ONDU Pinhole stops making pinhole cameras to focus on large format and “other projects.” ONDU Pinhole stops making pinhole cameras to focus on large format and “other projects.”

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  • Dmitri Jan 31, ‘25

    ONDU Pinhole stops making pinhole cameras to focus on large format and “other projects.”

    For film photographers in the know, ONDU has been synonymous with a high-quality pinhole camera for over a decade. Unfortunately, for those who grew to love their lensless products, the Slovenian camera maker is abandoning their namesake practice.

    In their recent email (thank you, Kari), Elvis Halilović announced that ONDU Pinhole will no longer manufacture pinhole cameras in order to focus on large format and “other projects.”

    Understandably, the news disappointed fans of some of the best lensless cameras on the market. However, ONDU isn’t the only pinhole camera maker, and perhaps their departure will make space for other ambitious projects, like Mania MFZ (analog.cafe/comments/r336).

    I messaged ONDU earlier to get a statement from them but haven’t heard back yet (will update this post if they reply).

    ***

    On Instagram (instagram.com/p/DFf3jkusN56), Elvis mentioned his desire to explore creativity in new ways. No one wants to feel stuck. Best of luck to ONDU and I’m looking forward to seeing more products from the shop.

    ONDU’s latest large format camera was announced last year on Analog.Cafe. Read about it here: analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…

    #editorial🔥

  • Dmitri Feb 12, ‘25

    Update:

    Elvis (ONDU founder) replied to my request for clarification about the discontinuation of his pinhole cameras a few days ago, but I only had the chance to post his response now. In any case, it repeats what he had earlier posted publically —

    “…I want to focus on large format cameras and other projects in the future.

    There’s a bunch of stock to go around for some months, depending on how many people want to snatch them now.

    But I feel like I’d like to give other projects a go. If I find a solution for outsourcing (which is unlikely from my experience), I might keep going but in any case, this amount of variations and so on will not happen again. It was too much work for me, and after 12 years of making this, I feel like it’s time for a change. I will focus a bit on the large format cameras and wetplate / dryplate gear, but that’s it for now.”