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.”
Film Ferrania’s Facebook page has been in the hands of alleged scammers for almost two years. It can be rough on the Internet, even for well-known brands.
Though I haven’t had my account stolen 🤞, it appears that restoring one can be difficult. In Lomography’s case, they were able to regain full access, but all of their content and followers vanished, prompting the company to ask us, the community, to re-follow as they rebuild their presence on the platform. See attached.
Film Ferrania’s Facebook page still has all of its original posts and comments up. Ferrania’s last post was on April 2, 2023; you can see the comments related to film photography under it. But the photos and the caption are in Vietnamese, and the profile name is now Bảo Lasvegas. Bảo’s subsequent messages are cryptic cringe, advertising a service that has the appearance of a pyramid scheme.
My understanding of these hacks is that they aren’t personal — rather a programmed automated attack designed to take over popular, poorly secured accounts and sell them to someone looking spam or appear reputable.
If you’re worried about your account, I suggest using a password manager service (1Password is good) and enabling two-factor authentication. You can go a step further and use an authenticator app like Google Authenticator.
Lomo’Instant Square Glass lets you take unlimited multiple or double exposures, which has been a big selling feature for many of Lomography’s cameras. Here’s one sample I got with the press release (shot by Lomography Hong Kong staff):
Lomography has been regularly updating its cameras with new cosmetic designs and “artist editions.”
Last year, Lomo’Instant Automat received several new skins (analog.cafe/comments/sqra), and so did its 110 camera. I expect the brand to release more colourful editions this year for at least two of its products (Instant Square Glass being the first).
Last week, Lomography updated its premium *multi-format* instant film camera designs with Pemberley (pictured) and The Blues.
Lomo’Instant Square Glass works with Instax Square *and* Instax Mini films via an interchangeable film back (compare film dimensions here: analog.cafe/r/instant-film…). It uses a 95mm lens (45mm equivalent — presumably with the square format), and its two apertures: 𝒇10 and 𝒇22 that you’ll need to zone focus (how to zone focus: analog.cafe/r/how-to-zone-…). Its fully automatic shutter can fire between 1/125s and 8s with a 30s max delay in Bulb mode.
With ‘Instant, you get to control flash, multiple exposures, and exposure compensation — but it’s otherwise a fully automatic film camera.
Glass lenses are a relatively new offering for a brand that’s been known for its plastic “toy” cameras, like the Diana Mini (analog.cafe/r/diana-mini-7…). Yet, Lomography is serious about their designs (see my Nour Triplet 2.0 review: analog.cafe/r/nour-triplet…) and a transition to a higher quality and pricepoint products in their lineup (they were the first in a long time to release a glass lens 110 camera: analog.cafe/comments/0jn2).
Film prices for Canadians should not be immediately affected by the new tariffs but 2026 may get expensive for all Kodak customers.
Kodak will be raising film prices this year for its distributors (analog.cafe/comments/snzw). In addition to those manufacturer-originated price hikes, the US’ new tariff measures (nypost.com/2025/02/01/us-n…) may affect what Kodak pays for raw material imports from Canada, Mexico, and China to make its products.
Now what?
Film price at the counter typically changes long after the manufacturer’s increase announcements. This is because retailers and distributors hold stock and have varying business interests and opportunities that delay the effect of manufacturers’ price changes by 1-6 months (data: analog.cafe/app/film-price… can be correlated with Kodak’s price announcements).
Kodak’s long production chain, from raw material sourcing to packaged, shipped, and delivered products, means that the effect of the tariffs on photographic film may not be known until 2026 (also: film manufacturers have historically limited their price increase announcements to no more than 1-2 a year).
Canadians: our Kodak film prices should NOT be immediately affected by the new tariffs: canada.ca/en/department-fi… (not listed).
Well, the “yet another film emulsion” could lead to think that there are lots of them. Apart from Kodak, Ilford and Foma, most nice film boxes in the market are rebranded Kentmere (Ilford) or Foma. Sometimes some Agfa film for special purposes (the regular Agfa APX film itself is Kentmere since years ago). A truly new BW emulsion, specially if it is T-grain is something we haven’t seen in a while.
The other point that you missed is the anti-halation layer. LLL made very clear that this is only for the tests they are doing currently. The film that would reach the markets would have one.
Other than that, yes, LLL is showing ambition here. And you pointed correctly the reason: film production is increasing due to a higher demand. Something very unexpected only 10 years ago!
Update: Michael got back to me with corrections and additional info about handling curled film:
“Myriad handles flat and moderately curved films very well indeed. Although very badly curved films may not feed through it, you can simply remove the top panel and lay the negatives directly onto the diffuser, then replace the top panel. This allows them to be digitised as normal. It’s a workaround, but effective, and mentioned in the documentation.”
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…
Myriad is a new multi-format holder for scanning film with digital cameras.
This new design by CUTASUNDA (run by Michael Swift from North East of England) accepts virtually all roll film sizes 110, APS, 126, 135, 127, 120/220, etc. The holder is available from the CUTASUNDA website for £99.95 ($125): cutasunda.com/products.html — or you can try your luck at Pentax Forums, where a Myriad giveaway is running until February 21st: pentaxforums.com/articles/…
Myriad was in development for over two years to ensure safe, scratch-free film transport, reliability, and perfectly flat film scanning.
For it to work, you must supply your own light source — a high-CRI LED light panel (such as the excellent Raleno PLV-S192) is recommended. Of course, you’ll also need your digital camera and a stand.
Myriad will let you scan negatives up to 6x9 in dimensions and keep your film flat with no more than 0.4mm variance (however, it may have trouble with exceptionally curly film). The holder is made from premium plastics that are precision laser-cut, which melts the material in the process, leaving it perfectly smooth. The finely-textured diffuser panel ensures there are no Newton rings. The adjustable film guides let you switch easily from one film size to another. More info: cutasunda.com/resources.ht…
I’ll add a couple more images and scan samples to this thread shortly. 🧵
Light Lens Lab has announced yet another new film emulsion just in time for the Lunar New Year.
Their current project is a T-grain black-and-white film — a modern-style fine-grained emulsion, the results of which Light Lens Lab shared on their blog: lightlenslab.com/blogs/upc…
The new film does not have an anti-halation layer (thus producing a similar effect as the CineStill 800T made popular — but in black-and-white). In monochrome, the images produced in this film look sharp, with a bit of haze around brightly lit objects. That, LLL said, will be fixed in the new batch.
The fact that a relatively young lab managed to produce a T-grain emulsion (which is the most advanced tech we have for producing small, tightly packed crystals — more: analog.cafe/r/ilford-delta…) is very impressive. Yet LLL’s ambitions do not stop there as their announcement lists all modern film chemistries (including colour films) in their future plans. Can they manage that? We’re yet to see.
One thing’s for certain is that the demand for film is now reaching a critical mass — enough to encourage well-resourced businesses to enter the market and attempt to compete with the likes of Ilford, Kodak, and Fujifilm.
Light Lens Lab was founded in 2018 by Mr. Zhou in Shangrao, China, “dedicated to optical research, development, and manufacturing of high-quality photographic equipment.”
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