Mexico » Travel Photography » PaperShoot Camera Review + Personal Update

When we decided to sell our beloved urban homestead to move to Mexico, my mind was spinning with logistics and planning. One thing I’ve always wanted suddenly became more of a priority: a lightweight, small, simple camera, for personal use. I found the PaperShoot camera.

First, let’s take a quick look at the PaperShoot camera itself. It’s literally a circuit board and a paper case, designed to replicate the look and feel of the old wind-up disposable cameras many of us grew up with. I always had at least one or two disposable cameras lying around, and this has a similar “disposable” feel, easy to pack, easy to carry, no settings to worry about. The PaperShoot uses two rechargeable AA batteries, a regular SD memory card, and the “viewfinder” is actually just a hole in the paper case! I opted to purchase the four additional lens attachments: macro, wide-angle, radial effect, and prism effect; although these aren’t required to use the camera. All together (camera, lenses, rechargeable batteries, and wall charger) it was a small investment of $200.

I suppose at this point I should clarify: This is definitely not an ad, and I’m in no way affiliated, nor have I been gifted anything or monetarily compensated by PaperShoot. I’m just very happy with my purchase, and want to share with you!

I’m making a concerted effort to spend less and less time on my phone, for many reasons, which also means not using my phone camera. In case it isn’t obvious, there’s no screen on the back of the PaperShoot to check your photos. I love this feature. Why? When I take a photo with my professional camera or my phone camera, I always spend time looking at them on the screen, to make sure they’re just right, before moving on. By not having a screen, I have nothing to get sucked in to, distracted by, or otherwise pulled away from the present moment I’m experiencing. I can already tell this is helping with increased memory retention and decreased anxiety.

Just for fun, I did a little photo session, so you can see for yourselves:

Which brings us to the most important question: How are the photos? At 13 megapixels, they’re a great workable size for personal photos, and don’t fill up my 64GB memory card too quickly. They’re great quality, with a nice amount of grain.

I started out by using the PaperShoot camera in as many different settings and lighting situations as I could, in order to find its limitations, and familiarize myself with the different lenses. To my pleasant surprise, it works well in a variety of settings, and does a great job exposing for the scene. It’s not always perfect, and I’m still playing around with the different lenses, but it actually performs better than I thought it would!

The next few photos were taken during our first two weeks in Mexico, during the first leg of our journey from New Orleans, through Monterrey, San Luis Potosì, to Mexico City. Although we did not get the week vacation in Mexico City we’d hoped for, because the time was filled with immigration paperwork and finalizing our house sale, we did find a little time to explore the beautiful Centro Històrico area. Evan and I have a history of staying in Chinatowns when we travel, so we chose to rent a small condo a few blocks from CDMX’s Barrio Chino.

The next leg of our journey took us through Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta, where the arid landscape transformed into lush, tropical, coastal jungle. At that time, we tentatively knew we would want Puerto Vallarta to be our “home base” where we would return to after our various adventures. We enjoyed ten weeks in Puerto Vallarta, and have used the time to settle into life in Mexico, complete our immigration and car import process, and recuperate from the big move and sudden life changes.

We also had the opportunity to visit our friends in Yelapa on two occasions. It’s about an hour ride on a water taxi from the Puerto Vallarta pier! The small village is really amazing, very secluded; it’s like no other place we’ve seen in Mexico yet. Yelapa has no streets or cars, just stone walkways. On one side of the bay is the ‘pueblo’ town area, where narrow, windy streets of colorful homes open up to the occasional restaurant, shop, pocket cafe, or fruit cart. When walking in the pueblo, be prepared to scoot to the side for mule teams carrying supplies, and four-wheelers carrying tourists. On the beach, there are restaurants with lines of tables, chairs, and beach umbrellas, serving delicious food, drinks in coconuts, and raicilla (a local specialty made from Jalisco’s agave plants). And above you, enjoy the occasional hang glider, quietly sailing around. On the other side of the bay, along the river, homes are further from their neighbors, each one nestled directly in the jungle, and the only sounds are all the different local birds, the clip-clopping mules, and the occasional ATV rumbling by.

In conclusion, I really love this little camera. There are some limitations, as I mentioned already, but every new piece of equipment comes with its own learning curve. Every time I practice, I’m learning more about how to use the camera to the best of its abilities. It’s not a professional level D-SLR, but that’s not what I want for my own personal use travel camera. It’s very small, lightweight, and “point and shoot”. I adore the film quality to the photos, and have enjoyed subtly enhancing the effect with some of Jose Villa’s Lightroom presets, which are also designed to give a film quality and coloring.

On a personal note, we recently said “goodbye for now” to Puerto Vallarta! Our current travel plans include six weeks of sight-seeing, which started with Mazatlán for Carnaval (which was amazing!), then heading south east to many pyramids, historical sites, beautiful small towns, and major metropolitan cities. We’ll be driving through the states of Jalisco, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Querétaro, the State of Mexico, Tlaxcala, Puebla, and Morelos, eventually returning to Jalisco. We’ll be covering a lot of miles! Then in mid-April, we have a full calendar for our new venture into house-sitting, with sits booked in Guanajuato, Oaxaca, and Leòn. House-sitting is basically a money-free barter; we stay in someone’s home while they’re temporarily away, in exchange for home security, garden maintenance, and pet care. We hope to secure as many house-sits as we can this year, to facilitate travel and also give us a taste of the homestead lifestyle we miss dearly.

You can find more of our travel and house-sitting adventures, here:
Dani & Evan Benton | Benton Homestead | www.bentonhomestead.com
Currently traveling Mexico » Soon, rebuilding our homestead in Japan »
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Mexico » Travel Photography » PaperShoot Camera Review + Personal Update

© copyright 2009-2023 Dani Benton Photography | Japan | All Rights Reserved | Previously Dani Mouser | Previously Located in Oregon, Louisiana, Mexico