Here’s a camera the interweb hasn’t heard about. It’s not listed in the Canon camera museum. Perhaps it’s not even a real Canon. (Update: It isn’t. See below.)
It’s a point and shoot zoom labelled ‘Canon Lucky Z-85’. It’s even got a ‘Lucky’ branded case.
![](http://www.dankspangle.com/blog/blog-images/lucky-1.jpg)
There is a Canon Z85 in the Canon camera museum, but it doesn’t look like this one. There’s a tiny sticker on the bottom that says ‘Ju shoP’ – perhaps that’s a clue.
As far as controls go it’s got an ambitious ‘bulb’ setting as well as two self timer modes (one marked 2s, the other not specified). The flash has four modes: Auto, redeye, on and off.
It’s all let down by the shutter button. Press it twice as hard as you’d normally have to to take a picture and that’s a half press. Exert all your strength and it takes a picture, sometimes.
Sometimes it waits 3 or 4 seconds then takes a picture – long enough for you to point the camera somewhere else.
Sometimes, but not often, it takes a picture straight away without much effort.
Quite often nothing happens and you have to look at the camera with puzzlement and disappointment.
All in all, a mysterious camera that moves in mysterious ways.
Results
Turns out the end results are pretty awful. Focus is almost always off. Massive parallax issues – or perhaps it’s the shutter, always missing the moment. You never know what your photo is going to be of.
That said, terrible photos are sometimes quite pleasing. I like this one.
![](http://www.dankspangle.com/blog/blog-images/lucky-10.jpg)
More often that not though you get something like this (this is not what the camera was pointing at when I pressed the shutter button).
![](http://www.dankspangle.com/blog/blog-images/lucky-11.jpg)
The pic also demonstrates that while the things you want to photograph are rarely quite in focus, the things you don’t want to photograph sometimes are.
Here’s someone I wanted to be in focus who isn’t.
![](http://www.dankspangle.com/blog/blog-images/luck-12.jpg)
Update: Mystery solved
I emailed Canon to ask them about the camera, they replied:
“It appears that the camera was made by the Chinese Lucky Film Company and then it has had a Canon sticker placed on the top of the camera. I felt the Canon logo was in an unusual location, however I did not have enough information to say it was definitely not a Canon camera.
If you look on the site below you can see the Chinese Lucky logo matches the one on the camera and case.
http://www.luckyfilm.com.cn/html/MasterSite/EN/VIofLucky.html
I am sorry it is not a super rare Canon camera, however I hope you are happy the mystery has been solved.”
Shame it isn’t a rare Canon, but that does explain why it doesn’t work very well. And top marks to Canon for helping me out.