Dmitri

Polaroid had included some sample scans in their promo materials. This is a very nice photo by Isadora Kosofsky.

If I were to guess about the quality of the lens, I’d say it’s sharper than Now but not as sharp as I-2. This guess is based on the technology that drives the plastic resin lens (2-step autofocus for Now, 4-step autofocus on Flip, and stepless on I-2) and the samples I’ve seen so far. I’ve only shot with Now.

I like how the new cameras look. Haven’t held one yet, but they appear more solid than the originals, at least based on what today’s Polaroid products are like. The colours are fun!

Polaroid Flip is a new film camera that uses classic tech to take better photos.

Those of us who grew up in the ‘90s may remember the old boxy Polaroid cameras like the Polaroid Sun 660. I lived in Moscow then, and we had one too. Polaroid Flip appears to be a modern reincarnation of those 600-series.

The Flip uses sonar and a 4-lens step focus just like my Sun 660. Polaroid’s earlier design, Polaroid Now, does not have that ability (later designs got 2-step autofocus).

I’m fascinated by Polaroid’s choice of sonar for autofocus, despite other tech like Lidar being more popular today. But the Flip also does some new things: film packs with a rechargeable battery, under/over exposure warning, a (presumably) more powerful flash, and Bluetooth connectivity with an app for manual control, double-exposures, etc.

From the release: “The Polaroid Flip will be available for €219 / $199,99 / £199,99 / CNY 1699, with early access for members starting April 15. It launches on polaroid.com on April 29 and in retailers from May 13.”

About Polaroid Now: analog.cafe/r/polaroid-now…

About Polaroid Sun 660: analog.cafe/r/polaroid-sun…

Like this camera, Polaroid is a reincarnation of the original brand that began with a defunct factory takeover. A brief history of Polaroid: analog.cafe/r/a-brief-hist…

#editorial🔥 #gas

Video: How I scan, invert, and archive film negatives.

In this video, I’ll walk you through my scanning workflow, which has helped me keep an uncompressed archive of my precious scans and given me more control over the results:

youtube.com/watch?v=xQk2gy…

I built this software to invert film negatives in batches using a simple and easy-to-understand image processing method three years ago. For the longest time, it only worked on my machine, but this year, I finally took the plunge and turned it into a service anyone can use.

Try film Q today: analog.cafe/app/filmq.

Learn how to edit your film scans after you’ve converted them: analog.cafe/r/how-to-edit-….

Learn about converting film negatives manually: analog.cafe/r/how-to-inver….

#editorial🔥 #video

Correction.

Previously, I referred to the technique that sets the black-and-white points of an image to their respective maximum values as “histogram equalization.” That was incorrect. This technique should be called “histogram stretching” or “normalization.”

I’ve corrected all the articles and documentation references to use either “histogram stretching” or “normalization” when talking about this topic.

You can learn more about histogram stretching here: analog.cafe/r/how-to-inver….

“Histogram normalization” is a wrong term for what I’ve been explaining, but it is also a (different) image processing technique. You can learn more about both terms on Wikipedia.

Thank you reader, who pointed this out! Feedback like this helps me improve the quality of this website and its content. I appreciate it.

#editorial🔥 #website

We’ve been fortunate to have the prices of colour film drop during the past year.

Film Price Trends, an app that analyzes data from nine retailers in North America, Europe, the UK, and Asia on dozens of popular film stocks since 2018, shows a clear decline in price for Fujifilm Velvia and Provia films: analog.cafe/app/film-price… and analog.cafe/r/colour-film-….

There are various reasons for this welcome change — from decreasing interest rates to increasing competition. I would not rule out that Fujifilm was trying to make good on its promise of improving production efficiency either.

The true price of film depends on a lot of things, and it’s not always intuitive. For example, Kosmo Foto Mono, a film reportedly made from Foma 100 stock, is cheaper here in Canada than the original Foma 100 film.

Still, it’s hard to imagine that the price of film will continue to decrease in the current market.

Fujifilm announced the first price hike on film of 2025.

Fujifilm, Kodak, and Ilford (Harman) announce film price increases roughly once, sometimes twice a year.

In their announcement (fujifilm.com/ffis/ja/news/…, previously shared by PetaPixel petapixel.com/2025/04/04/f… and DPReview), Fujifilm said they worked on improving their efficiency, but, unfortunately, the increasing price of raw materials still drove the prices up. It’s implied that they won’t be subsidizing their film manufacturing.

As a result, the film prices will go up 21-52% (the higher number applies to reversal films like Velvia and Provia).

We are yet to see the results of those increases and the new US-imposed tariffs on price at the counter. Subscribe to Film Price Reports newsletter to get notified of major film price changes later this year: analog.cafe/account/subscr…

#editorial🔥

This very professional app got featured on PetaPixel as one of “The Best April Fools’ Day Photography Jokes of 2025” 🎉

petapixel.com/2025/04/01/t…

Bad Film Simulator is an app that generates real film effects better than any preset on the market.

Are you tired of countless presets and filters adding grain to digital images but failing to capture the essence of film photography?

Bad Film Simulator is the first app of its kind that fixes unrealistic expectations and bland colours:

analog.cafe/app/bad-film-s…

Just open the app, pick a photo and watch the magic happen!

#editorial🔥

ORWO Net AG is insolvent, but ORWO film production is apparently unaffected.

The ORWO brand has had a tumultuous history, with bankruptcies, company splits, false starts, and numerous failed businesses. And last week, ORWO Net AG became insolvent.

ORWO Net AG owns the name “ORWO” in Germany. It sells printed goods and operates a large photo lab. But it doesn’t make film.

We buy ORWO-branded film from FilmoTec GmbH, which is under shared ownership with InovisCoat — a company which manufactures film components for brands like Polaroid B.V., Adox, Bergger, Lomography (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORWO).

Though FilmoTec has had some troubles in the recent past (orwo.wtf/blog/orwo-managed…), it’s a separate entity and does not seem to be affected by ORWO Net’s financial troubles.

This post was inspired by the recent news of ORWO Net AG’s insolvency (mz.de/lokal/bitterfeld/orw…), which confused me until I’ve done some deeper reading about the company’s history. It’s sad to see another business fail, but I’m glad it’s not the one that makes film.

To be sure, I’ve contacted ORWO directly and will update this article if anything changes.

#editorial🔥

On a related note, “our” ORWO had recently teased an upcoming release of their new ISO 200 colour film: analog.cafe/r/film-photogr….

Film photography is now recognized as a cultural heritage in Germany and is on the path to UNESCO listing.

Silvergrain Classics, a German English-language film photography magazine, has just shared the news on their blog: silvergrainclassics.com/en….

“Analog photography has now been officially registered in the State Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This has made it possible for the state to nominate analog photography for inclusion at the German federal level.”

This nomination and its advancement could mean several things for analogue photography, including greater recognition and perhaps further efforts and investments by German and European governments to preserve and advance this medium.

I think that film is on the same level of importance as books and paintings. Hopefully, the governments agree, as keeping this medium alive on the level we have today costs billions of dollars, and it would be unfortunate to see it dwindle should an economic downturn take place.

See my review of the Silvergrain Classics magazine’s second edition here: analog.cafe/r/photoklassik….

#editorial🔥

Hi Bill, thanks for the question!

Yes, the majority of the app is written in TypeScript. It uses github.com/lovell/sharp. I think there are a lot of great tools in JavaScript land for computer vision, but maybe not as many code examples or theory explainers that go beyond resizing images for web servers. Some features are missing here and there, but the pieces written in other languages to fill the gap are a few and don’t need as much maintenance.

Overall, JavaScript seems like an ideal solution for this project. The worker, server, and client all use the same language, which is very convenient and easy to read. At least for someone so used to writing everything in JavaScript 😅

Updated: “How to Manually Invert Film Negatives.”

I wrote this guide four years ago after researching ways to personally take over the process that traditional scanning and film inversion apps obfuscate.

I needed to know how exactly the software affects the colours of my film to identify and control the visual differences between film stocks and measure the effects of my lenses, filters, and exposures.

Having learned a great deal about the transformative path of a negative with an orange mask to a digital colour image, I could confidently write film reviews where I measured and compared minute differences between film stocks (whereas others may’ve deferred to internet lore, marketing material, or inconsistent scanning workflows). I could also get more image data out of my scans and gain greater editing flexibility.

This weekend, I rewrote the guide completely and added new illustrations. It’s no longer focused on Photoshop or any particular editing tool, and the new article explains the theory much more diligently (with examples).

Read it here: analog.cafe/r/how-to-inver….

#editorial🔥 #update

film Q v1.0.0-beta

film Q is a new web app that batch-inverts film scans right here on Analog.Cafe: analog.cafe/app/filmq

This version adds support for new RAW formats: RAF, NEF, and DNG (in addition to the initial support of ARW).

Additionally, several bugs were fixed, including one that caused issues with unusual characters in file names.

Note: film Q is still in beta, which means that there may be issues and missing features. Please email concerns and feature requests to d@analog.cafe

Invert v1.0-beta

Invert is a computer vision component of film Q. It calculates values for histogram equalization and manages camera RAW interpreter software.

This version is an initial release. It will be developed in parallel to the host film Q app server.

Analog.Cafe v3.28.5

This version of the Analog.Cafe website opens up film Q to all Analog.Cafe GOLD members (in time for the announcement in today’s email: analog.cafe/r/greenscaling…). It also introduces several fixes and enhancements to the film Q web interface.

#website #v100beta1filmQ

Sample 35mm film scan — part of the press kit Lomography sent me.

Lomography has updated its DigitaLIZA Scanning Kits.

The new DigitaLIZA+ and DigitaLIZA Max modular scanning setups allow phone or camera scanning for multiple roll formats: 35mm, 120, 110, and 127. Medium format scans can be as large as 6×7.

The new backlight included in both kits features CRI 97, which means it emits 97% of wavelengths compared to incandescent light bulbs. Keeping this number as high as possible is crucial for getting accurate colours out of your negatives. Plus, you can use your own backlight instead if you’d prefer.

Both kits use magnets to keep the film flat, whereas the Max includes a phone stand as an additional component.

DigitaLIZA+ sells for $80 shop.lomography.com/digita…

DigitaLIZA Max sells for $100 shop.lomography.com/digita…

#editorial🔥 #gas

film Q User Guide is now public, while the app is still in private beta.

film Q is a new app that inverts film negatives on the Analog.Cafe website without the need to install any software. It connects to your Dropbox account and processes your files in the cloud.

This app will have several advantages over traditional film inversion apps, such as hands-off batch processing, zero resource usage, and an open and consistent inversion algorithm.

My goal with this app is to show you exactly what the inversion software does so that there are no unanswered questions about your exposure, film development quality, or the impact of your software on the image.

This app is still in active development and is only available for testing upon request. However, you can get a glimpse of how it looks and works through the help docs that are now live:

analog.cafe/app/film-q/help

If you would like to support further development of this project, please consider becoming a subscriber: analog.cafe/gold/get

For the app announcement and the approximate release timeline, see analog.cafe/r/a-new-kind-o…

If you’d like to try this app or have any questions or feedback, please let me know. I want this new product to be as helpful as possible for folks who scan film at home.

#editorial🔥 #website

It’s the one that got away! They look very nice but seem to be quite rare lately. I will give it a try and review once I get a chance. Thank you for stopping by!

Thank you for taking the time to send me your feedback, Rafael!

I’ll definitely consider making more courses for the tools you mentioned.

I’m assuming that your comment refers to this guide: analog.cafe/r/how-to-edit-…. While it uses Photoshop for all of the examples, I believe the skills are transferrable to any image editing application that would allow you to create layers. Hope that helps.

I’d also like to mention this announcement — analog.cafe/r/how-to-edit-… — where I introduce a new film inversion tool. Most of my energy is currently directed at building that app, but once that’s complete, I’m hoping to produce more courses, and I’ll ask around what everyone wants so they’re better tailored to the community.

Cheers,

Cameradactyl is trading art sales for enormous RA-4 paper cartridge, camera back, and direct positive processor blueprints.

Last week, Ethan Moses of Cameradactyl posted a video about his invention, a new “film” format that uses roll RA-4 paper to make about 100 4x5 exposures in a giant daylight canister. The rolls can be used in Ethan’s enormous TLR-like camera or adapted to 4x5 cameras as a back.

Of course, shooting this huge format is just half the job to get an image. The other part is developing a thick roll of paper. This is why Ethan also built a contained conveyor-like machine that pulls the entire roll through the chemicals to produce a direct positive.

But Ethan isn’t planning on selling these devices as he does with the rest of his cameras. Instead, he’s proposing to trade sales of his photography (prints) in exchange for open-sourcing the entire project, which includes the canisters, camera back, and the film processor. Once Ethan sells $300,000 worth of his art, all files will be available for free (he will be releasing them incrementally as the sales progress).

An unusual proposition for a very cool project. I happen to have a roll of RA-4 paper in my closet and I’d love to use it in a 4x5 camera.

Here’s the video where Ethan explains his project and why he’d like to trade his art sales for 3D files: youtube.com/watch?v=PB0GPY…

You can find and purchase Ethan’s prints on his website: cameradactyl.com

#editorial🔥 #gas