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.
“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.
Rveni Labs made a special holder that adapts a portable laser rangefinder device to film cameras.
Zone focusing isn’t difficult, but if you’d prefer to have *laser focus* with your manual film camera, there’s now an affordable way to do this. Reveni Labs, a Canadian startup that manufactures film camera accessories, made a holder with a mirror that lets you clip a small laser rangefinder tool, AquilaPro, on top of your camera.
AquilaPro, which sells for $30, is very accurate, down to 0.078”. There’s about an inch of discrepancy between the actual and measured distance due to the gap between the rangefinder and the mirror introduced by the holder — which won’t be consequential unless you’re shooting with an extremely narrow depth of field. The rangefinder’s limit is 98’ (30m), which can be assumed as an infinity mark (assuming reasonable DOF).
NONS CAMERA, a startup from Hong Kong/Shenzhen known for its Instax film cameras with high-quality lenses, is teasing the release of a new Hasselblad Instax Square back. youtube.com/shorts/3YK6AJM…
You may’ve noticed in the above video that the photographer mounts a filter on top of the lens and one more on top of the viewfinder. Here’s why it’s important:
The challenge of using the Instax Square format with Hasselblad is that the actual 6x6 frame of a medium format camera is 56mm × 56mm, which is smaller than Instax Square’s 62cm × 62cm by 3mm on each side, producing a black border.
NONS modified the projection focus via an additional lens element further back, which made it larger. This allowed them to “enlarge” Hasselblad photos to snuggly fit in an Instax Square.
NONS’ earlier Hasselblad back (reg: $279) produced a thin black border inside Instax Square exposures. The new version does not.
The new back is expected to launch in Q1 2025, according to their Instagram announcement: instagram.com/p/DDeO1-iS0c…. NONS also confirmed (in the link above) that they do not intend to discontinue their earlier back (one that produces borders), and the new version will have film ejection and darkslide operation similar to that of the classic Hasselblad backs (i.e., “less awkward,” according to some commenters’ implied feedback).
Filmomat, a German premium lab tool maker, has released the 135 Autocarrier, a $1,500 automatic film scanning rig for digital cameras.
135 Autocarrier can scan and advance film up to three frames per second (!) via an automatic frame detection system. It uses twenty full-spectrum LEDs (5000K) for accurate scanning colour, and it’s compatible with uncut film and precut strips that are as short as three frames. The rig also triggers your camera’s shutter button automatically.
Filmomat sells beautiful, elaborate, and expensive tools for those who like to develop film at home. This rig even seems suitable for a small lab.
Film frame edge detection (built into 135 Autocarrier and attempted by other manufacturers) is tricky as film cameras may have a slight variance in spacing, frames can overlap, and they do not necessarily have edges (if there’s a dark shadow on the side of an image, for example). These are complex problems to solve, which may make the price of this tool understandable (but I am curious how/how well it solves these challenges).
A high-quality scanner can significantly impact the sharpness of your images (see: analog.cafe/r/how-to-make-…) more than a fancy lens. So, if you’re wielding something pricey, this rig may be the next step to improving your scans and cutting your scanning time down.
Lomourette is Lomography’s new half-frame camera with a flash that looks like Diana Mini.
Diana Mini was my second film camera (the first one was Super Sampler). I took that little green plastic box with me on many trips; I loved its look and how light it was. It could switch between a half-frame and a square exposure format mid-roll!
Lomography’s new Lomourette resembles Diana Mini in looks and functionality. While Lomourette can not switch the format mid-roll, it comes with a mountable flash (my Diana Mini did not, although newer versions did, too).
My Diana died after about two years of use (the shutter ceased when I was hiking up Huangshan). It’s possible that the added complexity of switching the frame mask and film advance steps accelerated its demise. Presumably, decades of additional production experience and simplified design make Lomourette a more reliable camera. Lomography sells its new cameras with a two-year limited warranty.
The new Lomourette uses a zone-focused 𝒇8 24mm plastic lens (.6m/2’ closest focus) with a fixed 1/60th shutter (no cable release). It’s available in three colours on Lomography’s website: shop.lomography.com/ca/cat…
I’ve got three new curated film packs on sale at the Analog.Cafe’s Etsy shop, FilmBase: filmbase.etsy.com
There’s a four-pack of Lomography films, including their wild Turquoise and Purple emulsions. A two-pack of Polaroid film, including a Round Frame edition pack and a brand-new Black and White pack that features major improvements to the film’s dynamic range. And an Ilford medium format 4-pack with two rolls of Harman Phoenix and rolls of their professional Delta films.
All prices include free shipping to the US & Canada.
Thanks so much for your support and happy Wednesday!
Lomography just launched an Instax Wide camera with a 90mm 𝒇8-22 coated glass lens for under $300: Lomo’Instant Wide Glass.
I’m very happy that Fujifilm allowed its film format to grow far beyond its in-house cameras, with many options available for advanced photographers, including the MiNT InstantKon rangefinder, back for large format cameras, and even a gingerbread camera with the help of the Jollylook manual processor (analog.cafe/r/building-the…, unfortunately just 1 of 1 for now).
However, quality glass options for Instax film are not cheap. InstantKon currently sells for $900, NONS SLRs (which accept a variety of vintage lenses with Instax Square) are $500, and backs for medium and large format cameras (while relatively affordable) still require the said pricey cameras.
Lomo’Instant Wide Glass, on the other hand, is $279. Though this camera comes short of full manual controls, “the world’s sharpest instant camera” comes with a 90mm (35mm equiv.) 𝒇8-22 coated glass lens with a 0.3m/1’ close focus (zone focusing), 8–1/250s leaf shutter with Bulb and a fixed 1/30s option, +1/-1EV exposure compensation control, multiple exposure control, flash & remote flash (PC), and wireless shutter trigger.
Jagglé launched the Berlinova daylight table-top enlarger for black-and-white prints without a darkroom (on Kickstarter).
Darkroom printing on the go or in small apartments has been difficult or practically impossible until recently. To turn a negative into a photograph, you need a dark space, a sizeable enlarger, and multiple trays for chemical baths.
Jagglé Berlinova enlarger makes the job easy with its portable, light-tight construction and clever cassette holder that keeps the paper and accepts chemicals. The built-in high-CRI LED battery-powered USB-C-chargeable light is calibrated for proper exposures, and a bespoke fixed 50mm 𝒇4.0 Tessar lens makes perfectly focused projections on 10x15cm/4x6” paper (which may be upgradable to 13x18cm/5x7” if the project reaches a stretch goal).
I briefly covered this project in last month’s Community Letter (analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…), where you can refer for a bit more detail on how this works and to learn about its author, Wicher.
There are still a few Early Bird packs of the enlarger (with lens & paper cassette) available on Kickstarter for the 4x6” enlarger at €275 (~$300), which will continue to sell for €285 while the project is live:
Wicher is seeking €80,000 (~$87K) in total funding to produce Berlinova enlargers at an injection moulding facility for the highest quality and durability.
Lomomatic 110 Bellagio is a new premium film camera from Lomography that features a brass exterior and “the sharpest, most creative pocket-sized camera on earth” underneath.
This is a follow-up to this March’s Lomomatic 110 release (covered here: analog.cafe/comments/0jn2).
Lomography has been championing the tiny 110 format for years, and Lomomatic has become its flagship camera. Lomomatic is relatively affordable and comes with a multi-coated glass lens, which, according to the company, is the sharpest lens for the format — including even the vintage offerings.
This new premium brass edition features a 23mm Minitar CX multi-coated glass lens, automatic exposure control, adjustable ISO, flash, and multiple/long-exposure shooting modes. Note that brass trim is limited to certain parts of the camera — see photos on the website:
The brass Bellagio Lomomatic 110 camera is listed at $189, but there are a few versions of this camera at the shop (shop.lomography.com/us/cam…) with prices starting at $99.
Polaroid just made a new special-edition film available at their store: Reclaimed Green.
You may remember last year’s Reclaimed Blue release (analog.cafe/r/polaroid-rec…), which sold out quickly as it was the first emulsion of its kind.
Unlike the Duochrome editions, which are essentially black-and-white films with added dye, Reclaimed Blue is a colour film capable of rendering whites (Duochromes use colour dyes which cover whites of the black-and-white positives, yielding darker images).
Reclaimed Green is nearly identical to Reclaimed Blue in the way it works (including its ability to produce whites), only with a yellow dye added to the formula, which turns it green. However, the resulting effect is lighter than that of Duochrome Green (see analog.cafe/r/polaroid-gre…).
Polaroid Reclaimed Green 600 is available at the web store for $16.99 ($3 cheaper than the regular colour film): polaroid.pxf.io/an3RPZ [affiliate].
You can learn a bit more about this film from the excellent In An Instant channel on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=5sSpVp….
Jonathan Paragas, or @KingJvpes, recently published a video about his incredible experience finding a Leica M3 at a thrift store for $30.
Jonathan is a San Francisco/Bay Area photographer who’s got over 175K subscribers on YouTube thanks to his popular film camera thrifting videos and content about analogue photography. Of course, there’s more to his fame than just the subjects he picks.
In his recent video, @KingJvpes is seen shaking with excitement after finding a Leica M3 at a thrift store for $30 — a camera that sells for over a thousand dollars on eBay. Though the video had a lot of extra content, I was most impressed with Jonathan’s honesty (he didn’t try to make himself look cool or cut his emotional reaction to such a find from the reel) and his commitment to do the right thing.
Gear theft is a big issue, particularly in the Bay Area (from what I gather online). Which is why Jonathan spent considerable effort to see if his Leica find was lost or stolen before adding it to his collection permanently. But after months of scouring the internet, he determined that it isn’t (besides, why sell it at a thrift store if it could fetch a lot more on eBay?)
Buyer’s remorse about the modern film cameras is beginning to cut through the hype.
I’d like to preface this by saying that there’s nothing wrong with being excited about new products. I take a positive approach to most products I review because I love film photography, I understand production constraints in 2024, and I do not expect perfection.
However, it must be difficult to be critical of a relatively expensive gadget that one gets and has limited time to play with. This is also fine. I am not happy about being attacked over not accepting that modern tools are somehow better in every way than their vintage counterparts (that happened, and it’s the Internet, so no surprise either).
But as time passes, the novelty wears and criticisms surface. Whether it’s Lok’s dissatisfaction with the build quality and design of the new Pentax 17 (youtube.com/watch?v=gwnlnE…) or @theinstantcameraguy’s complaints about Polaroid’s slow software fix cycle for critical bugs for I-2 (see: analog.cafe/comments/z0ow).
The truth about those tools is probably somewhere in the middle, and it will depend greatly on individual experience and expectations. But no matter what our collective opinion is about those new tools, it is nonetheless remarkable that there’s such a strong demand for film and film cameras in 2024. I sincerely hope that the manufacturers take note and remember that the user experience matters the most, whereas the hype always fades.
Brief film camera-related updates from Polaroid, Lomography, and Dua Lipa.
I just got an email from Polaroid showing off their two new colours for the Now Generation 2 instant cameras: Purple and Vintage White. I reviewed this camera in (regular) white here: analog.cafe/r/polaroid-now….
Lomography is discounting their Diana Mini cameras by 25% as they sell the last of their stock: shop.lomography.com/us/dia…. Diana Mini is a classic plastic camera with interchangeable formats (square and half); I reviewed it here: analog.cafe/r/diana-mini-7…
According to Kosmo Foto, Dua Lipa, a pop star who also shoots film, is selling a waterproof, reusable plastic camera that can be submerged up to 3m/10’. The camera can be found at usshop.dualipa.com/ for $40, and the header image appears to be shot on that exact camera.
Stephen has more details about the camera and the history of artist swag in his article about Dua Lipa’s camera: kosmofoto.com/2024/09/dua-…
All items include free shipping to the US and Canada. All film cameras are film-tested. Many were the ones I reviewed on this blog, so you know they got a proper exercise. Samples are available with each camera/lens.
Everything, except for film, has a 30-day warranty. The shop has glowing reviews and a five-star rating. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’ve got a few film-tested cameras with free shipping to the US and Canada for 20% OFF: filmbase.etsy.com
Konica Recorder — a half-frame, pocketable point-and-shoot camera with a very wide & sharp lens.
Olympus PEN FV with H.Zuiko Auto-S 1:2 lens — the only half-frame SLR ever produced with an incredibly fast lens.
Olympus XA2 RED — a classic tiny full-frame camera in a rare red colour with a matching, working A11 flash.
Mamiya U — a mint-condition camera with a very sharp lens and a very unusual design. This is THE ONLY CAMERA you’ll ever find with the original working shutter button.
Also, there is a 250mm (~375mm equivalent) super-telephoto lens for Olympus PEN and a 150mm (~210mm equivalent).
All of these cameras and lenses were tested extensively with film, they were the subjects of my reviews on Analog.Cafe. Please read the detailed descriptions for each with my notes from the real-world tests.
Rollei 35AF, the world’s newest premium point-and-shoot film camera, should be ready for sale by the “end of September.”
If you spent any time on the internet this week, you must’ve seen reviews, brags, and complaints about the new Pentax 17 half-frame film camera. The fanfare was so loud, it drowned other photography releases, like Fujifilm’s newest Wide camera.
The hype over Pentax 17 is admittedly deserved. It’s the first film camera made in decades by a major manufacturer. However, Ricoh/Pentax aren’t the only trailblazers this year. Last week, I reviewed the first colour film by a major film manufacturer (not Kodak/Fuji), Phoenix 200: analog.cafe/r/harman-phoen…. And today, we’ve got a date, a few more photos, and some finalized technical details of the first premium compact point-and-shoot camera: Rollei 35AF.
Rollei 35AF is built from the ground up by a well-known Hong Kong manufacturer, MiNT, who’s been selling instant film cameras for about a decade. Gary Ho, MiNT’s founder describes this project as one of the most challenging things he’s done. Whereas the images of the product and the images it’s taken are truly impressive.
Rollei35 has opened the presale waitlist here: rollei35af.com/
We now know what the new Pentax half-frame film camera looks like! It’s the first 35mm film camera from a major manufacturer in over a decade.
PentaxRumors.com recently shared a photo of a camera that Ricoh Imaging has been teasing since early 2023 (analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…).
The photo doesn’t show the manual film advance Pentax leaned on in almost every teaser of the camera (analog.cafe/comments/8ub8). But there’s a lot that we can learn from it already.
The viewfinder confirms that it will be a half-frame camera, and the built-in flash is a nice touch. Many vintage half-frame cameras (analog.cafe/search?for=hal…) did not have a built-in flash, making them difficult to use in subdued light.
I’m happy to see a DOF calculator for better zone-focusing accuracy (you can brush up on it here: analog.cafe/r/how-to-zone-…).
The 25mm 𝒇3.5 lens is an approximately 35mm full-frame equivalent, so we can expect a wide angle of view and easy zone focusing with a larger DOF.
𝒇3.5 is a good max aperture for a camera like this; recall the new Ektar H35N, which is 𝒇8 (analog.cafe/r/kodak-ektar-…) — which is one of the widest-apertured half-frame cameras made in recent years.
Last week, Lomography released two new designs of their Lomo’Instant Automat Camera featuring artwork by renowned Austrian artist, Gustav Klimt.
The artist-branded Automat cameras, including collaborations with William Klein, Vivian Ho, Suntur, Jarb, Opbeni, el Nil, Park Song Lee, Gongkan, and others, sell for $199, but base model of the same camera is available on sale for $169 on their website: shop.lomography.com/us/ins…
These cameras use the popular Fujifilm Instax Mini film with a 60mm f/8-22 lens that can be zone-focused between 0.6m, 1-2m, and infinity. (You can learn about zone-focusing here: analog.cafe/r/how-to-zone-…). These cameras have a shutter that fires automatically between 8s and 1/250s. The cameras use 2 x CR2 batteries plus CR1632 for the remote.
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