The Complete History of the Camera, 1987-2000 A.D.
Period 3: the Defective Power Age
The hallmark of the Defective Power Age was not so much the new technological ability of the time, more a new attitude in the minds of camera makers. The power of the Inventor buckled, and the Defective Power of the Marketeer filled the void. These were people who saw that looks and features were important, but also that in this steady, uninspiring Age no-one was expecting to pay for these things. So, producers were made to cut costs. The catalogue camera was born.
A quintessential DPA camera was the Goldline GL500. Sold through half-page ads in popular magazines, these cameras were worth 60 pounds but with the added bonus of a free pair of plastic binoculars throw in, retailed at a mere 19 pounds, 99 pence! For the retailing agent, this equates to a monetary loss of 40 pounds and a penny (plus manufacturing cost of plastic binoculars) per sale! Goldline even included a five-year warranty, which must have helped them to push product functionality even further back in their minds.
Feature-rich at the price it may have been, but what the catalogue camera lacked was reliability. The furious revving of the auto wind-on had a "mini ambulance" type of tone, presumably due to eccentric parts in the mechanism. Power was (sometimes) provided by AA batteries. Some aspect of the camera would randomly fail on a regular basis; it was returned to the manufacturers at one point, the note with the reply stating "No Fault Found". No, that's right, not in 5 seconds' use maybe. A number of films were lost completely due to stalling during rewind.
The GL500 met its end in Birmingham whilst accompanying a stag party....or did it? It may exist still, but pity the person who found or stole it. Sort of like a divine retribution.
Examples of Defective Power Age Photography
A real opportunist shot taken in South Manchester.
The Goldline GL500 was synonimous with groaning film wind-on, random loss of flash power and photographs lost due to failed rewind.
The person pictured left is synonimous with Manchester and Kappa sportswear.
I suppose that a photograph featuring all of the above plus a shark would be asking too much.
Probably the most successful example of Defective Flash technology. This is sure to have been helped by the colour of clothing worn in the photo.
The shot was taken at a spontaneous display of firewalking in Bulgaria. Difficult to think how this might be explained in one more sentence!
A whited-out Switzerland.
Rather than attempt an extreme carve at high speed and risk motion blurring, it was decided to sit down in extreme fatigue instead.
Three consecutive days of snowboarding led to a problem toe, which still hurts now. Who understands Continental boot sizes anyway?