Disposable camera settings

["allan carrano" <allan.carrano@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

     I recently bought a disposable (3DMagic?) Image Tech 3D camera and 
     shot the whole roll indoors using my Nimslo Opti-lite flash.  I 
     started the roll using the ISO 400 setting on the flash, since the 
     camera contained ISO 400 film.  Halfway through the roll, I realized 
     the Nimslo defaults to f/5.6 in the flash mode, and I probably should 
     have made some compensation in using the Opti-lite on the ImageTech, 
     dependent on what the f-stop is for that camera.  Unfortunately, I 
     didn't know, and still don't know, what that f-stop would be.  So I 
     made some assumptions:
          
        1.  Since the recommendation on the camera was to shoot in direct   
            sunlight, I assumed the "sunny 16 rule."  The starting point    
            would be 1/400 sec. at f/16 (ISO 400 film in camera).  This     
            meant that my Opt-flash at its 400 ISO setting (with the        
            correct exposure at f/5.6 per Nimslo) would result in 3-stop    
            underexposure when used on the ImageTech (assumed f/16          
            apertures), and subsequent images shot at that setting would be 
            dismal or unprintable.
          
        2.  Setting the Opti-flash to its 100 ISO position (2-stops more    
            exposure than the ISO 400 flash setting) would give me an       
            effective 1-stop under exposure for the assumed f/16 on the     
            ImageTech. This would probably print O.K., and if the f-stop   
            were actually f/11, I could be right on. Therefore, I shot the  
            second half of the roll with the flash set at ISO 100.
         
     Two weeks after dropping the camera off at a Wolf Camera outlet here 
     in Raleigh, my lenticular prints came back and the results were great! 
     All photos were good!  I couldn't believe it - dumb luck or what?
          
     Looking at the negatives leaves me even more puzzled.  I don't have a 
     densitometer, so this is opinion and conjecture, but it appears that 
     the negs shot at the 400 ISO flash setting are about 1-stop 
     underexposed.  The ones shot at the 100 ISO flash setting appear to be 
     1-stop overexposed.  In view of the excellent exposures of the prints, 
     I have to believe I'm correct in my assessment.  Now the problem.
          
     If the exposures are correct as I described them, the ImageTech would 
     have to have an effective aperture of  f/8.  And if that is true, the 
     shutter speed of this "use in sunlight conditions" camera would have 
     to be about 1/ 1600 sec.  That doesn't seem reasonable.  I would have 
     thought the shutter speed of this type of disposable camera would be 
     on the order of 1/50 - 1/100 sec.  The expected f-stop would then have 
     to be more on the order of f/32 - f/45.  But my good flash exposures 
     seem to say otherwise.
          
     Could it be that the apertures on the ImageTech are really  f/8 and 
     the shutter speed is 1/400 sec.?  This would allow good prints for 
     both sunny and open shade conditions even though the information on 
     the camera states that it should be used only in sunlit situations.   
     If so, this  would explain my fortuitous results.
          
     Anyone know the actual apertures and shutter speed of the disposable 
     ImageTech?
          
     Allan


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