Introduction

My name is Xemilla and I enjoy shooting on film. Here are some of my takes on the Chinon Auto 2001 point-and-shoot film camera.

First of all, I want to mention that I am fairly new to shooting on film but have been going through several different film rolls along with different types of analog cameras. When I first started buying second-hand point-and-shoot film cameras, I felt overwhelmed by all the options and found it hard to know what to buy. I later realized that if you are starting out shooting film for the first time, most point-and-shoot cameras will do.

So if you are looking for some guidance in what to buy and what to start your film journey with, I recommend getting any budget-friendly working point-and-shoot camera just to get a feel for it. Through tests and trials, you will have a better understanding of your own preferences and what to get next.

Chinon Auto 2001 – An Automatic Point-and-Shoot Film Camera

Being a point-and-shoot, the Chinon does most of the work for you. What that means is, with this camera, you will not have to worry about any settings when shooting. Since the camera has an automatic light metering system as well as no setting controls, you simply point and shoot what you want to capture.

The camera has a unique and almost modern style to it compared to many other point and shoots. It is very compact and easy to bring. I appreciate being able to connect a strap to the camera, being able to hang it on the shoulder, and always being ready to snap a shoot.

Features of The Chinon

The camera automatically shuts off once the lens is covered. You simply slide the front right side of the camera back and forth. Another nice feature is the ISO setting on the right front. Usually, this isn’t needed since the Chinon can read the ISO of the film roll from the bar code on the roll itself. Popular film rolls such as Kodak film and Fujifilm always have a bar code on them.

But if you decide to test out a unique film roll from a smaller company, it sometimes is missing the bar code and you will manually have to set the ISO setting on your camera. The Chinon Auto 2001 makes this possible and ensures that the light metering system is adjusted according to what ISO you’ve set for you to simply have better exposures.

Chinon’s automatic focus feature

Since it is an autofocus camera, you are not able to focus manually. It does allow you to autofocus before actually shooting by half-pressing down the red shooting button. I like this because once you autofocus, you can see icons showing in the light metering view mirror. It will, for example, tell you (by a frame) what will be in the picture as well as whether the Chinon is planning on using the flash or not. It will also tell you what focus mode the Chinon uses, such as landscape, portrait, etc.

In my experience, the Chinon isn’t great at shooting close-ups. It loses focus and often only focuses on the background of the object. See the images below.

On the other hand, it does a very good job of focusing on landscapes as well as objects that are placed further away from the camera. You will most likely find that your images are very zoomed in.

See examples below.

Example exposures from the Chinon Auto 2001

I have tried different types of film with different ISO with the Chinon. The film roll you decide to use depends on your style, the availability of light, the object, and your motive. If this is your first time shooting film or you’re new to photography, a simple rule is that the lower the ISO you have, the more light you need on your object. In the same way, you need a higher ISO for darker surroundings. Light availability could be natural light or provided by flash or other light sources.

I think the Chinon has a good automatic light metering system and does a pretty good job at not making my exposures too dark or light (under or overexposed). What helps with this is that the Chinon also allows you to toggle the flash on or off, which usually isn’t an option on many point-and-shoots. Having the option to force the flash or stop it gives you more control if you feel a room is too dark or bright for example.

Kodak Gold 200 – Without flash

The Kodak Gold is shot with 200 ISO. Despite not using flash and being indoors, the Chinon did a good job. The photo to the left is not too underexposed nor too bright. Creating a nice cinematic feel to it. Sometimes I misjudge the availability of light or the Chinon isn’t really doing the job and exposures turn out very underexposed despite being taken in the same room just a meter away from the picture above. See the second image.

Kodak Gold 200 – With flash

I have enjoyed using the Flash on the Chinon. The pictures turn out crispy most of the time (see the image on the left). Although sometimes, it tends to over-expose objects (second picture). I have noticed that this sometimes happens because the camera often wants to focus on the background rather than the object in many shoots, as mentioned above.

Conclusion

In conclusion, would I recommend the Chinon Auto 2001? Yes. It is a compact easy-to-use camera and does most of the work for you. It rewinds your film roll automatically once you’re done and handles focus mode and settings quite right.

However, if you are looking for a camera to take close-ups of details or people, I would recommend another point-and-shoot camera or an SLR camera so that you can be more in control of the focus.