With the advent of digital photography, and flickr, "analogue" photography has taken a bit of a backseat. Have been somewhat obsessed with it for a few years: Polaroid Instants led to fisheye photography, so I finally took the plunge and bought a Fisheye 2. I own a Polaroid, also but, as with so many of us, my day to day camera is digital, so I've actually never had to put film in a camera or flick switches to allow for more light. If you're a little lost as to all of that, too, hopefully this will be helpful in deciding whether you want to buy one.
The camera takes standard 35mm film which is very cheap, and the camera runs on 1 single AA battery. It lasts much, much longer than it does with a digital camera so actually taking photos costs very little. The instructions for putting the film in and winding it on are simple enough, with written directions and a numbered line drawing. Tis v simple, indeed, and nothing to worry about. It gets a little confusing after that, though.
The fisheye2 comes with a glossy booklet filled with photos, and it's a fab little addition. I can well imagine the little booklets being sold individually, such is its coolness. It also comes with a huge poster-sized "recipe" poster, where it gives you hints and clues as to how to take weird and wonderful photos. Assuming you don't want to add a colour flash, you can still take a surprisingly wide variety of photos. Streaky, reversed, multiple exposure... and there are instructions for each style. Not that I could figure out what they were saying.
Once you've wound the film in, you can alternate between "Night", "Day" and "Bulb" setting, you can chnage the exposure length, and you can decide whether you want an internal or external flash. Much of this is written in gobbledygooky yoot speak: lots of "slammmin'" and "buckwild" and it doesn't make a lick of sense. But experimenting is fun, and cheap, and the wonderful thing about fisheye photography is no photo is a failure.
You can take photos from a distance or right up close, and the closer you are, the more the photo distorts. In other words, if you're a little sensitive about the size of your honker, don't let anyone take a photo of your face up close. It'll be hugely stylish, but your snozz will be bigger than your face... and that giant oak standing tree behind you. The tiny oak tree mocks your snozz.
The photo quality is really good, and it definitely isn't a toy. Fisheye lenses for digital cameras cost upwards of £500, so this is a much cheaper, less intimidating alternative, and it will enable you to cover your fridge and walls in fab 180 degree shots.