The Comet Flash Camera, made by Zenith Camera Corporation, Chicago is one of the silliest cameras to enter my household in a long time. It’s made of black plastic and cheap aluminum. The same kind of aluminum as those cheap lawn chairs that always broke half way into their first season of use. The lens is plastic. (Hey! Doesn’t that make it a toy?) This camera...I almost don’t know where to start...it’s like someone tried to re-invent the wheel. The viewfinder, instead of residing on top, is inserted into the left side of the body. This means it has to go through the back door. The hard black plastic lens assembly pulls out away from the body to focus. There are little increment marks on the side of it. "Pull out and focus". On the front of the lens is a tiny slotted switch that, when turned, cocks the shutter. The shutter release is on the bottom front of the lens assembly. It would be really really easy to stick your finger in front of the lens while photographing. Next to the shutter release button is a shutter release cable receptacle which says "time". There’s a tripod mount on the bottom.

What absolutely killed me about this camera is that it had these two metal fingers that stuck out in the film compartment. They’re there to make sure the film winds up tight on the spool. Only thing is, they’re so utterly tight that the film doesn’t want to turn. I actually got a blister cranking the take-up knob! A blister! Not only that, but the "fingers" push against the back door, trying to make it open and causing major light leaks. (That clinches it! It is a toy!)