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  • Missed January’s film news and rumours.

    Last week, I wrote about Analogue aF-1 (analog.cafe/comments/u725). But there’s also a new colour film that may become the cheapest of all (replacing Kodak ColorPlus: analog.cafe/app/film-price…). It’s been announced last year (kosmofoto.com/2024/05/chin…). Reflx Lab confirmed more good news:

    “According to a contact from Reflx Lab who recently visited Lucky Film’s headquarters in Hebei, China, the new color film is expected to hit the market in Q2 2025. It’s projected to be the most affordable color film available” — reflxlab.com/en-ca/blogs/n…

    Lucky Film used to make colour film for Kodak but the new project will be an independent production. Lucky is (assumingly) not the same as Fujifilm’s new facility in China: analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…

    Also, there were rumours online that Ferrania was going out of business. But it looks like *they are not,* although they have been difficult to reach recently, the website was down for some time, and their film stock is low. Eventually, someone from Ferrania (it’s a city; look it up!) came back with the good news: the company is still active.

    #editorial🔥



  • Chemical Dilution Calculator.

    When developing black-and-white film, you may need to calculate the concentrate vs water (dilution) measurements. These measurements change depending on how much solution you’d like to mix.

    For example, 300ml or 10oz of developer solution will cover a single 35mm film — but what does that mean for water and concentrate volumes if you’re developing with Rodinal at 1+25 dilution?

    To get the exact water and concentrate volumes needed for the 300ml mix, you’ll need to solve this equation:

    x = (1/25) × (300 — x)

    …Where “x” is the amount of developer needed.

    The answer is 11.54ml of developer, which leaves us with 300 — 11.54 = 288.46ml of water. To check the answer, we can divide 288.46 by 11.54, which gives us 25 (one part developer, 25 parts water). This answer should be rounded to the more practical 290ml and 12ml, or it can be converted to 10oz and 12ml for the US/UK beakers.

    (Note that the rounding should ideally differ for ounces and millilitres, and it may be prudent to round the concentrate volume up.)

    Chemical Dilution Calculator does all of the above. It also automatically switches default measurement units based on your location and lets you see the precise measurements if needed.

    The Chemical Dilution Calculator is part of the Chem Log app. To use it, launch this page: analog.cafe/app/chem-log, and click the purple “Dilution Calculator” button.

    #editorial🔥 #website #filmdev


  • About Free Trials.

    I’ve added free trials to the GOLD subscriber-only apps and articles on Analog.Cafe to help you decide whether a membership is worth the commitment.

    You can try Chem Log (analog.cafe/app/chem-log), Film Price Trends (analog.cafe/app/film-price…), and Bulk Roll Calculator (analog.cafe/app/bulk-roll-…) for 7 days with no limits and no credit card. On top of that, you can try all of the website features and member-only articles, like the latest, “Pushing Ilford HP5+ to ISO 100,000” (analog.cafe/r/pushing-ilfo…), for 14 days with a card. I will remind you a week before the trial runs out.

    Memberships helped keep Analog.Cafe ad-free and 97% free for thousands of readers from 201 countries in 2024. Thank you all who have, are currently, or are considering becoming GOLD members in 2025. Your support means a lot to this resource and its full-time staff of one!

    -Dmitri.

    #editorial🔥 #website


  • Analogue aF-1 is a new, relatively affordable, premium point-and-shoot camera expected to launch this summer. The project, which has been in development for over two years, came across my radar late last year. Yet, given that the launch page (https…

    Analogue’s product would be competing with some of today’s most prominent camera manufacturers, including MiNT and their Rollei 35AF (analog.cafe/r/rollei-35af-…) and the Pentax 17. MiNT has been making new cameras for years and selling refurbished/modified Polaroid cameras for even longer. Pentax is a household name when it comes to photography; both MiNT and Pentax cameras are also significantly more expensive than the expected price of aF-1.

    The project met some skepticism on Reddit (reddit.com/r/AnalogCommuni…), which is understandable, given the recent controversy surrounding expensive yet underwhelming cameras like Nana (analog.cafe/comments/brpr).

    Ralph Tilon (the co-founder of Analogue) responded to the above skepticism on Reddit by establishing his team’s credentials as designers/product developers and explaining that they would be working with a manufacturer “that produced millions of quality cameras throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s.” He added that they are aware of the self-imposed unusually tight deadline: less than six months to deliver the aF-1.


  • Analogue aF-1 is a new, relatively affordable, premium point-and-shoot camera expected to launch this summer.

    The project, which has been in development for over two years, came across my radar late last year. Yet, given that the launch page (af1.analogueshop.com/) has only shared renders (i.e., not the actual photos of the product) and team Analogue has admitted that the sample image on that page was not taken with their camera in the comment on Kosmo Foto’s article (kosmofoto.com/2025/01/anal…), I wanted to do a bit more research before publishing this #editorial🔥.

    First, the specs: the €399/$412 camera (with pre-launch discount, €339/$349) would feature a six-element 35mm 𝒇2.8 lens with a Lidar autofocus, autoexposure (only), motorized film transport, shutter speed up to 1/1000, flash, and DX-code reader for ISO25-5000.

    When I reached out to Analogue, they added that the camera might also feature exposure compensation (+1.5EV) for backlit scenes and a flash override. However, they haven’t yet responded to my request for a chat or an interview (I’ll update this thread if they do).

    I did find a video by Analogue Amsterdam, where a short clip featured a physical (dummy model?) of the camera in their customers’ hands: youtube.com/watch?v=SflI-y…

    #gas


  • Mania MFZ is a wooden multi-format, multi-focal-length, multi-pinhole camera system.

    A new Kickstarter project by a carpenter/photographer, Ralph Man, promises to “expand the boundaries of pinhole camera capabilities many times over.”

    Ralph’s wooden pinhole camera system is expensive (as quality woodworking tends to be), and it may not pan out (given that it’s only 10% funded), but there are still 25 days to go. Whatever the case may be, I think you may enjoy learning about the most-featured pinhole camera design, probably ever:

    - The camera can expose 6x6, 6x12, and 6x17 medium format frames (presumably panoramic 135 film formats as well with adapters).

    - It takes 4x5 film holders and Lomo Graflock 4x5.

    - It can take side-by-side exposures for panoramic exposures.

    - It can make shift exposures.

    - It takes gel filters.

    - It can switch focal lengths from 35mm to 135mm in 20mm increments.

    It’s wild. And there’s more, see the Kickstarter:

    kickstarter.com/projects/m… and the YouTube video: youtube.com/watch?v=Opvj8s…

    The wooden pinhole kits start at €510 (~$530), with the most complete one going for €1,300 (~$1352).

    PetaPixel article: petapixel.com/2024/12/30/t…

    #editorial🔥 #gas


  • Year-end sale on film, lenses, and cameras: 25% off + free shipping.

    I’ve tested a lot of gear this year, some of which are listed at the Etsy shop I run alongside Analog.Cafe, FilmBase. Every piece is thoroughly tested, and everything has exhaustive descriptions and product images. Cameras, lenses, film, books, and more.

    filmbase.etsy.com/

    FilmBase is a tiny seller that consistently receives five-star ratings and great reviews. I try to ship things as fast as possible and package everything in either upcycled or plastic-free materials. US and Canada only, unfortunately.

    Thanks so much for your support!

    #editorial🔥 #gas


  • Defective disposable cameras and badly respooled film rolls cause issues at film labs and ruin images. Fujifilm issued a statement to labs about an offending product that may produce unusable images and even damage the minilab machines. There’s als…

    A post by Norwich Camera on Threads showed a particularly sinister Temu product with a few short film ends fastened by tape. These could all be different films; the frames where the tape appears are 100% ruined.

    Worse, one could hide a piece of film with remjet inside the canister and no remjet that sticks outside the canister — which could cause the lab to ruin its batch of chemicals and all the films that were developed in that batch. (Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to have been the case here).

    About remjet: analog.cafe/r/how-to-remov…

    Norwich post: threads.net/@norwich_camer…

    SHOWA Film post that shares Fujifilm’s statement: threads.net/@showa_f/post/…


  • Defective disposable cameras and badly respooled film rolls cause issues at film labs and ruin images.

    Fujifilm issued a statement to labs about an offending product that may produce unusable images and even damage the minilab machines. There’s also a growing number of posts on social media by lab technicians sharing various problems with rolls and disposables.

    Some of those posts suggest that Kodak’s recent rule-tightening about sales of Vision 3 film (see: analog.cafe/comments/up67) may be related to the rise of improper processing and respooling of that film.

    The deffective products aren’t necessarily cheaper than quality film but they are always disappointing to the photographers who use them and are upsetting to the lab technicians who have to deal with the fallout while seeing their potential customers get discouraged about film altogether.

    The camera in the photo is an example of a product most labs won’t accept (thanks to Fujifilm’s statement, aparently sent to their minilab machine owners). It’s possible that some technicians may be discouraged from processing any product the brand which they do not recognize.

    #editorial🔥


  • Smartflex, a lightweight 4x5 SLR, launched and reached its goal on Kickstarter within just a few days.

    The camera weighs just over 2kg/4.4lb and uses a segmented mirror system to solve “the major issue of short flange distance lenses while ensuring no light leaks.” It uses a 5x5” horizontal ground-glass viewfinder. It’s also possible to use a mobile device with this camera (to film videos via an enormous LF lens) and Instax Wide film.

    Various photos and images of the camera show its creator using it hand-held, which is certainly unique for this format. I wrote about this project earlier this year — see some of that footage here: analog.cafe/comments/kqi9

    There are still ~27 days to go for this project: kickstarter.com/projects/s…

    The matching 178mm Smartnon lens is listed for ¥220,000 ($1,400).

    Smartflex Camera Body is ¥314,000 ($2,000) or ¥361,000 ($2,300) with Instax Wide back.

    The body & lens package is ¥456,000 ($2,900) or ¥503,000 ($3,200) with Instax Wide back.

    #editorial🔥 #gas


  • Thanks for the article, had one delivered yesterday. You can set the date to 2024. Just tell the camera it is one minute before midnight on 31st December 2019 and wait until it ticks over past that minute. The 2020s then become available and you…

    Oh wow — thank you so much Andrew! I was so disappointed I couldn’t set the date on this camera. I love everything about it and now that I can bi-pass that I’m even more thrilled about it. Just ordered the Z to compliment the x3.0


  • The search algorithm on Analog.Cafe has got a mini update this weekend (v3.26.27).

    Finding a camera, film, or technique you’re looking for should now be easier. I’ve also fixed a few bugs that hid icons when you searched the comments.

    It’s still not perfect (as search is a difficult problem to solve), but I think it’s better than the Google search API I used previously. While Google is very good at indexing pages, it doesn’t know how I organize this website and it can’t return rich data like the number of likes on a post.

    Please let me know if you see any issues, as it’ll help me improve this part of the blog. Thanks!

    #website


  • Kodak Aerocolor IV Film Review

    There is one mistake in this article, which is all too common with younger photography hobbyists, especially from the US. It is using CineStill home kits as some kind of reference for C-41. In reality, this is a cheap-o copy of Tetenal´s press kit from the 1980´s, It is not operating at the standard temperature, nor is the time standard. No photofinishers are developing C-41 at 39°C (102°F) or for 3:30 minutes, as the standard is 37.8°C (100°F) for 3:15.


  • The Omnar 35mm f/3.5 Pantessa FLB is a premium Yashica T* lens rehousing for Leica M-mount, with an image circle large enough for Fuji GFX 100ii and Hasselblad X2D¹. This clever lens design, built by Omnar (https://omnarlenses.com/our-story/), uses…

    It’s cool that this lens can work with a digital medium format camera. Those sensors are a bit smaller than some of the giant image areas medium format film will have, but that’s with a tiny pancake lens.

    There are compromises, of course. The Fuji GFX 100ii sample above shows vignetting and fairly significant softening in the corners. Hasselblad X1D’s sensor also adds a purple-blue cast. But if you want a lens this light and this compact with your big digital camera, this would be the limiting factor with almost any optics you’ll throw at it.


  • The Omnar 35mm f/3.5 Pantessa FLB is a premium Yashica T* lens rehousing for Leica M-mount, with an image circle large enough for Fuji GFX 100ii and Hasselblad X2D¹. This clever lens design, built by Omnar (https://omnarlenses.com/our-story/), uses…

    A $2.5K purchase of a lens made with elements sourced from a point-and-shoot camera makes the same sense as finding the legendary Minolta TC-1 (analog.cafe/r/minolta-tc-1…) 28mm G-Rokkor lens in a M-mount. When Minolta made those outstanding point-and-shoot cameras in the late ‘90s, they also produced a limited number of the same lenses for Leica rangefinders.

    Some point-and-shoot cameras made in this period have incredible optics; however, those cameras can not last forever. My TC-1 bricked after two years of use, which wouldn’t happen with the lens alone. The reliability is a huge factor when it comes to these cameras, no matter how well they were built.

    The folks at Omnar went a little further with their rehousing, however, making the Pantessa in a way that it projects an enormous ~60mm image circle — which means it can work with medium format digital cameras.

    This shot was made with the lens adapted to Fuji GFX 100ii.


  • The Omnar 35mm f/3.5 Pantessa FLB is a premium Yashica T* lens rehousing for Leica M-mount, with an image circle large enough for Fuji GFX 100ii and Hasselblad X2D¹. This clever lens design, built by Omnar (https://omnarlenses.com/our-story/), uses…

    My favourite samples of this lens’ renderings from all the digital Leicas (amongst the M9s, the M10s, and the M11s) were made with the Monochrom body. I’m not used to digital sensor colours, even the premium ones, which is why I found black-and-white ones more compelling. Can’t articulate why just yet.

    In any case, this lens appears to make sharp photos, as you’d expect from Zeiss optics that brought Yashica back out of the hole (a bit of history here: analog.cafe/r/yashica-t2-f…).

    This black-and-white image seems to be pushing the lens’ limits: if you look closely, there’s some softness and swirl in the corners and a tiny bit of motion blur in the leaves. Yet the photo has a nice contrast and a great overall sharpness (there are a few things that can affect the sharpness of your photos with any lens — I wrote about it earlier here: analog.cafe/r/how-to-make-…).

    Yashica’s T* point-and-shoot cameras were and are relatively affordable (thanks to the all-plastic bodies) and well-designed. Of course, the handling or reliability that you get with them won’t be the same as on a M-mount rangefinder.


  • The Omnar 35mm f/3.5 Pantessa FLB is a premium Yashica T* lens rehousing for Leica M-mount, with an image circle large enough for Fuji GFX 100ii and Hasselblad X2D¹. This clever lens design, built by Omnar (https://omnarlenses.com/our-story/), uses…

    There were a lot of sample images in the press package for this lens. Hamish mentioned that he’s even got some on 35mm film in his Leica that’s almost ready to scan. Some reminded me of my experience with my Yashica T2, particularly the optics render the out-of-focus foliage. But of course, digital sensors do render photos differently.

    This photo was snapped on M11. I think it shows this lens’s bokeh and low-light performance pretty well.


  • The Omnar 35mm f/3.5 Pantessa FLB is a premium Yashica T* lens rehousing for Leica M-mount, with an image circle large enough for Fuji GFX 100ii and Hasselblad X2D¹. This clever lens design, built by Omnar (https://omnarlenses.com/our-story/), uses…

    Omnar Lenses was found by Hamish Gill of 35mmc.com and Chris Andreyo of Chris Andreyo of Skyllaney Opto-Mechanics.

    Omnar has released a few rehoused lenses, taking vintage optics and improving their performance (as they have with Pantessa FLB) and handling. The handling bit seems to be driving the price of these ultra-low-run creations: practically everything is made of machined metal, hand-finished and hand-assembled in the UK.

    Even the screw-on lens cap is made of metal.

    The Pantessa weighs 108g (3.8oz) and protrudes 16.5mm (.65”) from the camera.


  • The Omnar 35mm f/3.5 Pantessa FLB is a premium Yashica T* lens rehousing for Leica M-mount, with an image circle large enough for Fuji GFX 100ii and Hasselblad X2D¹.

    This clever lens design, built by Omnar (omnarlenses.com/our-story/), uses machined metal components to realize a modified formula for glass elements from the highly-regarded Yashica T* point-and-shoot cameras (like analog.cafe/r/yashica-t2-f… and analog.cafe/r/yashica-t5ky…):

    “The optical formula has been modified[…] to reposition the glass elements into a continually optimized state[…] we have designed the lens so the position of the optical block subtly moves within the housing as the aperture is adjusted[…] This design feature, which is entirely unique to our rehousing, is the key reason the Pantessa lens maintains such high optical performance and rangefinder accuracy across the entire 0.65m through Infinity RF coupled focus distance.” — Omnar.

    The Omnar 35mm f/3.5 Pantessa FLB is available to pre-order off the Omnar Lenses website today for £1950 (~$2,435).

    This lens’s first limited production run has just 20 units, which Omnar expects to ship by the end of February 2025.

    ¹ — With adapter. Some vignetting on Hassy. See samples below.

    #editorial🔥 #gas

    More about the lens, my thoughts, and high-res samples up next (🧵).


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