Compact cameras are arguably one of the biggest photography trends of 2026 – but one analog photography startup is taking the opposite approach. The Smartflex 8x10 is a large format film camera – and the company says it's the largest SLR yet.
While large format photography is considered more niche than the widely accessible 35mm roll film, a handful of cameras still support the 8x10 sheet film. These large-format 8x10 cameras typically use a ground glass screen instead of a viewfinder.
But, the Smartflex 8x10 has a viewfinder, made possible using an internal mirror and prism system that qualifies the camera as an SLR, or single lens reflex. The Smartflex 8x10 uses a waist-level viewfinder, but the company says an optional eye-level viewfinder will also be available.
The last time a camera company built a large format 8x10 film camera that qualified as an SLR was in 1901 with the Graflex 810, Smartflex says. The Smartflex 8x10 is even larger.
The Smartflex 8x10 weighs 12.3 lbs / 5.6kg – and that’s without a lens attached. The company says the camera is constructed with a robust chassis that allows for handling even lenses of around 8 to 10 kg.
The camera uses a lens board that the company says allows it to work with "virtually all common large-format lenses” without an adapter. The camera can be paired with a specially designed 300mm f/2.8 lens. An optional extension board will allow the body to expand in order to work with 600mm lenses.
The Smartflex 8x10 supports 8x10 Sheet Film and 8x10 Polaroids, but it also works with wet plates. The company explained that wet plate photography requires a very large shutter curtain. The camera uses a cloth focal-plane slit shutter. That supports shutter speeds between 1/40sec and 1/1000sec, as well as a T-setting for wet plates.
While the Smartflex 8x10 has a viewfinder, the camera uses bellows for focusing, much like historic large-format cameras. The camera uses a multi-rail design for the bellows, which allows the camera to support heavier, large-format lenses.
The Smartflex 8x10 comes after the start-up successfully launched the 4x5 last year on Kickstarter. Now, the company has built 15 Smartflex 8x10 SLRs – and if market demand is strong, the company says additional cameras will be available. The company is also considering a 5x7 camera for the future, Smartflex told Digital Camera World.
The Tokyo-based startup is listing those first few samples for a trial price of $5,715 with a lens – that converts to around £4,250 / AU$7,975 / CA$7,895.
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