The One35 V2 doesn’t just emulate a disposable camera in operation; its pictures have the same low-fi quality as a disposable 35mm film camera. The 12.8MP images look more analog than digital, with muted colors, lifted blacks, and visible grain. To my eye, the Flashback nails the film look better than the Camp Snap Pro. While it’s true that the Camp Snap lets you customize its four built-in filter options, its results always scream digital camera, while the Flashback One35 V2’s results are good enough to pass as analog.
It’s easy to get your finger in the frame if you’re not careful when holding the One35, an aspect that it shares in common with disposable 35mm cameras. (Credit: Jim Fisher)
The camera isn’t great in low light, so you’ll want to use the flash in dimly lit interiors. Like others in this class, the One35 can’t compete with smartphones on a technical level—any iPhone from the past five years is a far better camera thanks to features like its multi-shot night mode sampling and bokeh effects—but that’s the point. Flashback is going for a retro aesthetic, both in image quality and the user experience.
Without flash indoor photos are underexposed (left), and it’s easy to overexpose photos if you hold the camera too close to a subject when using the flash (right). (Credit: Jim Fisher)
The lens is a moderate wide-angle, around 30mm in full-frame terms, which is just about ideal for snapshot photography. It’s a fixed-focus design that keeps everything from about 4 to 6 feet away from the camera in focus. The One35 V2 doesn’t have any shutter lag; it came in at 0 seconds in my tests, so it’s better for capturing truly candid moments than the Camp Snap or Camp Snap Pro, both of which have about a quarter-second lag between pressing the shutter and making an exposure.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)
The camera uses an old-school xenon flash, the same type found on classic disposables, serious point-and-shoot digitals like the Panasonic Lumix ZS99 and Fujifilm X100VI, and the affordable Camp Snap Pro. The One35 V2’s xenon flash lights up a dark room and fires quickly enough to freeze motion, something you simply can’t do with the LED flashes on smartphones and on some standalone cams like the Fujifilm X Half and the first-generation Camp Snap. You’ll have to be careful not to use it if you’re within a couple of feet of your subject; the flash always fires at full power, so it will wash out your subject if you get too close.
I tried using the flash outdoors for several pictures and they all turned out like this. (Credit: Jim Fisher)
It may seem counterintuitive to beginners to use a flash when it’s bright, but a xenon flash is usually ideal for filling in shadows in a backlit photo or for making specular highlights pop. Unfortunately, the One35 V2’s flash is completely useless in bright sunlight; if you leave it on, you’ll get photos that are almost entirely washed out. I suspect this is because the camera uses a fully electronic shutter, which must remain open for a long time to ensure it syncs with the flash.
Even indoors you need to be careful not to use the flash for close-ups, as it tends to significantly overexpose images. (Credit: Jim Fisher)
Regardless of the technical reasons, it’s a bummer that the flash is no good for filling in shadows or fighting a backlight. The Camp Snap Pro proves more versatile here; it also uses an electronic shutter, but its flash works fine on sunny days, plus has supports two power levels, so it’s not quite as likely to wash out a photo when you’re using it indoors—though it’s not immune to that effect either.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)
