:] II, and sits between the two in terms of release date. In my opinion it is a nicer camera than the Nikon, but falls short of the appeal and build quality of the Olympus. Overall it was a really nice camera to use, it’s quiet, the focus was spot on, it starts up really quickly and auto focus is fast. The Chinon 3001 which it is a descendant of is generally a nicer camera.
Due to the name, I thought it would be fitting to have some street photography fun on a trip to London, and loaded some fresh Kodak Gold as the weather forecast was good.
Chinon 21street - Kodak Gold 200
Quite possibly the coolest car ever made - The Citroën DS always makes a good photograph.
Chinon 21street - Kodak Gold 200
The lens is nice and sharp, but there is something going on with the highlights! I need to check the glass for any haze that might have caused this effect. To be honest I got the camera very very cheap compared to the few listings I could find online. It came in a lot of eight Chinon compacts that I paid peanuts for, so for it to be even working is a good thing.
I should probably have waited for a better subject to walk past the gap in the buses, but it was a Sunday morning so not many people were about.
Chinon 21street - Kodak Gold 200
As the camera dates from the Nineties, it comes with a far quieter motorwind than the crude noisy Eighties ones like the L35AF or Canon AF35ML that would have sparked reactions from passers by. One good thing about peoples addiction to mobile devices these days is they are totally oblivious to what’s going on around them - to be honest you could shoot with a Kiev 60 and I don’t think it would break the concentration!
Chinon 21street - Kodak Gold 200
This shot really impressed me - bearing in mind it is ISO200 film with no flash, and it is still pretty good. It makes me laugh that I took a similar shot on my digital camera and it was terrible. You can still see the haze effect on the overhead lights, but it is well exposed and sharp enough for what it is.
So what is my opinion of the 21street? Well it is rather good, it is definitely a good Street Photography choice with a good amount of features plus no fussing around overriding the default Auto Flash mode - you simply press the button on the top whilst taking the shot to cancel it, unlike my mju II where you have to cycle through the flash modes every time you turn it on to get to No Flash. Obviously it would be better if the default was off, but it is a point & shoot where decisions are made for you., rather than the user having an opinion.
Does it compare to the premium cameras in it’s class? No, certainly not, but if it’s cheap enough I would recommend one.