Toycamera review: TAN LA SU-204
The SU-204 is a 35mm camera produced by TAN LA from China that is sold in chinese supermarkets here in Portugal for € 2,50. It is very cheaply made (as expected) and mostly (if not completely) made from plastic. It has a fixed shutter speed and aperture, a manual film advance with a thumb wheel and a fixed focus lens.
It comes in silver matte. No surprises on the general layout: The film rewind crank, hot-shoe, film counter window and the shutter release button are on the top. Film door and film advance thumb wheel on the back. Film door switch and wrist strap (yes, it's included) on the left. Film rewind button on the bottom. There's a slider under the lens on the front for the lens cover. The shutter can't be fired until the cover is open. The shutter is cocked while advancing the film – no double exposures possible. The viewfinder is bright and clear. And though it is placed right above the lens it has a strong left/right parallax error.
Everything is lightweight and cheap. Especially the film rewind crank should be handled very carefully.
Everything is lightweight and cheap. But compared to other small plastic cameras like the Diana Mini that costs at least 20 times (!!!) as much, the SU-204 is quite sophisticated and well built.
The user's guide is in chinese language and gives no information on shutter speed or aperture (at least not for me). I assume it's f/11 and 1/100 second or such. There is a print under the lens that says '35mm Focus Free' while the box says '28mm Glass Lens'. We will see...
Summary: More than I expected from a € 2,50 camera.
Now let's take this little darling out. The film is a fresh 'dm Paradies Action 400' - a cheap (less than 1€ for a 36 exp. roll) print-film sold by the 'dm Drogeriemarkt' a big german drugstore chain. It's probably an older Kodak emulsion. As I am focused on testing the capabilities and quirks of the lens, I sealed the film door with electrical tape. No lightleaks allowed at this point in time.
I like the SU-204. This camera is a real cheap-as-a-toy-camera and as that it is just great! The lens is bad – and I mean it's REALLY bad. I know that even disposable cameras deliver decent results these days, and so I expected average (and boring) pictures from the SU-204. But no! The lensblur in the corners is spectacular and crazy and you will only get your subjects sharp (haha!) if you keep them centered and in a distance of 1-3 m. This is definitely not a glass lens.
Here are some results from the first roll of film.
