You may have heard about the "Wendy's camera". If you haven't, yesterday the restaurant chain gave away 20 Wendy's-inspired Canon PowerShot G7X Mark III cameras as part of its Wendy's Rewards program, which has been taking place every Wednesday since mid-May.
At first glance, these were bright-red versions of the G7X decorated with Wendy's-themed graphics – from the logo to burgers and fries. In actuality, the cameras were just wearing red silicone skins with Wendy's stickers on them; they weren't truly special-edition models.
Still, given that the G7X Mark III is still one of the best-selling compact cameras and is out of stick almost everywhere, it was still a great chance to get hold of one (and for free, no less).
But this was far from the first time that a fast food chain has cashed in with a collectable camera – and some of them have been unique, limited edition models…
McDonald's Fries Camera
Launched in 1997, this camera has become a bit of a cult classic among film photography fans.
Designed like a carton of McDonald's fries, this 110 film camera had a hatch that lifts up to reveal the lens and viewfinder, enabling you to take a photo while holding a packet of french fries against your face.
A limited number of these cameras were refurbished by Retrospekt a few years ago, but sadly they've long sold out (though the brand has a bunch of neat vintage 35mm and Polaroid cameras).
KFC Christmas Camera
You may or may not be aware that KFC has a unique relationship with Christmas over in Japan, stemming from the fact that Colonel Sanders looks like Santa Claus and the fact that the company spent years marketing KFC as a Christmas meal tradition.
That led to tie-in products like this one, also released in 1997, to celebrate the festive season. Surprisingly, this bad boy actually has a cold shoe – so you could actually mount a flash unit if you wanted to!
If you live in Japan, there are enough of these kicking around that you can occasionally find them in thrift stores. Otherwise, they're pretty rare to find online – though you can buy one from Etsy right now.
Burger King / Coca Cola 110 Camera
If you were around in the Eighties, you'll undoubtedly have seen this exact same 110 film camera with any number of brands and logos on it. This was the peak of 110 film's popularity, and these generic cameras were popular promotional items.
Such is the case with this Coca Cola and Burger King-branded model, which is the least exciting of the cameras on this page but also the least daft and most pocketable. I had at least three of these when I was younger, and the results were terrible from all of them.
If you want to see how this one shoots, check out the above video by Sam Atkins Photographer who took it to a couple of Burger King restaurants to test it out!
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Take a look at the best film cameras of the modern day, and take a trip down memory lane with this history of the 110 camera.
