Nickelodeon PhotoBlaster

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The Nickelodeon PhotoBlaster (Long Hall Technologies model N6800) is a compact "kid's" camera which has the useful feature of being able to take 4 images onto a single 35mm frame of film, one shot at a time. The camera uses standard 35mm film, and has a built-in viewfinder and flash, and works by shooting with 2 fixed lenses.

History

The Nickelodeon PhotoBlaster was manufactured until 1999 by Long Hall Technologies of Farmingdale, NY, and was sold for approximately $40 retail.

The same camera was manufactured from the same tooling in China in 2004, and sold in the United States by GoPhoto of Congers, NY. As of August 2010 it was still for sale as the GoPhoto X-treme Pix. The coloring of that camera body is medium grey (as opposed to purple on the PhotoBlaster), with a purple "goo" handle and purple and red lens cover.

Specifications

  • Length: 6.25" (158.75mm)
  • Width: 1.875" (47.63mm)
  • Height: 3.75" (95.25mm)
  • Weight: 9.67oz (274g), loaded with film and batteries

Instead of 24 shots on a standard 24-exposure 35mm roll, the Photoblaster created photo vignettes. In this way it can get 96 shots from a 24 exposure roll of film, thus reducing cost of development.

Photo quality is limited by the fixed lens. Its primary function was as a children's toy camera. The four images tend to vary in spacing, making commercial photo development difficult.

The camera itself was made in China. Long Hall Technologies stopped manufacturing the camera before the 1999 holidays. Subsequently the Photoblaster has become somewhat hard-to-find, as a kind of photography "collector's item." In 2015, Nickelodeon produced a digital camera branded for Dora the Explorer, and one in a waterproof housing branded for Spongebob Squarepants.[1]


Notes

  1. Press release dated 7 January 2015 at PR Newswire.


External links