Mick-A-Matic
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| Mick-A-Matic 126 character/novelty Mickey Mouse camera image by Martin Taylor (Image rights) |
The Mick-A-Matic is a 126 cartridge camera manufactured by "Child Guidance Products, Inc." in the Bronx, NY, USA. It was manufactured around 1971 and is entirely made of plastic in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head. The head splits along the seam to open and load the film. The viewfinder is in Mickey's forehead and the taking lens is in his nose. The original model used the right ear for the shutter release but later models have the shutter release lever between the eye and the ear. There are no controls over aperture, shutter speed or focusing as this camera was designed to be as simple to operate as possible for children to use.
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| Original packaging image by KEH Camera (Image rights) |
Trivia
- American photographer Stephen Shore used this camera during his career (in his debut in color photography[1]) and displayed it at the Museum of Modern Art in New York during an exhibition about him (Nov 19, 2017-May 28, 2018).[2]
He said about this camera: "The Mick-a-Matic was simply the most amazing and delightful snapshot camera. When you do portraits with a Mick-a-Matic, your subject is always smiling, because they're looking at a big, plastic head of Mickey Mouse."
