Review: Harman Ilford HP5 Plus single use camera

Ilford is legendary for its black-and-white film emulsions, and for some time now, alongside parent company Harman Technology, it has also been producing single-use film cameras in both colour and black and white.

The black-and-white version, loaded with the iconic Ilford HP5 Plus, has earned a solid reputation in the lo-fi analogue world. There is obvious appeal in pairing a classic, forgiving film stock with the simplicity of a disposable camera.

I recently picked one up for a plastic-fantastic test run. Here are my thoughts after putting it through its paces.

The tech

Like most 35mm disposable cameras, the Harman Ilford HP5 Plus is simple by design: a lightweight plastic body pre-loaded with 27 exposures of ISO 400 HP5 Plus black-and-white film.

Inside is a collection of basic plastic components, plus a single AA battery powering the flash and capacitor. The flash is activated via a sliding switch on the front and lets you know it is ready with a small red light on top.

There is also a manual film-wind dial, an exposure counter and a shutter release button. The plastic lens is roughly 30mm with a fixed aperture around f/9 to f/10, a minimum focus distance of about one metre, and a shutter speed estimated somewhere between 1/100sec and 1/120sec.

In other words: simple, straightforward and entirely point-and-shoot.

In use

As a photographer who usually chases image quality and control, there is something genuinely refreshing about using a camera with almost no settings at all.

That freedom was part of the fun. It is fast, easy and surprisingly enjoyable to shoot with, although I also found myself overthinking the fixed settings and trying to anticipate where its limitations would show up.

It rewards bright scenes and open light, but it is less forgiving in darker environments. Shooting directly into the sun is best avoided, and bright skies can blow out quite easily.

The results

Knowing how forgiving and characterful HP5 Plus can be, I probably hoped for more than the camera itself could realistically deliver.

I had seen some excellent examples online, but my own expectations were tempered by blown highlights in a few frames and the general unpredictability that comes with a disposable camera.

That said, it performed best in punchy, contrast-heavy scenes, particularly bright outdoor markets and open-air settings, as long as skies and reflective surfaces were kept under control. Some highlight detail can be recovered later in scanning or editing, which helps.

Despite plenty of advice online suggesting the flash should be used for almost everything, years of shooting film told me otherwise. I tried a mix of flash and natural light over a couple of weeks and found the flash to be fairly limited, as expected, but still useful as a fill light for portraits within two or three metres.

I ended up with 29 frames from the roll. Around 16 were decent in a disposable-camera kind of way, and five or six were genuinely strong images. A couple were genuinely very good.

That feels like a fair return.

The results

Features ★★ 1/2

Beyond the flash there is very little to talk about, which is exactly the point.

The experience ★★★ 1/2

I really enjoyed using it. The simplicity was refreshing and the process itself was a lot of fun, even if some of the results fell short of my hopes.

Value for money ★★★

At around AU$31, factoring in the included film and the fun of shooting it, the value is reasonable.

That score did take a hit when I tried opening the body to retrieve the film and reload it. The camera promptly fell apart, which, to be fair, is not really its intended purpose.

The wrap-up

There is no getting around it: disposable cameras are fun, even for serious photographers.

Whether the results justify the price is a personal call. For some people the unpredictability is part of the appeal. For others, a reusable camera loaded with HP5 Plus will probably make more sense.

I was hoping for slightly better overall results, which may have been unfair given what this camera is designed to be. My plan was also to reload it, but that ended with bits of plastic spread across the table.

Would I buy another?

Maybe.

A roll of HP5 Plus through a reusable 35mm body probably makes more sense for a more serious shoot. But it would not be quite as fun.

And for that reason alone, there are no regrets. It was a fun little fling — right up until the break-up.