Fujifilm released the first Single Use Camera (SUC) (as we know it today) in 1986 making it 40 this year. They didn’t “invent” it, but seriously re-invented it. 100 years before, Alexander Whittell founded the Ready Fotografer Company that made a cardboard box with a glass plate inside. The owner made one photo on that plate, then back home in the darkroom, cut open the box to remove the plate for development. I wonder if anyone ever manged to open one in such a way to re-use it? Closer to the Quicksnap, Alfred D. Weir, demonstrated the “Photo-Pac” at the Texas State Fair in 1948. This had an 8 exposure 35mm film inside, and the user just gave it to a lab the same as today.
It was Fujifilm however, in 1986 that brought the Quicksnap to the market and the SUC, that spawned 100 copies was born. Apparently a peak was reached in 1997 with Fuji manufacturing 89 million of them! Then came digital and phones and you’d think that was that, well, apparently sales did drop down to 5 million in 2012 (still a lot of films!) but have gradually grown again since rebounding to 9 million in 2019*.
I suppose that if you’ve ever used an Ilford Obscura 5×4 pin hole camera, that experience would have been similar to the Whittell “plate in a box”. I’ve recently seen 8 exposure films becoming a “thing” especially ECN2 type films on Amazon. I’ve also used a couple of SUC’s in my time. I used an old one that I won, having kept it in the car getting hot/cold for years. You can read about that here. I also re-loaded that with some black and white film, for no other reason than the challenge, you can ready about that here. I also came across a “Zoom” version, here.
Happy Birthday Quicksnap!
*Figures from the Fujifilm Focus Magazine July/August 2026
S.H.O.U.T. 