Are you a huge Nikon fan like me? Then you absolutely have to watch this retro documentary about the legendary optical manufacturer’s history. I first caught wind of The Eye of Science – Nikon via Japanese news outlet Digital Camera Life, which linked to the YouTube video by @NPO法人科学映像館 (below).

This 30-minute documentary was produced in 1966. For context, that’s the same year that England won the World Cup and Star Trek debuted on TV. But in Nikon terms, it was the year after the Nikon F Photomic T and Nikkormat FT/FS were released.

And indeed, the film showcases the aforementioned then-latest additions to the Nikon line-up being manufactured and carefully assembled by hand. The film also includes Nikon F cameras undergoing shutter durability tests: said to be “approaching 150,000 consecutive cycles”.

Perhaps the most interesting process is the manufacturing of lens elements. They start life as huge, rugged blocks of glass that are chipped down into carefully selected cubes. They’re then heated, pressed and precisely ground into spherical lens elements before being polished and assembled.

The film doesn’t just lift the lid on the company’s manufacturing processes; it also touches upon Nikon’s then-impact on the wider world, including the Nikon F’s Motor Drive, which enabled 4-fps burst shooting. That’s nothing today, but it was revolutionary back then. Even Nikon’s waterproof 35mm film camera, the Nikonos (I), makes an appearance.

And of course, Nikon’s business is much more than just its imaging division. The documentary also touches upon the company’s other optical products, including microscopes, telescopes, medical equipment and more. If you have any interest in Nikon or camera manufacturing in general, and have a spare 30 minutes, this video is definitely worth watching.

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Are you into retro Nikon film cameras? The Nikon FM is an SLR in its purest form. Perhaps you like the retro look but want the many advantages of a modern mirrorless camera. If so, take a look at the Nikon Zf.

By the late Sixties, the West German firm Carl Zeiss had a problem: it had lost its original Contax camera business in the process of Germany (and Zeiss) being split into East and West at the end of World War II.

Zeiss still designed world-class optics, but the high cost of German labor meant that it no longer had a competitive 35mm SLR system. Japanese manufacturers – especially Pentax, Nikon, Canon and Minolta – were dominating the market.

At the time, Asahi Optical was arguably Japan's strongest SLR manufacturer. Its Pentax Spotmatic had become a roaring success, and Asahi had an excellent reputation for mechanical precision and lens coatings. Zeiss saw Pentax as an ideal manufacturing partner.

Their short-lived collaboration did see the development of what became the Pentax K-mount and the exchange of optical design methods.

The exact reasons why the collaboration failed have never been fully documented, but it seems that Pentax was more interested in building its own brand than manufacturing premium cameras for someone else. It also seemed that Zeiss wanted greater influence over the camera system than Pentax was willing to grant.

Thus, around 1972, the collaboration ended amicably and Zeiss began searching for another Japanese partner.

The secret project starts to form

Yashica's situation was very different. Unlike Pentax, it was looking to move upmarket. It had the manufacturing expertise and excellent integration of electronics in its cameras, but had never managed to “crack’ the professional market.

Thus, Yashica was willing to build an entirely new professional camera system around Zeiss's requirements. Which brings us to the “Top Secret Project 130”.

“Top Secret Project 130” was the internal codename for one of the most significant collaborations in camera history: the partnership between Yashica and Carl Zeiss to create the new professional-grade 35mm SLR system that revived the Contax brand.

Zeiss designed the lenses and helped define the optical viewfinder, while Yashica engineered and manufactured the body, incorporating advanced electronic shutter technology.

The camera was styled by Porsche Design in Germany, under Professor Ferdinand Alexander (grandson of the legendary Ferdinand Porsche and designer of the Porsche 911 automobile).

The result was the stunningly beautiful Contax RTS (Real Time System), introduced at Photokina 1974 and commercially released in 1975.

It featured a new Contax / Yashica bayonet lens mount, an electronically controlled focal-plane shutter with speeds up to 1/2000 sec and, of course, the famous Zeiss T* coated lenses. The emphasis was placed on fast operation and reliability, aiming squarely at professionals.

Yashica took the opportunity to upgrade its already very good lenses, with the Yashica FR (1977-1982) and simpler FX (1978-2002) series of SLRs becoming the “poor man’s Contax” – much in the same way that the earlier Nikkormat series (1965-1978) of SLRs had become the “poor man’s Nikon F”.

The common lens mount enabled photographers to “buy into” the Contax system and expand it with lower-cost, but still excellent, Yashica lenses if they could not afford the real McCoy. Or purchase the lower-priced Yashica body but shoot with genuine Zeiss optics – a path taken by many.

The Contax RTS was followed in 1982 by the RTS II, offering a quartz-controlled shutter (for greater accuracy), titanium shutter curtains (for improved durability) and TTL flash metering (a major advance at the time).

In 1990, the RTS III appeared. It was an almost totally new camera with a deeper grip, a 100% viewfinder, a 1/8000 sec shutter, spot metering and more sophisticated electronics. But its real claim to fame was the RTV (Real Time Vacuum) film transport system.

At the instant of exposure, a tiny vacuum pump pulled the film tightly against a precision ceramic pressure plate, producing exceptionally flat film and thus minimizing focus errors caused by slight film curvature.

Concise production numbers are unknown, but it seems that somewhere between 185,000-235,000 RTS series cameras were made.

By comparison, the Yashica FR (aimed at advanced amateurs) and the more affordable, entry-level FX cameras sold approximately 605,000-865,000. This discrepancy is due to the Yashica cameras being both less expensive and in production far longer.

Unsolved mysteries

There remain three curiosities with this story. First, the term “Top Secret Project 130” was never used in marketing – and neither firm ever explained the significance (if any) of the number 130.

The second is that virtually all the Yashica and Contax bodies were made in Yashica’s factories, other than the FX-3. Introduced in 1979. The Yashica FX-3 was to be a lower-cost, mechanically simple camera to attract newcomers to the Contax / Yashica lens ecosystem.

The camera was designed to Yashica's specifications but manufactured by Cosina as an OEM product. It proved extremely successful and remained in production – with updates such as the FX-3 Super and FX-3 Super 2000 – until 2002.

The last curiosity is a rumor that circulated widely in the mid-Seventies. It said that, in order to secure the cooperation of Zeiss, Yashica had offered a room just off the production line where Japanese nationals would not be permitted. Thus, the Germans could conduct quality control checks on Yashica-made products without hindrance.

Your scribe has been unable to confirm this rumor or, even if true, that such a room actually existed. But it’s a fascinating story.

The Zeiss / Yashica collaboration continued for a full 30 years, until 2005 when Kyocera (which had bought Yashica back in 1983) abruptly discontinued all camera and lens production. As it ended, Yashica / Kyocera’s license to use the Contax brand also ended and the trademark was returned to Zeiss AG – where it has sat, unused, ever since.

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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A YouTuber has bought the film camera that featured prominently in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to see if it can really stand up to the rigors of archeological adventuring.

If you’re wondering where in the famed Lucasfilm saga this particular chapter fits, it’s actually a very well-received videogame developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda Softworks – it was released in 2024 and is set between the legendary movies Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade.

Throughout the game, players guide Indy through a series of adventurous locations, including temples with lots of puzzles. And in the game, the camera is used for a variety of purposes – but is mainly used to help when solving puzzles.

But as WatchingtheAerial points out in the video (embedded above) the in-game camera brand, Relic, doesn’t actually exist. However, the camera is all but identical to the real-life Argus Model A, which was produced from 1936 to 1941.

Incidentally, Raiders of the Lost Ark is set in 1936, The Great Circle takes place in 1937 and The Last Crusade in 1938, so the camera is cutting-edge tech when in-game Indy gets it.

The Argus Model A is a 35mm film camera made from Bakelite and aluminum. According to the Film Photography Project, some have called it “the second most important 35mm camera ever made”.

It features a 50mm IRC f/4.5 Anastigmat collapsible lens and was originally priced at just $12.50. You’ll have to watch the video to see this incredible photography relic in action, where WatchingtheAerial goes into great detail about its handling, durability and design.

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This isn't the only time cameras and video games mix. Can you believe all these photographs were taken in video games? If you're more into old cameras, take a look at the Nikon FM2. And if you like old cameras, but don't want old handling, take a look at the best modern retro cameras.

Leica has released a new firmware update for the Leica Sofort 2, bringing improved Bluetooth security and a handful of under-the-hood fixes to its hybrid instant camera.

Firmware version 1.2.1 is now available to download, and while this is certainly not the sort of update that suddenly transforms the Sofort 2 with new Filmstyles, Lensstyles, or photographic features, it is still an important update for owners – particularly anyone who regularly connects the camera to the Leica Fotos app.

The headline change is encrypted Bluetooth communication. Leica says the new firmware makes the Sofort 2 fully compliant with Article 3.3 of the EU Radio Equipment Directive (2014/53/EU), with the Bluetooth security update forming the most noticeable part of the release. There is one thing owners need to know before installing it, however: once firmware 1.2.1 has been installed, the Sofort 2 will need to be paired with your device again.

That is particularly worth knowing with the Sofort 2 because connectivity is quite a big part of what makes this camera interesting. The hybrid instant camera can pair with the Leica FOTOS app via Bluetooth, allowing images to be transferred to a smartphone while also enabling remote control. Images stored on a smartphone – including photographs captured using other Leica cameras and stored inside the Leica Gallery – can also be transferred to the Sofort 2 and printed.

Beyond the Bluetooth changes, Leica simply lists "bug fixes in the firmware," without going into detail about exactly which issues have been addressed. So, don't expect firmware 1.2.1 to dramatically alter how the Sofort 2 shoots. Instead, this looks to be primarily a security, compliance, and stability release – but considering how much the Sofort 2 relies on its digital connectivity, I would still consider this an update worth installing.

For those unfamiliar with Leica's instant camera, the Sofort 2 takes a rather different approach from a traditional instant model. It is a hybrid digital and instant camera built around a 4.9MP sensor and a Leica Summar lens providing approximately a 28mm full-frame equivalent field of view. Crucially, you can review your photographs before deciding which ones deserve to become physical prints, rather than committing a sheet of instant film every time you press the shutter. It also offers 10 Filmstyles and 10 Lensstyles for adding different looks and effects.

Firmware 1.2.1 can be installed conveniently through the Leica Fotos app or manually through the Sofort 2's camera menu. Leica notes that registered users and Leica Fotos users should also receive notifications about new firmware releases. Those installing manually should make sure the battery is fully charged and avoid switching the camera off or removing the memory card or battery while the update is running.

The Leica Sofort 2 firmware 1.2.1 update and its accompanying release notes are available now from Leica's official download page.

Shop Leica Sofort 2

Peter Parker is arguably the most famous fictitious photographer to grace the silver screen.

While complicated comic-book continuity and the evolution of the character mean he’s not always working as a plucky photojournalist, the most well-known incarnation of the character is with camera in hand, supplying the repugnant J Jonah Jameson with exclusive Spidey pics for the Daily Bugle.

When it comes to Peter Parker’s many big-screen adventures, he can be seen wielding a wide variety of cameras from the likes of Nikon, Canon and even Yashica.

However – very small *SPOILER ALERT* – Tom Holland’s most recent MCU portrayal isn’t a photographer and, despite some fans hoping he’d finally pick up a camera in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, alas Peter is still cameraless.

The Amazing Spider-Man (1977)

The web-crawler’s first feature-length outing was in 1977’s The Amazing Spider-Man, starring Nicholas Hammond as the titular character. This was a straight-to-TV outing in the US, but was released in cinemas in other countries.

According to YouTuber Azriel Knight, this version of Spidey carried an all-black Nikon F2. But if you thought that would be the only film camera to feature in Peter’s arsenal, think again…

Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002-2007)

I’m a child of the Nineties, so Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films are firmly within my era. My mom took me to the cinema to see Tobey Maguire’s debut outing as the webslinging superhero, and I’ve seen it countless times since, but the real treat was 2004’s Spider-Man 2.

I still consider this sequel to be one of the best superhero films ever made and, if you’ve not seen it, Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock might just be the best Marvel supervillain to grace the big screen. The less said about Spider-Man 3, though, the better…

Throughout Raimi’s trilogy, Peter is seen out and about with a camera an awful lot – but the manufacturer’s label is usually covered with black tape.

That said, I watched Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 again around Christmas, and I’m sure I noticed at least one moment where the Canon logo was visible. Still, the F-1 logo is very much visible, with Azriel Knight pointing out that it’s the Canon New F-1 released in 1981.

Tobey’s Spidey continued to shun digital tech throughout his tenure. And when Andrew Garfield took on the mantle in 2012’s excellent The Amazing Spider-Man and continued in 2014’s less-than-excellent The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter still hadn’t made the jump to digital. If anything, he’d gone backwards!

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Azriel Knight has identified the little film camera as the Yashica Electro 35 GSN, following a truly admirable amount of research and investigation (watch the video above to find out how he came to that conclusion). This Yashica is a rangefinder camera with aperture priority, released in 1971.

That brings us right up to Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you ask me, it’s a real shame that Peter hasn’t yet returned to his roots and picked up a camera. After all, he’s been a photographer since The Amazing Spider-Man issue #2 way back in 1963!

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Want more Marvel and camera links? Here are 8 Marvel movies shot on Canon cameras. For something a little more based in reality, here are 29 movies about real photographers. And if you're a vintage camera nerd, but film is simply too expensive, check out the best retro cameras.

Fisheye photography creates an unusual ultra-wide that breaks the rules – and now analog camera maker Lomography has built a fisheye compact camera that’s just as rebellious on the outside as it is on the inside. The Lomography Fisheye No. 2 Graffiti takes the brand’s popular compact film camera with a 170-degree view and gives it a colorful, graffiti-inspired makeover.

The 35mm film compact camera uses a built-in 10mm fisheye lens that creates circular images. That ultra-wide lens, mixed with an f/8 aperture, creates a setup that leaves much of the image in focus.

The camera uses a fixed-focus design that works as close as 10cm from the front of the lens. That close-up shot will exaggerate the distorted perspectives that the fisheye lens brings.

The camera has just two shutter speed options: 1/100 or bulb mode. A built-in flash helps light up dim scenes, while a hot shoe slot also allows for adding an external light.

The Fisheye No. 2 Graffiti also supports multiple exposure photography.

The camera includes a removable viewfinder that sits inside the hot shoe slot. The camera uses just a single AA battery for power.

The camera takes 35mm film, mixing Lomography’s experimental film, a roll of black-and-white, or standard color film, further mixing up the unusual look coming from the camera’s 10mm fisheye lens.

While the new launch isn’t the only Lomography Fisheye No. 2, the refresh brings a colorful body and graffiti-scrawled wrap to the analog camera. Lomography describes the launch as “not the camera to use politely,” calling the fisheye look a camera that’s “made for the rule-breakers and boundary pushers.”

The Graffiti edition joins the lineup of previous Fisheye No. 2 cameras, bringing a bold splash of color. Like Lomography’s earlier cameras in the series, the new Fisheye No. 2 Graffiti compact retails for about $69 / £69 / AU$109 / CA$89.

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Part of the magic of film photography is never knowing quite what’s captured until the images emerge in the darkroom. A new series of film levels up that surprise – because each roll is pre-exposed with artwork.

The Grafx series of film from Retrospekt takes ISO400, C-41 color film and pre-exposes the film to existing artwork to add an unexpected graphic to each shot.

The Grafx series launches with a set of three different designs. Shattered feels like an ironic mix of modern and vintage: the design was created by photographing a dropped iPhone screen. The result is a series of cracks running across each image in the roll.

The Hot Ink film option takes inspiration from the 1990s and, specifically, tribal tattoos. This pre-exposed film has a border running along the top and bottom of each frame.

Sparkler is a roll of 35mm film that adds small star bursts to each photo in what Retrospekt calls “a twinkly bit of magic.”

Retrospekt says that while the pre-exposed artwork is the same, how it renders on the image depends on the photo’s composition and lighting, so each shot comes out a bit different.

The series isn’t the company’s first pre-exposed film. The company has previously offered custom graphic film stock featuring popular characters, like Peanuts and Hello Kitty. But Retrospekt says it wanted to create a set of designs with more universal appeal.

The new film, which launched online on August 21 after coming to film shops, may not stick around forever. “Fan-favorite series will have a chance to continue into the future, while others may only be issued once before they are gone forever,” the company explained.

The film rolls retail for $22. The Wisconsin-based company also ships outside the US, where the cost of the film converts to about £16 / AU$30 / CA$30, not including import duties.

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Could your old Nikon SLR or optics do with a little TLC? Well, Nikon Japan is offering its MF Old Product Maintenance Service for a very limited time only. The news comes by way of Digital Camera Watch, and it’s not the first time the ‘Big N’ has opened its doors to retro wares. No doubt a reaction to the boom in film photography in recent years.

Sadly, it’s still only available for customers who reside in Japan, so anyone in the United States and Europe will miss out. It’s only open for applications for roughly a month (September 1 to October 30), and the service can take around three months upon the goods’ arrival at the Nikon Repair Center (Yokohama).

Nikon says that the service is only available via direct delivery to Nikon Repair Center or by telephone and that applications are not accepted through the service center counter or online.

The Nikon Repair Center is able to inspect and clean eligible items, including the Nikon F, Nikon F2, Nikon F3, Nikon FM, Nikon FM2, Nikon FE and Nikon FE2, as well as a range of retro Nikon optics. It would appear, as per previous instances, that the service is largely designed to inspect and clean eligible products, not supply and install replacement parts.

MF Old Product Maintenance Service

MF SLR cameras...

• Winding mechanism inspection
• Rewind mechanism inspection
• Shutter speed accuracy check
• Exposure accuracy check
• Infinity focus alignment check
• Camera back / film chamber inspection
• Mirror operation check
• Speedlight flash firing & sync check
• Exterior light seal (moltoprene foam) inspection & replacement
• Exterior cleaning

MF lenses...

• Infinity focus alignment check
• Distance ring operation check
• Aperture ring operation check
• Aperture blade operation check
• Internal lens element inspection (dust and mold)
• Exterior cleaning

Information from Nikon Japan was translated via Google.

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Want more film-related Nikon goodness? I bought the only film camera I’ll ever need: the Nikon FM is an SLR in its purest form. I think the Nikon FE is a perfect first film camera. Here’s why… I love the Nikon FM2, it was only discontinued in 2001, and that should tell you everything you need to know.

Film photography has been enjoying a remarkable resurgence over the past few years, but that renewed enthusiasm has also pushed the prices of good second-hand 35mm cameras increasingly higher.

Thankfully, manufacturers are beginning to respond with genuinely new analog cameras, and Lomography's Lomo MC-A has now received one of the biggest endorsements yet after being named the EISA Analog Camera 2026-2027.

The Lomo MC-A is a compact 35mm film camera that bridges the gap between the simplicity of a point-and-shoot and the control offered by more traditional enthusiast cameras. Its solid metal construction gives it a more premium feel than many modern film cameras, while the option to shoot automatically or manually should appeal to complete beginners and experienced photographers alike.

At the heart of the camera is Lomography's Minitar II 32mm f/2.8 wide-angle lens, paired with autofocus and support for DX-coded film. EISA praised the lens for delivering sharp images, while the 32mm focal length should make it particularly well suited to everyday photography, travel and street shooting, where having something small and quick to use can make all the difference.

Sample images

However, the MC-A is not simply about recreating the film cameras of the past. Lomography has packed in several features designed to encourage experimentation, including a built-in optical viewfinder, multiple-exposure shooting and an integrated flash with creative effects filters. That combination feels very much in keeping with Lomography's philosophy of making film photography fun, accessible and slightly unpredictable.

What makes this award particularly interesting is what it says about the state of analog photography in 2026. For years, photographers wanting a serious 35mm camera have largely had to rely on decades-old second-hand equipment, often at increasingly inflated prices.

Cameras such as the Lomo MC-A suggest that this could finally be changing, and if more manufacturers continue to invest in brand-new film cameras, photographers may no longer have to look backwards to enjoy shooting analog.

Shop the Lomo MC-A

The Alpa Reflex 1 (commonly known as simply the Alpa Reflex) is one of the most fascinating early 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras.

Although it never achieved the production numbers of the Kine Exakta or later German and Japanese SLRs, it established Switzerland as a maker of precision photographic equipment. It became the foundation of the prestigious, if somewhat quirky, Alpa series of cameras.

The camera's story began in the late 1930s in Switzerland, the home of Pignons SA – best known for manufacturing watch components. It wanted to diversify into photographic equipment and had commissioned Kyiv-born engineer and inventor, Jacques Bogopolsky (1895-1962), to design a compact 35mm reflex camera.

Bogopolsky (who also worked under the names Jacques Bolsky, Jacques Boolsky and later Jacques Bolsey) was already well known as the designer of the famous Bolex H16 movie camera. His SLR design was completed by 1939, just as Europe entered World War II.

The first prototypes appeared between 1939 and 1942 and carried “experimental” names, such as Bolca, Teleflex and Viteflex. Most were made for testing and only a very small number were exported. By the end of the war, they had settled on the Alpa name – chosen because it evoked the image of Switzerland.

The Alpa Reflex was officially introduced at the Swiss Trade Fair in April 1944. It was a beautifully machined, exceptionally compact, hand-built camera. In 1944 some 115 cameras were made, while 1945 saw that almost quadruple to 434 cameras.

The Alpa Reflex combined two different focusing systems: the expected waist-level finder as well as a coupled optical rangefinder with its separate bright-line viewfinder. The coupled rangefinder was retained until the Alpa 6 came along in 1956. It included a split-image focusing aid, eliminating the need for a separate rangefinder.

Even then, the Alpa 7 (sold concurrently with the Alpa 6) continued to have the rangefinder for those who did not trust ground glass focusing – although your scribe knows of no other firms to attempt this arrangement. The Praktina and a few others had a direct viewfinder in addition to their reflex finders, but not with a coupled rangefinder.

The Alpa Reflex quickly earned a reputation for extraordinary craftsmanship. Production was intentionally small; Pignons preferred quality over quantity and even accepted special-order modifications from customers.

Unlike many manufacturers, Alpa did not manufacture its own optics, instead commissioning lenses from leading European makers including Kern & Co (the famous Kern-Switar series), Angénieux (France), Schneider (Germany) and others.

Most early cameras carried fast 50mm standard lenses of exceptionally high optical quality, often from Kern or Angénieux. Pignons even guaranteed the performance of the lenses it sold with its cameras!

These first-generation Alpa Reflex cameras were built in several production series, designated C (1944-45 – first commercial production, D (1945-47 – improved manufacturing techniques) and E (1947-51 – final version), though these letters were not marked on the cameras.

In 1949 Alpa introduced the Prisma Reflex, replacing the waist-level finder with a fixed pentaprism. It was only the third pentaprism-equipped 35mm SLR, following the Rectaflex and Contax S, though the eyepiece, rather oddly, is angled upward at 45°.

Only these first-generation Alpas had the rangefinder and, in all, around 5,000 first-generation cameras (including the Prisma Reflex variants) had been produced by 1952.

In 1952, Pignons completely redesigned the Alpa line with new die-cast construction and updated mechanics. These second-generation cameras retained the Alpa name but were substantially different internally, marking the end of the original Reflex I design.

In 1959, the then-current Alpa 6, 7 and 8 became the 6b, 7b and 8b models, gaining a rapid film advance lever and an instant-return mirror.

While most cameras of the era wound with a lever that swept back-to-front, the Alpa swept front-to-back – which many photographers initially found odd. Reviewers noted that, although unusual, it quickly became natural in use and enabled the film to be wound without removing the camera from the photographer’s eye.

One of the interesting quirks of Alpa is that the model numbers do not indicate the sequence in which they arrived. Instead, they denoted different specification levels offered at the same time.

The short-lived 4 series was an economy body with a waist-level finder. The 5 models offered a pentaprism and the 6 added a split-image focusing aid. The 7 series had a Leica M-style, coupled rangefinder in addition to the reflex finder, while the 8 models were pure SLRs with every bell and whistle they offered.

The later series of models (the 9, 10 and 11) were named in the order introduced and added metering, and then TTL metering.

Alpas were always a limited production affair, with its peak production being in 1965 when roughly 1,300 cameras were made. Between 1944 and 1990, production was about 45,000 Alpa cameras of all models – making every Alpa Reflex comparatively rare today.

That, however, is not the end of the story. After Pignons ceased camera production in 1990, the Alpa trademark lay dormant until 1996 when it was purchased by Ursula Capaul and Thomas Weber.

Their vision was not to revive the old 35mm SLR, but to build a Swiss-made, medium format camera of the finest possible precision for landscape, architecture, industrial and fine-art photographers: the Alpa 12 series.

They anticipated that digital imaging would eventually replace film, so they designed the system from the outset to accept interchangeable film backs and digital backs from various makers. Even today, you can mount the latest Hasselblad CFV 100C digital 100MP back!

Capaul and Weber sold the company in 2022, although they took great care to ensure that it remained an independent, Swiss manufacturer. Today, the firm is known as Alpa of Switzerland AG.

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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Kodak has overtaken Fujifilm to become the most-used film brand among photographers responding to FilmFocus' latest survey, as new figures suggest that the analog revival is continuing despite the ever-increasing cost of shooting film.

The 2025 Survey on the Current State of Film Photography gathered 1,337 valid responses, up considerably from 802 respondents in the previous year's survey.

Conducted between November 30 and December 31, 2025, the Japan-focused research found that 71% of respondents had used Kodak film during the previous year, narrowly placing it ahead of Fujifilm at 68%.

That reverses the positions seen in 2024, when Fujifilm led with 84% usage compared with Kodak's 81%.

However, perhaps the more interesting story is that usage of almost every major film brand has fallen.

Ilford dropped from 52% to 41%, while Lomography fell from 38% to 30%, with photographers seemingly becoming more selective about the films they buy.

The average number of major brands used by each photographer fell from 3.0 to 2.2, while Kentmere – included as a survey option for the first time – was already being used by 16% of respondents.

With black-and-white film often costing less than color negative film, affordability appears to be playing an increasingly important role.

Despite those rising costs, however, photographers do not appear ready to abandon film.

The average 35mm photographer used around 13.9 rolls during the year, almost identical to the 13.7 rolls recorded previously, while 120 users averaged 7.0 rolls compared with 6.9 the year before.

In total, 28% of respondents said they were shooting film more frequently, compared with 26% who said they were using it less. Cost was once again by far the biggest reason for reducing film use, cited by 62% of those shooting less.

The results also suggest that newer photographers are helping to keep the format alive. Among people who had been shooting film for less than a year, 49% said their usage had increased, while only 6% said it had decreased.

The opposite was true among photographers with more than a decade of experience, where 40% reported shooting less film.

Buying or acquiring a new film camera was the most common reason for increasing film use, with cameras such as the Pentax 17 specifically mentioned by respondents as helping to bring people into – or back into – analog photography.

There are plenty of other encouraging signs for film photography, too. Some 95% of respondents had shot at least a single roll of 35mm film during the year, while 53% had used 120 film.

Color negative remained the most popular type at 82%, followed by black-and-white at a substantial 61%.

And when choosing where to have those rolls processed, photographers still value results over simply finding the cheapest option, with 41% saying developing and scanning quality was their biggest priority compared with 24% choosing price.

Kodak may have taken the top spot from Fujifilm this year, but the wider takeaway is arguably even more important: photographers are adapting to higher prices rather than giving up on film altogether.

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Take a look at the best film cameras, along with our picks of the best 35mm, 120 and roll film you can buy right now.

When it comes to Pokémon-themed cameras, I'm such a catch-'em-all addict that I once dropped $300 on the worst Canon camera I've ever used just because it had a Pikachu design.

Thankfully, now I don't have to spend nearly that much money to get a Pikachu camera that's lightyears better.

Polaroid has just announced an epic new collaboration that brings us a trio of Pokémon-themed instant cameras, a trifecta of Pokémon-themed film and a bundle of Pokémon-themed accessories.

It's all in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Pocket Monsters franchise, which has become part of the DNA of 90s kids (and beyond).

The star of the show is undoubtedly the Polaroid Go Gen 3 – Pokémon Pikachu Edition. At its heart is the fantastic Polaroid Go Gen 3, but this superb special edition comes in lightning-bolt yellow with Pokémon branding and a Pikachu tail instead of a strap.

Then there's the Polaroid Go Gen 3 – Pokémon Sylveon Edition, in gorgeous pink and white split tones with a matching strap (which is functional, rather than the decorative Pikachu tail).

While the two Pokémon-themed cameras are both, fittingly, of the super-small Go variety, the final camera is based on the full-fat Polaroid Now Gen 3. Styled after a Pokéball, the Polaroid Now Gen 3 - Pokémon Pokéball Edition boasts a red-and-white body and strap.

Launching alongside the cameras are three Pokémon-themed instant film packs – two Polaroid Go varieties in Pikachu and Sylveon boxes to match the cameras, and one Polaroid i-Type pack.

As you'd expect, all three film packs contain unique Pokémon-themed frames – but you may not have guessed that they also feature special edition dark slides, which are adorned with numbered and collectible Pokémon silhouettes!

There are also a slew of brilliant Pokéball-themed accessories that demand to be collected, including a camera case and photo album for Go-sized cameras along with a strap that fits all models.

Everything is available for preorder on the Polaroid website from August 27, with the official launch commencing on October 12.

The Polaroid Now Gen 3 – Pokémon Pokéball Edition will be priced $139.99 / £129.99, with the Polaroid Go Gen 3 – Pikachu and Sylveon Editions costing $99.99 / £89.99.

The i-Type Film – Pokémon Edition will sell for $22.99 / £21.99, with the double packs of Polaroid Go – Pokémon Light Frame or Dark Frame going for $24.99 / £21.99.

The Polaroid Go Camera Case – Pokémon Edition will carry a $24.99 price tag, with the Polaroid Go Photo Album – Pokémon Edition selling for $24.99 and the Polaroid Camera Strap – Pokémon Edition $14.99 (international pricing to follow).

Phew, made it through the entire article without saying gotta catch 'em all… gah!!!!

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Take a look at the best instant cameras on the market, and make sure you to check out the different instant camera film sizes so you know what type of instant film you need.

Back in 1902, Hugo Schrader started Plaubel & Company in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Schrader had done his apprenticeship at Voigtländer and later worked for one of the more innovative German camera makers; Dr Rudolf Krügener. In fact, he married Dr Krügener’s daughter, Ruth.

You may wonder why a chap named Schrader would call his firm by a different name. The answer is as simple as it is odd. The Plaubel name comes from Karl Plaubel, Hugo Schrader’s brother-in-law. Apparently, Schrader chose it because he thought it was easier to remember than “Schrader”.

The Plaubel camera company became one of Germany's most respected photographic manufacturers, known for high-quality press cameras, large-format cameras, and later the famous Makina medium-format rangefinders. The firm's history spans more than a century.

Plaubel started by manufacturing lenses (including the Anticomar, Heli-Orthar and Supracomar lines) and selling other firms' cameras to augment its income – though these cameras would nearly always go out the door with a Plaubel lens or two.

Around 1909-1910, Plaubel began producing its own cameras – and in 1912 it introduced the camera that would define its reputation: the Plaubel Makina. The Makina was a compact folding press camera with scissor-strut bellows construction. Over the following decades it evolved into one of Europe's best professional cameras for the press.

During the Second World War, the factory was heavily damaged by Allied bombers. But the firm recovered, resumed making cameras and introduced its Peco line of monorail view cameras – which became highly regarded among studio and architectural photographers for their precision engineering and exceptional build quality.

Curiously, it also made the VeriWide 100 – an ultra-wide-angle medium format camera. The Veriwide 100 was designed around a fixed 47mm f/8 Schneider Super-Angulon lens, giving an angle of view of nearly 100°.

It made seven 6x10cm negatives on a roll of 120 film, with an angle of view roughly equivalent to an 18–20 mm lens on a 35mm camera but with the image quality advantage of 120 Roll film.

It was introduced in 1959 in collaboration with the New York photographic distributor, Burleigh Brooks, Inc. Production ran until 1965 and, depending on who you believe, between 2,000 and 5,000 were made.

In 1975 Hugo Schrader’s son, Goetz Schrader, sold Plaubel to the Japanese Kimio Doi Group. Although the company retained the Plaubel name and the German factory, camera development largely shifted to Japan.

The most famous result of this new ownership was the new Plaubel Makina 67, introduced in 1978. Unlike the original German Makina cameras, it was a sophisticated 6x7 cm folding rangefinder camera equipped with a superb Nikkor 80mm f/2.8 lens and built-in metering.

The metering was a TTL (through-the-lens) match-needle system, which used a semi-transparent mirror just behind the shutter to divert a small amount of the light to a silicon photodiode. The photographer would change the shutter speed or aperture until the meter indicated correct exposure.

Because the Kimio Doi Group did not own a factory, the cameras were made under contract. Early development prototypes (called the Makinette 67) were produced in the German factory, but the production Makina 67 was all Japanese.

Konica’s chief designer, Yasuo Uchida, led the design team with assistance from Professor Udo M Geissler of the industrial design department of the Technical University of Munich.

It seems that Uchida did his best to persuade Doi to use a Konica lens for the camera. However, Doi had already paid Nikon for the development of the 80mm f/2.8 lens specially for the Makina 67. Uchida then asked for a copy of the lens for testing, and legend has it that he was blown away by the results.

In late 1981, the Makina W67 arrived. It was essentially the same camera, but with a wide-angle 55mm f/4.5 Nikkor lens. It was followed in 1984 by the Makina 670, which was a modified Makina 67 that could use either 120 or 220 film.

There was also a Makina 69W Proshift that had a 47mm Schneider Super-Angulon and made eight 6x9cm exposures per roll of 120 film. The lens was mounted on a sliding flange, which allowed for perspective control in the same manner as shifting the front standard of a view camera.

Early production was done by Konica or Copal (there is a lot of uncertainty about this). But it seems certain that in 1981 production shifted to Mamiya, where it remained until production ended for all models in 1986 due to rising costs.

In all, some 24,500 cameras were made across all four models, though the standard “67” accounted for 17,000 of them. Plaubel continued to make its famous monorail cameras in Germany until finally closing its doors in 2017.

Among film photographers, the Makina 67 remains one of the most sought-after medium format cameras. Today, a Plaubel Makina 67 in good working condition sells for considerably more than it did when new – even after adjusting for inflation.

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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From the compact camera trend to disposable film cameras, much of the recent fads in the photography industry have been driven by younger generations such as Gen Z. But while Fujifilm sees a clear Gen Z influence on the rise in disposable film, instant film has a more diverse range of ages driving the analog trend.

I recently chatted with Ashley Reeder Morgan, the vice president of marketing and consumer products for Fujifilm North America, about the rise in popularity for disposable cameras and the QuickSnap line. But inevitably, it’s hard to talk about Fujifilm's disposable film cameras without acknowledging another highly popular lineup: Instax.

Morgan said that Fujifilm’s research suggests that the resurgence of analog photography isn’t just a short-term fad. While disposable film tends to lean heavily towards Gen Z, Morgan says that Instax has a more diverse range of users, though it is still a favorite among younger generations.

“When it comes to Instax, our consumers have actually evolved over time,” Morgan said. “At the beginning, the Instax user base skewed quite young, say ages 13-17, but as our product portfolio has diversified, so have our users.

"At our core, we are still a youthful, culture-forward brand and we are still beloved by younger generations, but some new models in our lineup also speak to other generations, either for themselves or as gifts for others.”

While Fujifilm's disposable cameras and instant film cameras are driven by different trends, Morgan says the underlying cause behind the analog resurgence is the same.

“For Gen Z digital natives that grew up with the ubiquity of smartphone photography and social media, using analog and instant film adds an opportunity to stay ‘present in the moment’ versus significant screen time being spent reviewing, posting, editing, and tracking likes and comments,” Morgan said.

While both disposables and instant film are inherently analog, Instax caters to a film experience without the cost (or wait) of sending film to a lab.

Some of Fujifilm’s Instax models are digital hybrid instant cameras that, instead of using traditional optics to expose a piece of instant film to the light, capture a digital image and spit out Instax prints using a built-in printer.

That enables options like the Instax Mini Evo and Wide Evo to skip printing the photos that didn’t turn out – and keep shooting even if the film runs out.

Morgan says that Fujifilm doesn’t see the QuickSnap and Instax lines crossing over. “While both of course appeal to analog fans, we don’t see QuickSnap or Instax competing with each other.

"We think of it as a continuum of gratification; smartphone photography is immediate but digital (utility), Instax prints develop in 90 seconds, right in front of your eyes and create an instax print you can hold (and with that iconic white border!), whereas QuickSnap images might be in-camera days, week, months or even years, until the consumer decides to develop and see them again and re-live that moment.”

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Of course, Christopher Nolan uses a modified medium-format SLR to preview shots on set!

The director, whose critically acclaimed filmography includes The Dark Knight, Oppenheimer and The Odyssey, has a penchant for film, vintage lenses and practical effects. He famously doesn’t own a smartphone and recently described himself as a “techno-skeptic” to the New York Times.

And now an Instagram post from sunny16lab (embedded below) has highlighted the legendary filmmaker’s penchant for a modified Pentax 67.

Originally called the Asahi Pentax 6×7, the medium format camera was launched in 1969 and spawned several variations, the last being released in 1999. These cameras were designed to take 120 and 220 film, but Nolan’s Pentax 67 is gutted, essentially making it an extremely cool optical viewfinder for previewing shots on set.

According to the sunny16lab post, Nolan’s camera has been modified by IMAX, replacing the shutter assembly with a custom mount adapter that can house IMAX-compatible cine lenses.

This enables both Nolan and long-time collaborator, cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, to preview shots using the correct field of view.

Initially I was confused, because the camera’s aspect ratio differs from that of the 15/70 IMAX format. But that has apparently been remedied via custom frame lines – and with both IMAX and 6x7 featuring a width of 70mm, there’s virtually no crop factor, enabling the filmmakers to get an accurate composition.

As you can see from the images, it even has IMAX branding beneath the pentaprism.

All this seems very on-brand for Nolan. This certainly isn’t the first time he’s been linked with unusual analog methods of checking framing. He’s often photographed alongside his trusty analog Casio Portable Color TV, which he typically wears around his neck for checking framing.

Personally, I love learning about Nolan’s process. Clearly he’s a huge fan of imaging in general and it certainly shows when you watch his films, because the framing is always on point.

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How Christopher Nolan made a 300-pound IMAX camera disappear when making The Odyssey. Elon Musk claims Grok AI will make "historically accurate" Odyssey film… then links to AI footage that appears to depict Odysseus with foam earplugs. Plus, the latest camera news.

After falling by the wayside in the digital camera era, film photography has surged in recent trends as part of an increasing craving for analog. But while the popularity of film photography is clear, the type of film that photographers are drawn to most is less clear.

Now, US retailer B&H has offered a bit of a hint amid the resurgence of film by sharing the top trending 35mm film list for July – and the list hints at what photographers are loading into the backs of their cameras the most.

According to B&H, these are the most popular 35mm film stocks right now:

• Kodak Professional Tri-X 400 Black and White Negative (36 exposures)
• Ilford HP5 Plus Black and White Negative Film (36 exposures)
• Professional Portra 400 Color Negative Film (36 exposures, 5-Pack)
• Kodak Eastman Gold 200 Color Negative Film (36 exposures, 3-Pack)
• Kodak Professional Porta 800 Color Negative Film (36 exposures)
• Kodak Eastman UltraMax 400 Color Negative Film (36 exposures, 3-Pack)
• Kodak Ektacolor Pro 800 Color Negative Film (36 exposures)
• Ilford HP5 Plus Black and White Negative Film (24 exposures)
• Kodak Professional Ektar 100 Color Negative Film (36 exposures)
• Kodak Ektacolor Pro 400 Color Negative Film (36 exposures)

The list offers a few key insights as to what film stocks photographers are drawn to most right now.

First, the top two films right now are both black-and-white stocks, with the Kodak Tri-X and Ilford HP5 Plus leading the list. Tri-X is known for high contrast and gritty grain that makes it popular for documentary, street and portrait work, while HP5 is a forgiving film with more of a balance between contrast and grain.

However, there’s only one other black-and-white stock on the list (another HP5 Plus, but this one 24 exposures instead of 36). That means, while black-and-white leads the list, two-thirds of the trendiest films right now are all color negatives.

Black-and-white film feels very classic, yet the way that different color film stocks render different hues offers a retro look that modern digital cameras (and photo editors) try to imitate.

One factor that could be helping to push black-and-white to the top of the trending list is cost. The top black-and-white rolls sell for about $10 each (£7.39 / AU$14.15 / CA$13.39), while the cheapest single-roll color film sits at about $17 (£12.57 / AU$24 / CA$23.70).

The second key trend from the list that stood out is how much Kodak is dominating the film industry. The Kodak name has seen a recent surge in popularity with options like the Kodak Charmera selling out, but "Kodak" cameras are actually made by other brands under a license agreement.

That’s not true for Kodak film, which is still made by Eastman Kodak in Rochester, New York. B&H is a US retailer, so the popularity of Kodak on the list could hint that American photographers favor the made-in-the-USA film.

Looking at Kodak’s most popular stocks, it’s interesting that the second top Kodak is a five-roll pack and the third a three-roll pack. I wonder if Porta 400 would have moved up the trends list if it was available in single packs.

Kodak Porta 400’s popularity isn’t new. Porta is favored for more balanced colors and fine grain that make it suitable for a wide range of subjects from portraits to landscapes. Meanwhile, Kodak Gold’s warmer tones and more affordable price point have continued to push the film into the limelight.

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First introduced in 1972, Kodak’s “Pocket Instamatic” 110 film cameras proved remarkably popular. It quickly became one of the most successful film formats ever introduced, with dozens of manufacturers – including Canon, Minolta, Pentax and Olympus – producing 110 cameras.

What they gave up in image quality, they more than made up for in convenience. They were small, light and easily carried anywhere.

At its peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s, hundreds of millions of 110 film cartridges were sold annually, making it one of the dominant amateur photography formats of its era. But the 110 format soon acquired a reputation for mediocre results.

This came about from a combination of inexpensive (often plastic) lenses, necessitated by the low price of most 110 cameras, along with the amount of magnification needed to make standard prints (because of the tiny 13x17mm negative), even though the 110 negative was about twice the area of the later, short-lived, Kodak Disc cameras.

Not to mention the problems of keeping the film perfectly flat, given the inherent variability of the injection-molded, plastic film cartridge… However, a few companies set out to prove that reputation was not deserved, and to a large extent, succeeded.

First to arrive, in 1976, was the Minolta 110 Zoom SLR, with its distinctive, horizontal design and a fixed 25-50mm f/4.5 zoom lens. Though compact, it was still somewhat larger than the Asahi Pentax 110 Auto that would come almost two years later.

The 110 Auto proved to be the smallest interchangeable lens SLR camera ever made – for any format, by anybody.

It had TTL center-weighted metering and a programmed electronic shutter ranging from 1 sec to 1/400 sec, needing two LR44 batteries to function. It could also be bought as the "System 10," which included the full kit of lenses (18mm, 24mm, 50mm, 70mm and, in 1982, a 20-40mm f/2.8 zoom), dedicated AF130P / AF100P flashes and an auto-winder.

It was followed in 1982 by the 110 Super, which improved upon the original 1978 Auto 110 with several key upgrades: a single-stroke film advance lever, an electronic self-timer with a red LED indicator, a shutter lock and a +1.5 EV exposure compensation button for backlit scenes.

It also featured a brighter viewfinder with a split-image focusing spot and a low-light warning LED. Remarkable, for a 164g camera just 99 x 58 x 32mm in size.

I had the opportunity to play with a Pentax 110 Auto for some weeks, while I sold it for a friend. I didn’t run any film through it, but I was impressed with the quality of the build and finish. Absolutely remarkable! And I admit, I rather regret not purchasing it myself.

One interesting fact: the Pentax Auto 110's excellent interchangeable lenses were capable of resolving much more detail than the 110 negative could usually record, which is one reason Auto 110 photographs can look surprisingly sharp when carefully scanned today.

The Pentax 110 Super was discontinued in 1985, as the 110 format lost market share to ever-more-compact 35mm cameras that offered sharper pictures. Because of this there were roughly 80,000 Supers produced, whereas the 110 Auto saw approximately 1.1 million being made.

Kodak discontinued Ektachrome and Kodachrome 110 slide films in 1982. Verichrome Pan (B&W) went in 1995 while Kodacolor 110 survived until 2006, leaving Fujifilm as the only mainstream maker. It would then give up production of 110 films in 2009, seemingly ending the format forever…

However, in 2011 Lomography started slitting larger film and packaging it into new 110 cartridges, with Lomography's Orca 110 B&W ISO100 reaching the market in May 2012.

Around the same time, Fukkatsu 110 film was produced by a small group associated with the now long-gone 'Films Reborn' in Hong Kong. It briefly appeared in ISO 100 B&W and ISO400 color in pre-loaded 110 cartridges, but by mid-2012 it was being described as “gone / vanished.”

Today, 110 film can still be purchased by mail from Lomography – but it is about the only source. That said, it's possible for truly dedicated fans to repackage 16mm film into recycled 110 cassettes at home – though it is a job for only the most ambitious of fans.

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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The Kodak Mini Shot 2 Retro might not currently carry a dramatic discount, but that does not stop it from being a genuinely good deal.

Priced at just $109.99 at Amazon, this wonderfully nostalgic instant camera offers far more than its retro-inspired exterior might initially suggest, making it an excellent gift for anyone who loves photography, scrapbooking, or simply holding a physical photograph in their hands.

What makes the Mini Shot 2 Retro so special is that it is not only an instant camera but also a portable photo printer. You can capture an image using the camera itself and print it immediately, or connect your smartphone over Bluetooth and print photographs already stored in your gallery. It is essentially two products in one, which makes that $109.99 price feel particularly competitive.

The camera produces compact 2.1 x 3.4-inch prints using Kodak’s 4PASS dye-sublimation technology. Each image is printed in several layers before receiving a protective laminated finish, helping to protect the photograph against water and fingerprints while delivering richer, more traditional-looking colors than many basic pocket printers.

There is also far less waste than you get with a conventional instant film camera. Because the Mini Shot 2 Retro is digital, you can view your photograph before deciding whether it deserves to be printed. That means fewer expensive mistakes, fewer unwanted prints and much more freedom to capture several versions before choosing your favorite.

Connecting the camera to Kodak’s companion app adds another layer of creativity, allowing photographs to be edited and decorated with filters, frames and other effects before printing. You can also choose between bordered and borderless photographs, making it easy to create classic instant-style prints or use the entire printable area for a slightly larger image.

So, no, the Kodak Mini Shot 2 Retro is not currently part of a headline-grabbing sale, but I still think it represents a very good deal at $109.99. Its combination of instant camera, smartphone printer and charming retro design gives it something genuinely special, while the approachable price makes it an easy gifting choice for birthdays, holidays or anyone looking to bring their favorite digital memories into the physical world.

Kodak had a long history of introducing what seems to be ever-smaller film formats. We’ve had 127 roll film (1912), 35mm cartridge film (1934), 828 roll film (1935), 126 or Instamatic cartridge film (1963), 110 cartridge film (1972), Kodak Disc film (1982) and the Advanced Photo System or APS cartridge film (1996).

All were aimed at simplifying film loading, making cameras easier to use and, thus, increasing the number of “Kodak Moments” that people took – and, in turn, increasing Kodak’s film and processing profits. But industry observers like to point out that there are three more reasons for doing this.

First, the smaller the negative the more “rolls” of film can be cut from the same master roll, making them more profitable. Second, something “new” on the market always boosts sales. Finally, selling the new, specialized processing equipment to photo-finishers was also profitable.

Introduced in 1982, Kodak Disc films used a plastic cartridge just 66 x 54 by 4mm thick. The film itself was contained in an internal disk roughly 65mm / 2.5 inches in diameter, with the 15 individual negatives arranged like pieces of a pie. Sort of like a View-Master reel.

One of Kodak's design goals was to make the cartridge thin enough that a Disc camera could be genuinely pocket-sized – and there it succeeded! Disc cameras were often just 25-30mm thick.

But these ever-smaller negative sizes came with some built-in problems. The major one was that the smaller the negative, the more it has to be magnified to make a given-sized print. Thus, the film grain showed in the final image.

If the films were to be very fine grain, they were “slower” and needed longer exposures – which resulted in more blurry images. Film that is not held flat (not easy, in an inexpensive plastic cartridge) also creates blurry images. And this blur was magnified when making enlargements.

The Kodak Disc cameras reached the pinnacle of these problems. The negative size was the smallest consumer format that Kodak ever made. Smaller than the 110 films and even slightly smaller than that of the tiny Minox “spy” cameras.

Put another way, the Disc negative was just 10% the area of a 35mm one. So the negative had to be enlarged 14 times to make a 4x6in standard print and 25x to make an 8x10in enlargement. By comparison, a 35mm negative is enlarged just over 4x for a 4x6in print and 8.5x for the 8x10. This increased magnification also made any flaws more visible.

In other words, the tiny Minox negative required virtually the same enlargement as a Disc negative. Yet Minox photographs normally looked much better, because Minox cameras had excellent film flatness due to their top-quality manufacturing and superior lenses. Of course, they were also significantly more expensive.

Kodak attempted to overcome the Disc film’s flatness problem by using film with a stable polyester base and a hybrid pressure plate system that pressed the film flat only for the moment of exposure, reducing its tendency to curl.

It was a clever mechanical workaround, but ultimately limited by the accuracy of the plastic moulding process and the small negative size.

These much higher magnifications, coupled with the lower quality plastic lenses found in many Disc cameras, meant that users did not get the results they were expecting. (To be fair, the better models did have glass lenses, but not of the quality found in the Minox and other top-line sub-miniatures.)

In the late 1980s Kodak slowly reduced its Disc camera lineup as demand shrank, quietly discontinuing them as stocks sold out. Mass production had ended in 1988 and stocks were gone by the end of 1990. It was a classic case of convenience winning initial sales but image quality limiting long-term success. After just eight years, they were gone.

The last Disc films were made in 1998 or 1999, leaving the cameras as collectors' curiosities.

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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Around the corner from the pinball machine at Lucky Slice Pizza in Ogden, Utah, there’s another machine that feels a bit more unexpected: a vending machine that doesn't dispense snacks but instead offers film, disposable cameras, and starter film cameras.

The FIND Lab – an abbreviation that comes from Film is Not Dead – has been selling and developing film for more than a decade. After opening a second location last year, the film store decided to take a smaller approach to expansion: a vending machine.

Jon Canlas, owner and creator of The FIND Lab, says the idea for the vending machine came as the brand looked to continue to expand into northern Utah, having opened its second outlet in Salt Lake.

Instead of snacks and drinks, The FIND Lab’s vending machine dispenses a variety of film as well as cameras. The machine dispenses film in multiple sizes, including 35mm film as well as Instax Mini instant film.

Disposable cameras can also be purchased from the vending machine, along with some reloadable, budget starter cameras like the Kodak Snapic.

There’s just one digital product inside the machine: the viral Kodak Charmera keychain camera.

A lockbox at the side of the machine enables photographers to not only buy film from the machine, but also drop rolls off to get developed.

“Film is not dead,” Canlas said. “Not only is it available, but it’s readily available at a price point that meets most places online. We’ve brought the online experience to you in person. Our mission is to help people shoot more film more often, and that’s exactly what this does.”

The biggest challenge to getting the vending machine up and running – a process that took about a month and a half – was finding the right coil for each type of film in order to make sure the film vends properly and doesn’t get stuck.

The team customized the coil arrangement to best fit the variety of film and installed a sensor to ensure the machine continues to vend each purchase.

In just the first month, photographers have dropped off nearly 100 rolls of film at the vending machine, and purchased enough film and disposable cameras to nearly cover the initial cost of the machine.

Pizza and film may seem like an unusual combination, but Canlas describes Lucky Slice as a “hipster” pizza parlor – so the team-up, while unusual, made sense.

The Lucky Slice owners shoot film, too, and FIND Lab and Lucky Slice are planning a photo walk in August, with the resulting images to be displayed inside the restaurant.

While The FIND Lab vending machine is more of a mini location than a full retail store, the move marks the company’s third expansion into a new location.

Film is Not Dead started as an analog workshop in 2008. In 2011, the team started developing film in order to give workshop feedback, but when development opened to the public the business quickly took off.

The company opened up a retail store in Provo, Utah in 2024. Along with selling and developing film and analog camera equipment, the 7,000-square-foot building also houses a gallery, a public darkroom and a studio space.

Last year, the company opened a second location for retail and film developing in Salt Lake City.

The vending machine enables the company to cater to film photographers who are north of Salt Lake – saving about an hour of driving. “There’s nothing like this in the whole state,” Canlas said. “Once you get past Salt Lake, film shops don’t exist.”

The number one seller so far from the vending machine? Kodak Gold film, followed by disposable cameras.

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The rise of digital photography and the smartphone nearly decimated the disposable camera, the analog camera loved for its mix of affordability and simplicity. But then sometime around 2019, Fujifilm, the popular camera brand behind the disposable QuickSnap line, noticed something unusual: Disposable camera sales were suddenly skyrocketing.

But, seven years later, the disposable camera trend is proving to be far from a short-lived fad. I connected with Ashley Reeder Morgan, the Vice President of Marketing and Consumer Products for Fujifilm North America to chat film.

As disposable film sales climbed beginning around mid-2019, even celebrities were organically picking up QuickSnap cameras and sharing the images on social media.

“As a result of this growth, we conducted a great deal of consumer research on Gen Z to understand ‘why and what’ is most appealing about analog photography, as well as the QuickSnap line of products in particular,” Morgan, who has been part of Fujifilm for 12 years, said. “Part of this research focused on if this was just a fad, or a trend that might sustain. We were thrilled to discover that it has certainly sustained!”

The disposable film camera originally launched as a way to capture photos without a high cost or learning curve – after all, photographers don’t even need to know how to load a roll of film to use one. The resurgence of a format originally designed for simplicity in the era when snapping a photo is as simple as pulling out a smartphone and opening an app may seem unusual, but Morgan says the disposable film trend is more about taking photos without spending time tracking likes and comments

“We have found that QuickSnap is especially popular with Gen Z,” she added. “They’re the first wholly digital generation who grew up with the ubiquity of smartphone photography and social media. To them, analog photography is novel, and creating a situation where they can create without the encumbrances of fully connected digital devices (and the distractions they bring).”

QuickSnap may be Fujifilm’s most affordable camera, but Morgan says that Fujifilm views disposables as an important part of the imaging landscape overall – and that the trend is still on its upswing.

Fujifilm is largely credited for creating the modern disposable film camera, bringing the first QuickSnap to market in 1986. Forty years later, much of the QuickSnap’s original charm remains.

The first QuickSnap was essentially a box that only had an open hole instead of a viewfinder. QuickSnap transitioned to a more compact format with an actual viewfinder lens in 1997. But today’s QuickSnaps are largely unchanged from the 2002 design that introduced a better grip for getting fewer accidental fingers in the shots. The camera also doesn’t need to block light with the body itself, allowing for some QuickSnaps with a transparent body design.

This year, Fujifilm introduced its first black-and-white disposable, along with a refreshed version of the brand’s waterproof disposable. Both cameras are expected to arrive in September 2026.

“With this resurgence of people interested in analog photography, many of whom are new to photography overall, we wanted to give our users options,” Morgan said. “Both our refreshed Active model and new Black and White one-time use cameras are designed to encourage people to get out and create – and Black and White allows users to give their images that extra artistic flair.”

One of the key concerns with bringing back the disposable camera trend is the environmental impact of one-time-use products. Morgan said that about 60 percent of all QuickSnaps by weight are made from recycled materials. The camera’s flash unit is reused multiple times, and the plastic in the body is crushed and re-pelletized.

Morgan says that the disposable camera trend is still on an upward swing – and that’s a good sign for fans of the format. Fujifilm declined to comment on future products, but Morgan did offer one tidbit: “Based on the continued success of the line, we certainly have plans to continue to expand the overall QuickSnap photography experience in the future.”

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Vintage cameras carry the look of the era in which they launched. So when Red Bull cinematographer Khyber Jones got the opportunity to record a 1958 Douglas DC-6B aircraft in midair, the creator reached for a camera from the same decade: a Bolex H16 cinema camera.

The DC-6B, part of the Flying Bulls' vintage fleet of airplanes, was built in Santa Monica in 1958, but the plane hadn’t returned to American soil since. When Red Bull brought the 1958 aircraft for a flight across the US, the team opted to record the flight with vintage camera equipment.

Jones captured in-flight footage of the aircraft from an even older airplane – a World War II-era A26 bomber. These planes had a glass-domed nose, which gave the videographer a wider view than a typical airplane window to work from.

The Bolex H16 series dates all the way back to 1935, but in the 1950s the Swiss-made video camera gained the H16 Reflex – which used a beam-splitter prism to enable the creator to see what the lens sees through the viewfinder.

Despite the camera’s age, the two Bolex H16s on board – both from Jones’ collection – didn’t need any modifications. One was loaded with Kodak Vision3 50D and one with Kodak Vision3 250D.

They weren't the only vintage cameras on board

Along with the 1950s-era video equipment, the aircraft’s journey was also photographed by Colin Kerrigan with a Canon AE-1 Program with Kodak Ektacolor Pro 400. The Canon was the newer of the vintage equipment on board, dating back to 1981.

“The biggest challenge was getting comfortable and overcoming the uneasiness that comes with flying in a plane that is from WWII,” said Kerrigan, a Red Bull photographer.

“Your mind tends to wander, but once we were airborne and the cameras were rolling, all the anxiety went away, and we focused on filming the beautiful plane and setting.”

The resulting work – both video and stills – is a mesmerizing look at not only the plane, but modern New York City through a vintage lens. The film and retro lenses give the modern city an old-school feel – and one that matches well with the aircraft.

The team also shot some footage with an iPhone – offering a sharp contrast between the cameras of the 1950s and modern camera phones.

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Take a look at the best film cameras, or read about Fujifilm's time-traveling camera.

Way back in 1912, a Dutchman living in the German city of Dresden, Johan Steenbergen, started Industrie und Handelsgesellschaft (the Industrial and Trading company) that made cameras under the Ihagee brand name.

Ihagee is the pronunciation of the abbreviation of the company’s name, IHG in German, so pronounced "eehagáy".

The company was quite successful and spent more than 20 years building a variety of folding, plate and reflex cameras. But it didn't become widely known outside Europe until 1936, when it brought the world its first 35mm mirror reflex camera: the Kine Exakta.

Before that, Ihagee produced a variety of folding, box and, most importantly, reflex cameras. The most important of these was the Roll-Paff Reflex, which was introduced in 1932. It was a relatively simple 6x6 SLR using 120 roll film and is often regarded as an important step in the development of the Exakta concept.

The next year, Ihagee introduced the first truly compact SLR – the Vest Pocket Exakta – which made 8 exposures, each 4x6.5 cm on a roll of 'vest pocket' 120 film. It featured a waist-level finder and a focal plane shutter with speeds to 1/1000, which enabled the use of interchangeable lenses.

The Vest Pocket (VP) Exakta was designed by Karl Nüchterlein (1904-1945), the brilliant, 29-year-old chief designer at Ihagee. He developed the camera around 1930-1933 and it was introduced at the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1933.

Then came the camera that put Nüchterlein and Ihagee on the world stage, the Kine Exakta, in 1936. It was the world's first 35mm SLR and was derived directly from the VP Exakta.

It was called the “Kine” Exakta because that's the German word for the 35mm cine film it used. It had a folding waist-level finder, an unusual left-handed, front-mounted shutter release and a rapid film-wind thumb lever.

It had a focal plane shutter with speeds from 1/2 to 1/1000 sec and sported an array of high-quality interchangeable lenses. Fewer than 30,000 Kine Exaktas were made before the Second World War stopped production in 1940.

As the war approached, the political climate in Germany became difficult for Steenbergen – a Dutch national with a Jewish-American wife. After being detained for a period by the Nazis, they fled Germany through Switzerland in 1941.

In 1943, even though the Ihagee factory was by then part of the war effort, Nüchterlein patented a TTL (through-the-lens) metering version of the Kine Exakta. That camera was never built, as he was drafted into the German Army during the war and was later declared “missing in action”.

During the devastating Allied air raids on Dresden on the night of February 13-14 1945, the Ihagee factory was hit and the destruction was total.

After the war, Dresden fell into the Soviet occupation zone. The Soviet authorities were eager to restart industrial production, though they neglected to develop Nüchterlein‘s TTL patent. Had they done so, Exakta might still be a leading brand today.

The first postwar cameras were essentially continuations of the prewar Kine Exakta design. Many collectors can identify these early postwar cameras by subtle changes caused by wartime shortages and reconstruction. Some cameras exported abroad even carried markings such as "Soviet Occupied Germany."

Production of improved models soon started and, until the arrival of the Japanese SLRs in the mid-to-late 1950s, Exakta dominated the 35 SLR field, with a market share of more than 95%!

In 1949 the Exakta II was introduced, an improved version of the original, which was followed by the Exakta Varex in 1950. The Varex was arguably the most influential Exakta model, as it was the first with a removable / interchangeable viewfinder system, offering a choice of an eye-level pentaprism or a waist-level finder.

This series quickly became one of the world's leading professional and scientific camera systems, with an enormous range of accessories and lenses.

In the early 1950s, Ihagee realized that it needed a more competitive, lower-priced camera to bring people to the Exakta brand – so it created the cheaper Exa series.

The original Exa model (1950-1959) used a guillotine shutter with a metal blade that dropped as the mirror rose, then “popped” back up. It was simple to make, reliable and compact enough to fit in the low-cost camera’s smaller body, but suffered from slightly uneven exposure, increased vibration and a top speed of just 1/150 sec.

It also featured an unusual “stick shift” or “four-on-the-floor” shutter speed selector, for a focal-plane shutter with speeds of 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 and 1/150 sec. as well as 'B'. The Exa’s bayonet accepted all Exakta lenses and it featured the interchangeable finders of the Exakta.

It was for these reasons that the Exa II was released in 1960, with a more conventional focal-plane shutter and a shutter speed selector mounted concentric with the film rewind knob. Shutter speeds now went to 1/250 sec.

Ironically, the factory survived the bombing better than it survived the Cold War economy. By 1970, Ihagee had effectively been absorbed into Pentacon and Exakta production ended around 1971. While the Exakta RTL 1000 was produced from 1969 through 1973, many regard it as essentially a little modified, rebadged Praktica.

The cheaper Exa series continued until 1990, through various somewhat improved models. Exact production numbers are unknown, as many records were lost when the factory was destroyed, but best estimates suggest that over one million of each had been made.

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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I’ll die on this hill: the Nikon F5 is the best 35mm SLR camera you can buy.

Camera opinions are rarely worth dying over, but I have one that I will defend for as long as there is breath in my body and film in my refrigerator: the Nikon F5 is the best 35mm film camera out there. It is not the prettiest, the lightest, or the most discreet film camera ever made, but I firmly believe it is the best.

Furthermore, it can be bought surprisingly cheaply secondhand – I have seen bodies on sale recently for around £300 / $400 (although obviously actual prices will vary hugely depending on condition).

I know that statement will immediately upset the Leica faithful, Nikon F3 owners, Canon EOS-1V devotees, and anyone who believes a “proper” film camera should be fully mechanical, covered in brass, and operated entirely through dials. That is fine. You are welcome to meet me on this hill, but I am not moving.

The Nikon F5 represents the moment when 35mm photography reached its professional peak. It arrived in 1996 as Nikon’s flagship autofocus SLR, built primarily for photographers who had to return with the picture rather than those who simply enjoyed the process of trying to take it. Nikon designed the camera around speed, reliability, and professional use, giving it five-area autofocus, Dynamic AF, 3D Color Matrix Metering, and a 1,005-pixel RGB metering sensor.

With the dedicated MN-30 battery, the F5 could advance film at up to eight frames per second. That might sound financially irresponsible now that every press of the shutter carries a noticeable cost, but you do not have to burn through an entire roll in a matter of seconds to appreciate what that specification represents. It tells you that the F5 was engineered without compromise.

This was not a camera designed to look attractive on a shelf or appear tastefully beside a flat white on Instagram. It was built for sidelines, press pens, racetracks, war zones, fashion studios, and any other environment where missing the photograph was not an acceptable outcome. That is why I believe it remains the best 35mm camera to buy today: the F5 does not ask you to romanticize inconvenience. It simply gets out of the way and lets you take photographs.

Film photography has become strangely obsessed with limitations. We praise cameras for slowing us down, forcing us to concentrate, and making every frame more deliberate. There is truth in that, of course, but sometimes I think we confuse inconvenience with creativity.

A camera does not make you more artistic simply because it lacks autofocus. A light meter that requires a separate handheld device does not automatically produce better photographs, and manually winding the film does not make the final image more meaningful. Those things can make the experience enjoyable, but they do not necessarily make the camera better.

Sample images

The Nikon F5 gives you the character, latitude, grain, color, and unpredictability of film without requiring you to abandon the practical advantages of a modern professional camera. Its controls feel familiar, its autofocus works, its metering is remarkably dependable, and the body is shaped like something designed to be held for hours rather than admired through a glass cabinet. It is, in many ways, the perfect bridge between analog and digital photography.

That matters because the F5 allows someone accustomed to a DSLR to begin shooting film without first having to relearn the entire process of operating a camera. Load a roll, set your exposure mode, select your focus point, and start shooting. The image is still being recorded onto 35mm film, but getting it there does not have to be unnecessarily difficult.

Some film photographers will consider that a weakness, but I consider it one of the F5’s greatest strengths. I have owned and used mine for more than 15 years, and during that time I have never felt creatively restricted by it.

I have used the F5 with relatively modest lenses, fast primes, professional zooms, a Nikon 200mm f/2, and even a huge 600mm f/4. The fact that a camera released in the mid-Nineties can still communicate with such a wide selection of Nikon F-mount lenses remains one of its greatest practical advantages.

That enormous lens selection means the F5 can become almost anything you need it to be. Fit a 50mm prime and shoot everyday documentary work, add an 85mm lens and use it for portraits, attach a 70-200mm and photograph sports, or put a 600mm lens on the front and turn it into an analog wildlife machine. There are more romantic cameras, but few are more versatile.

Naturally, the F5 has its critics. It is big, it is heavy, and it requires eight AA batteries in its standard configuration. Nobody is going to mistake it for a pocket camera, and carrying one around your neck all day will certainly make its presence known. However, I would argue that its size is part of the appeal.

The grip is substantial, the controls fall naturally under your fingers, and the integrated vertical shutter release makes portrait-orientation shooting feel just as natural as holding the camera horizontally. With a larger professional lens attached, the body provides the balance needed to make the entire setup feel manageable. It feels purposeful because it is purposeful.

The use of AA batteries is often presented as another sign of the camera’s age, yet it may be one of the most practical power solutions ever fitted to a professional camera. You can find AA batteries almost anywhere, with no discontinued proprietary battery to hunt down, no specialist charger that becomes useless when it fails, and no need to worry about whether a decades-old rechargeable pack can still hold a meaningful charge.

Put eight batteries into the F5 and get on with taking photographs. It really can be as simple as that, and there is something reassuring about using a camera that does not depend on an increasingly rare power source to remain functional.

Yes, the F5 relies heavily on electronics, and eventually every electronic camera carries the possibility that something will fail. However, mine has endured years of use and abuse, while other cameras I have owned have long since given up. The F5 was never intended to be disposable technology; it was a professional investment designed to survive the demands of photographers who worked every day.

There is also the question of the Nikon F6. On paper, Nikon’s final professional film SLR is arguably the more technically advanced camera. It is newer, more refined, and equipped with a more sophisticated autofocus system, but I would still choose the F5.

The F6 feels like an exceptional film camera created at the beginning of the digital age. The F5 feels like the camera that conquered the film age, and there is something gloriously uncompromising about it.

Nikon did not build the F5 as a nostalgic tribute or a luxury object. It built the camera to become the new professional standard, and almost three decades later, that intent remains obvious every time you pick one up.

Other cameras may offer a purer analog experience. A Nikon F3 provides beautiful simplicity, a Leica M offers discretion, precision, and one of the greatest viewfinder experiences in photography, while a compact camera can fit into a coat pocket and accompany you everywhere. However, if you asked me to choose one 35mm camera to photograph everything for the rest of my life, I would take the Nikon F5.

I could use it for portraits in the morning, street photography in the afternoon, and professional sports in the evening. I could attach decades of Nikon glass, rely on its autofocus when the subject started moving, trust its metering when the light became difficult, and know that the body was built to handle more punishment than I would ever reasonably give it.

That, to me, is what makes a camera the best. The best camera is not always the one that creates the most romantic shooting experience; it is the one that gives you the greatest chance of making the photograph you saw in your head.

The Nikon F5 might not make you look like a fashionable film photographer. It might not match your vintage camera strap, and nobody will describe it as small or elegant, but it will take the photograph. I will die on the hill that, when it comes to 35mm film cameras, nothing does that job better.

Shop the Nikon F5

In 1994, Carl Zeiss unleashed their Contax G1 on the world. While it pioneered the concept of an autofocus rangefinder, its passive-only focusing system struggled in low light.

The solution was the Contax G2, which followed a couple of years later. The G2 resolved the problem by implementing a hybrid autofocus system combining active infrared triangulation with passive contrast detection, making it significantly faster and more reliable.

Both cameras were beautiful and beautifully made. The titanium bodies were entirely designed and built by Kyocera, in Japan, while the body was styled by Germany’s Porsche Design Group.

Each model was offered in black and silver, though the silver (often described as a “champagne color”) with its dark grey accents was by far the more popular of the two. An array of seven lenses was offered, and all were designed and made by Carl Zeiss in Germany.

The G1 came equipped with a Planar 45mm f/2 lens, while the G2 came with a wider 35mm Planar f/2. Also on offer were a 16mm f/8 Hologon, a 21mm f/2.8 Biogon, a 28mm f/2.8 Biogon and a Sonar 90mm f/2.8.

These were followed, in 2000, by the Vario-Sonar 35-70mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom – the first zoom for a rangefinder camera. All were autofocus except the Hologon, which was manual focus with a fixed aperture.

Optically, the Zeiss G-mount (unique to the Contax G1 and G2) lenses were widely considered equal to their Leica counterparts. No third-party lenses were ever made for the G-mount.

Now, I’ve said that the 35-70mm Vario-Sonar was the first zoom lens for a rangefinder camera – but some will point to Leica’s 28-35-50mm Tri-Elmar that came out in 1998, a full 24 months earlier.

While it’s true that the Tri-Elmar is essentially a zoom design under the hood, it has click-stops and is only really usable at the three preset focal lengths – as opposed to the Zeiss Vario-Sonar, which was a true zoom lens and able to be used at any focal length in its range.

The Contax G1 and G2 had unique, highly electronic viewfinder displays that were radically different from traditional rangefinders. Unlike all earlier rangefinder cameras, they had no “focusing patch” as focus was done by an AF system that used rangefinder-esque triangulation, rather than mechanical rangefinding.

Both models featured a sophisticated electronic viewfinder, which automatically adjusted magnification and frame lines based on the attached lens, offering 90% coverage with full parallax correction.

When the Vario-Sonar was mounted, the optics in the viewfinder zoomed to match – showing you the exact framing at every focal length.

The G2’s viewfinder was considered a significant upgrade over the G1, featuring a green readout below the main viewfinder display (which showed the focused distance and AF confirmation) and a manual focus aid (showing small dots on a line scale, to indicate the direction to turn the lens for correct focus when it was in manual mode).

The G2 has often been compared to the Leica M6. In build and optical quality, that’s likely a fair comparison – but they offer fundamentally different experiences.

The G2 had an "electronic rangefinder", featured auto-loading, auto-rewind, aperture priority autoexposure and a motor drive capable of 4fps. So, while the Leica offered a brighter viewfinder and a much wider selection of lenses (including faster apertures like f/1.4 and even f/1), the G2 provided superior convenience.

Unfortunately, all the electronics and motor drive capabilities have become, over time, their Achilles heel. Sadly, in the near 30 years since they came out, the G series has proved a wee bit failure-prone.

Despite its high-quality titanium build, the G2 in particular has been vulnerable due to its complex electronics and a scarcity of replacement parts.

Common failure points include an autofocus mechanism that can fail due to dried lubricants or stripped plastic gears, while the vertical metal focal plane shutter is known to develop issues. And the viewfinder’s electronic overlay can become faint or flicker over time.

Because few technicians are equipped to repair these electronic rangefinders, repairs are expensive and difficult (though not impossible) to find. Thus, examples in good working order now often sell for more than their original new price!

If you’re looking to purchase a used G2, buy only in person or with full return / refund privileges. Check the autofocus at multiple distances (namely infinity and 5m), verify that the frame counter LCD stays lit with the power off, and confirm that the film advances properly through a full roll and rewinds properly.

The number made is not known, but production continued until 2005 when Kyocera abruptly discontinued the entire Yashica / Contax camera division. This left both Zeiss and Leica (for whom Kyocera also made the superb Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f/4) in the lurch, while Kyocera concentrated on camera modules for smartphones.

This instantly transformed the G2 from a modern tool into a collector's item. If you have one, you have my envy!

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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Kodak’s viral Chamera is a throwback to early digital cameras, but the latest camera bearing the Kodak name is a full-frame 35mm film option with a similar price point. The Kodak EC35mm is a compact film frame that, unlike the Kodak Ektar H35, uses the full frame instead of a half-frame.

The Kodak EC35 comes in at a list price similar to the viral Kodak Charmera at about $35 / £35 (which is about A$55 / CA$49).

The new film camera uses a slide-out cover to protect the lens, much like some popular retro cameras like the Olympus Stylus Epic (Mju II), the Contax T3, and Fujifilm Cardia Mini Tiara.

The EC35 is a point-and-shoot style without any complex manual controls. The front cover slides open to prep the camera. Auto exposure, auto flash, and fixed focus handle the settings.

The camera uses a built-in 25mm f/10 lens for wide shots with much of the frame in focus. That lens is made with acrylic, not glass. That hints towards the image quality of a retro disposable film camera, despite the EC35 being reusable, as disposables also use plastic lenses.

The Kodak EC35 comes from Reto, the same Kodak licensee behind the viral Kodak Charmera. The EC35 isn’t Reto’s first film camera, but joins the likes of the Kodak Ektar H35 half-frame camera and the Kodak Snapic A1 35mm film camera.

While the camera is built for beginners, the film winds manually, unlike the autowind on the pricier Kodak Snapic A1. The A1, while it doesn’t have manual exposure, has two different focus zones and a double exposure option, but sits at a higher price point.

The Kodak EC35 falls under the compact camera category with a lightweight 102g / 3.6oz design and a depth of under 42mm / 1.65 inches.

The Kodak EC35 is available to order now, listing for $35 / £35 (which is about AU$55 / CA$49) for the camera only or $45 / £45 when bundled with film and a camera strap. Orders have already opened on Amazon in the US and the UK.

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For more analog inspiration, read about the best film cameras or the best 35mm film.

Tom Cruise is so dedicated to his craft that he rarely surprises me anymore, and I mean that entirely as a compliment. Heck, he learned to pilot a helicopter in his mid-50s for a single stunt in Mission: Impossible – Fallout. He famously broke his ankle in another stunt for the same film and still managed to limp off-screen and nail the take. And the less said about that knife stunt in Mission: Impossible 2, the better.

Cruise has long built a reputation for being one of the most meticulous and dedicated actors and producers in Hollywood, but I had no idea that dedication extended to the gear that’s used on set. While promoting his upcoming film DIGGER, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, film journalist Kevin McCarthy (above) got to chat with the Top Gun actor about the film’s use of the Beaumont VistaVision, a classic film camera that uses Paramount Pictures’ VistaVision format that was developed in the 1950s as an alternative to 20th Century Fox’s widescreen CinemaScope format.

VistaVision’s genius was to load film horizontally, instead of vertically. This allowed for a larger surface area covering eight film perforations instead of the previous method’s four, resulting in better quality footage. VistaVision has been used in some huge classics, such as Vertigo and North by Northwest, but has enjoyed something of a resurgence in recent years via films such as The Brutalist and One Battle After Another.

But what really got me during Tom Cruise’s interview, was why he is so passionate about the format’s use in DIGGER: “We want flaws. You want things that have an emotion. It just has a different kind of feeling to it,” he says. In another short from the same interview, posted by Kevin McCarthy (above), Tom talks about lens characteristics. “Everything used to be hand-cut glass, so we would do a lot of testing on lenses (...) you have to know the character of the lens”.

It’s especially refreshing to hear Tom’s dedication to the craft, following an interview with filmmaking legend, George Lucas, whose passive stance on AI I completely disagreed with. I really think that as AI worms its way further and further into filmmaking, a core contingent of creatives will push back by prioritising character and imperfection over clinical slop. It certainly sounds like Tom Cruise is on board.

Above: the official tailer for DIGGER

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Filmmaker finds lost CinemaScope lens that could have sunk Walt Disney, brings it back from the deep. Tom Cruise backflips out of helicopter while wearing Snorricam rig to film death-defying Mission Impossible POV. Panavision turns 70, reveals 16 innovations it brought to legendary movies.

Launched in 2020, the Instax Square SQ1 joined Fujifilm's growing family of instant cameras. Now, six years later, the quirky model exceeds sales expectations in Japan, with Fujifilm admitting that "production cannot keep up" with demand.

The resurgence has caught many by surprise. The one-button point-and-shoot camera wasn't a runaway success when it first launched, but renewed interest in instant photography and nostalgic technology appears to have transformed the SQ1 into one of Fujifilm's most sought-after cameras.

The company has temporarily suspended new orders for the SQ1 in Japan, while the camera has seen a significant revival globally. In the US, demand has surged, with stock limited to Amazon ($199.83 in blue, $198 in orange, $199.95 in white). In the UK, availability is better, with Wex having the SQ1 in stock (£119 in blue, £199 in orange), although regional shortages and sell-outs are beginning to appear.

Why the Instax Square SQ1 is suddenly popular

When the Instax Square SQ1 launched in 2020, it received a mixed reception. Designed as a simpler alternative to the Instax Square SQ6, it offered an easy-to-use, analogue shooting experience with just a single shooting mode and a dedicated selfie setting.

Unlike the SQ6, it favors a streamlined point-and-shoot design. While that simplicity appealed to some users, many photographers gravitated towards Fujifilm's hugely popular Instax Mini range, helped by its lower film costs and more affordable overall system.

So why is the SQ1 suddenly selling out six years later?

Fujifilm hasn't explained exactly what's behind the renewed demand, but the timing coincides with a broader resurgence in analogue photography among younger photographers and content creators.

The SQ1 may also benefit from its distinctive 1:1 image format. While the square format carries a nostalgic appeal of its own and is also associated with Instagram's original aesthetic.

The SQ1's simplicity is likely another factor. With automatic exposure, a single-button operation and a dedicated selfie mode, it's approachable for first-time instant camera users while still delivering the unmistakable look of analogue instant photography.

Statement

Notice and Apology Regarding Domestic Supply of instax ™ "Cheki" "instax SQUARE SQ1 ™"

Dear Customers

We would like to express our sincere gratitude for your continued patronage of Fujifilm products.

Regarding the instax ^™ instant camera "instax SQUARE SQ1 ^™", sales have continued to far exceed initial expectations, resulting in a situation where production cannot keep up.

Because it is difficult to ensure sufficient supply, we will temporarily suspend order acceptance starting today. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers.

At this time, the resumption date for orders is undecided, but we will announce any updates on our website. We kindly ask for your understanding.

Target Products
instax ^™ "Cheki" "instax SQUARE SQ1 ^™"
*1 instax, Cheki, and instax SQUARE SQ1 are registered trademarks or trademarks of Fujifilm Corporation.

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Browse the best instant cameras and the best hybrid instant cameras.

Disposable film cameras have ridden the analog resurgence as a simple, low-commitment way to try film photography. But now, Lomography, the company known for quirky, colorful film and film cameras, is introducing a reusable, cheap compact film camera that shoots twice as many photos per roll.

The Lomography Simple Use Half-frame is a reusable film camera, but like Lomography’s other “Simple Use” series cameras, using one is close to the experience of working with disposable film. The camera comes pre-loaded with film, so users don’t need to worry about learning to load the camera until the second roll.

While reloadable, the new camera is a straightforward point-and-shoot without any manual controls. The camera uses a 21mm lens with an f/9 aperture and fixed focus.

The built-in flash also feels like a classic disposable – except that it also comes with colored gel filters to create colored lighting effects.

As a half-frame camera, each photo is spliced in half, which means users get twice as many photos from each roll of film, effectively cutting the cost of each photo. The pre-loaded film contains 40 shots, while loading a new 36-shot roll yields 72 images.

Half-frame cameras can also create a diptych – or two images next to each other – or can be developed, printed, or scanned as two photos, depending on how the images are developed.

Lomography says that the pocketable camera is made with 100 percent recycled materials.

The Half Frame Simple Use camera will be available pre-loaded with two different film options: ClassiColor (including colored flash gels) or black-and-white Lady Gray (which naturally doesn’t include the colored flash gels).

Pre-orders have opened for both variants, with shipping estimated to begin later this month. The color variant is set to retail for $34.90 / £24 / AU$44.90 / CA$39.90, with the black-and-white option at $29.90 / £21.90 / AU$37.90 / CA$33.90.

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Today, the folks at Fujifilm have given an existing Instax camera a rather fetching glow-up. My colleague, Gareth Bevan, called the Instax Mini 99 the “best-looking Instax camera,” and the newly released silver paint job has only increased the desirability of this already charming instant camera.

For a brand known for its wide range of pastel Instax Mini cameras, in hindsight, it was perhaps a little surprising that the Instax Mini 99 was only ever available in black. The new silver look retains a strip of black leatherette, while the top and bottom plates and power ring (situated around the lens) are all silver, as well as a few decorative accents. The result is a classy retro SLR aesthetic that will sit alongside Fujifilm’s coveted X-Series cameras perfectly.

What is the Instax Mini 99?

The Instax Mini 99 is Fujifilm’s flagship Instax Mini camera, ahead of the Instax Mini 12, Instax Mini 13, and Instax Mini 41. As such, the Instax Mini 99 has a rather packed featureset. You have two shutter buttons, strategically positioned for comfortable landscape- and portrait-orientation shooting. Three focusing modes for sharp subjects at long distances, medium distances, and close-ups. A Colour Effect Dial, allowing you to select between six different color effects, including Sepia, Light Leak, and Warm Tone.

A Manual Vignette Switch also narrows the aperture to force a retro vignette, but perhaps the most useful feature on the Mini 99 is Exposure Control, which is essentially an exposure compensation dial with five levels of brightness. The camera also comes with five shooting modes: Auto, Indoor, Sports, Double Exposure, and Bulb, so you can capture a range of subjects. And of course, there’s a self-timer for hands-free selfies and a built-in flash.

The Instax Mini 99 retails for £174.99 / $234.95 / AU$279, with the Silver edition available from July 29.

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Ever wondered how instant cameras work? It’s both incredibly complicated and remarkably simple. Tour the world’s last Polaroid factory where heritage recipes run through every pack of instant film. I wrote off the digicam as a temporary trend, but three years later, "crappy cameras" have only become more popular.

There seems to be a growing belief that enjoying film photography in 2026 requires a Leica M6 around your neck, a bag full of Kodak Portra and a bank account healthy enough to cover the cost of every shutter press.

I love beautiful cameras as much as anyone, but film photography does not have to be an exclusive club reserved for those willing to spend thousands on equipment. In fact, I think the best way to enjoy film today might be with the cheapest compact camera you can find.

Cheap compact film cameras are fantastic. They fit inside a coat pocket, weigh almost nothing and are generally ready to shoot the moment an opportunity presents itself.

Many have surprisingly sharp fixed lenses, while others offer autofocus, automatic exposure, built-in flashes and zoom ranges that would have looked incredibly impressive when they were first released.

They might not have the mechanical romance of a classic rangefinder camera, but they make taking photographs wonderfully simple.

That simplicity is important. Film already forces us to slow down because every frame costs money, so I do not necessarily want to spend even more time worrying about light meters, interchangeable lenses or whether I have selected the perfect aperture.

Sometimes I want to pull a camera from my pocket, point it towards something interesting and press the shutter. A cheap compact enables the photograph to take priority over the equipment used to capture it.

I was recently reminded of this while visiting a car boot sale and swap meet, where I found a black Konica Minolta Pop in amazing condition, both inside and out. The asking price was a mere $4 / £2.

It is the sort of camera that could easily be overlooked beneath a pile of cables, old phone cases, and forgotten household electronics, but that is exactly what makes hunting for these cameras so enjoyable. You never quite know what might be sitting at the next table.

On the same stall, I also found a Samsung Vega 140S. This little compact has autofocus and a huge 38-140mm zoom lens made by Schneider-Kreuznach, giving it far more versatility than its unassuming appearance might suggest.

Its other party trick is the ability to “shoot” panoramic photographs, using a cropped panoramic format that gives your images a wonderfully cinematic shape. That camera cost me the enormous investment of $6 / £3.

For a total of $10 / £5, I walked away with a pair of compact film cameras that I can genuinely use and enjoy. That is less than the price of a camera strap from many premium brands, yet I now have two completely different photographic experiences waiting to be explored.

One can live in a jacket pocket, the other can offer everything from wider everyday views to tightly framed details with its built-in zoom. Even if one eventually stops working, I will have had more than my money’s worth from it.

Of course, the camera is no longer the most expensive part of this process. Film itself has become a heavy investment, particularly if you are buying popular color emulsions and paying a laboratory to develop and scan every roll.

However, even this can be made more affordable if you are willing to learn a little about home development. You do not need a professional darkroom or a room filled with expensive equipment to get started.

I love shooting black-and-white film, and my own development setup is incredibly simple. All I really needed was a developing tank and a monobath solution, which enables the film to be processed without juggling a shelf full of different chemicals.

Once the negatives are dry, I place them into my Canon CanoScan 9000F Mark II, scan them and take the images into my digital workflow. From there, the rest is history.

There is also something satisfying about being involved in the entire process. I choose the camera, load the film, take the photographs, develop the negatives and scan the finished frames myself.

It makes each photograph feel more personal, yet it does not require an extravagant collection of premium equipment. There may be imperfections, missed focus and the occasional strange exposure, but those are all part of the charm.

The best film camera is not necessarily the most expensive one, nor is it the camera currently attracting the most attention online. It is the camera you are happy to carry, the one you are not afraid to use and the one that encourages you to take photographs.

A $4 compact can do that every bit as effectively as a camera costing hundreds or thousands.

There is nothing wrong with owning a Leica M6, and there is certainly nothing wrong with loading one with Kodak Portra. Both are desirable for very good reasons. But they are not the entry ticket to “proper” film photography, and they should never make anyone feel that shooting film is financially out of reach.

Film photography can still be cheap, spontaneous and enormous fun. Search through car boot sales, charity shops, swap meets and the forgotten camera drawers of relatives. Pick up something inexpensive, check that it works, load it with a roll of film and put it in your pocket.

You might be surprised by how much photographic enjoyment $10 / £5 can buy.

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Film has made an epic return – but how much has the craving for analog impacted the price of it? The developer behind a program that tracks film prices put together a six-month analysis to find the answer – and found that film prices may not have shifted as much as many think.

The film photographer and programmer behind the blog Analog Cafe programmed a tool that tracks film stock prices across a handful of different stores. Monitoring prices from the first half of 2026, the analysis showed that film’s price change, on average, fell under the typical annual inflation rate of 3% at 2.5% – though that change was across 6 months.

While the inflation on film prices is only for half of a year, the previous six months before that had the same rate, suggesting that film prices are remaining steady. In fact the study suggests that, considering the US had a 4% inflation rate in 2025, film prices were fairly stable.

The digital camera is more of a one-time purchase than analog, which tends to make the cost of film photography feel like a luxury.

But the analysis also pointed out that a 24-shot roll of the popular Kodak Gold cost $4.60 in the 1990s. With inflation and changing wages, that’s like $11.40 in today’s dollars. Kodak Gold’s average film price over the past 6 months, however, was $10.34 – and that’s for a 36-shot roll.

While on average film prices have remained behind the annual inflation rate, price changes can vary widely by film type as well as the country. In Europe and Canada, film is on average 6% more expensive. By comparison, Europe’s June 2026 inflation rate was 2.8% and Canada’s sits at 3.2%.

According to the analysis, a handful of films are a bit cheaper than they were half a year ago, including Kodak Extapan T-Max 400, Ilford Delta Professional, Kodak UltraMax 400 and Fujifilm Neopan Across 100.

On the flipside, a handful of film stocks are now more expensive than they were six months ago. Among the worst offenders are Kodak Kodacolor ColorPlus 200 with a 10.5% price hike, followed by Ilford XP2 Super 400 and Ilford FP4 Plus 125.

For more data across more film types, visit Analog Cafe’s Film Price Index.

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I was surprised to find the Nikon F100 trending on Google, but the more I think about this ‘modern’ film camera the more I understand why.

The Nikon F100 was released in 1999 and discontinued in 2006, making it a relatively recent example of the format. It was launched as a more affordable alternative to the Big N’s range-topping Nikon F5, making it an incredibly capable body for 35mm film photography.

But what makes the Nikon F100 such an attractive prospect is that it represents a sweet spot between specs and affordability. If you’re looking for what is technically the very best film camera Nikon ever made, look no further than the Nikon F6, which was released in 2004 and remained in production right up until 2020.

Because the F6 was never surpassed, it still commands extremely high prices on the used market. I’m seeing them priced in and around the $1,700 / £1,400 mark. The Nikon F100, on the other hand, goes for around $300 / £300. That’s a big difference.

Ultimately, the Nikon F100 gets you close enough to the Nikon F6’s specs that all but the very hardcore of film photographers would benefit from the difference. Don’t get me wrong, the F6 is the more advanced and better camera – but for most film uses, the Nikon F100 will do the job.

Nikon F100 vs Nikon F6

Using both the Nikon F100 and Nikon F6 will feel somewhat familiar to Nikon DSLR users. They’re not a manual film camera like the Nikon FM; they feature a variety of automatic modes, making them more complicated initially but overall easier to operate.

When it comes to the two cameras stacked up against each other side by side, there are a few big differences. Firstly, the Nikon F100’s 3D Matrix Metering is inferior to the F6’s 3D Color Matrix Metering and autofocus is a similar story.

The Nikon F100 featured Nikon’s Multi-CAM1300 5-area AF module, while the F6 debuted the more advanced Multi-CAM2000 11-area AF system.

Both cameras are well made, but the Nikon F6 comes out on top with extensive weather sealing and an all-metal body, compared to the Nikon F100’s largely metal build and only partial weather sealing. The Nikon F100 can also suffer from Nikon’s infamous sticky rubber/leatherette, much like the Nikon D70.

Lens compatibility is another win for the F6 over the Nikon F100. Make sure you look up exact lens compatibility before buying any film camera. While both cameras can accommodate most Nikon F-mount lenses, the F6 boasts better all-around compatibility. For example, the F6 can retain Matrix Metering when using manual F-mount lenses; the Nikon F100 cannot.

The viewfinders are slightly different, too, with the Nikon F100 featuring 96% coverage to the Nikon F6’s 100%. And while it won’t matter to most users, and could even be seen as a plus to some, the Nikon F100’s shutter is much louder than the Nikon F6.

If that seems like a lot of differences, it most certainly is. The Nikon F6 isn’t regarded by many as the greatest film camera ever made for nothing. But when it comes to film photography as a hobby, the vast majority of film photographers will get by with the Nikon F100 just fine.

If you’ve got the money then, by all means, pick up a fine piece of film photography history. For everyone else, the Nikon F100 is all the film camera you could ever need and provided you can find a good example, you cannot beat current used prices.

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Want something that looks cool but boasts more mod cons? Take a look at the best retro cameras. If you're looking for a more authentic retro film camera experience, the Nikon FM could be all the camera you'll ever need. And to stay up to date on the most recent imaging advancements, here's the latest camera news.

Leica has made some wild special-edition cameras over the years, but few are more striking than this gold-plated Lecia M6. This example that’s come to auction is one of only 350 units in the world and comes with an eye-watering starting price of $20,000. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that the camera, listed via online auction marketplace LiveAuctioneers, is entitled "Gold Leica Saltan of Burnie M6 Camera with Summilux lens".

This listing should presumably read ‘Sultan of Brunei’, referring to a very limited run of 24-carat gold-plated Leica M6’s produced in celebration of the Sultan of Brunei’s silver jubilee. It comes with a matching Summilux 50mm f/1.4 lens and a wooden presentation box. The estimate is a whopping $25,000 to $35,000.

It’s certainly not the first time one of these cameras has come up for sale. I’ve found two similar listings at Photographica Auction, where a 1992 piece was listed but unsold and a 1994 piece went under the hammer for €31,200 (approx $35,700 / £27,000). The latter was a slightly later run that featured a 35mm lens, released in celebration of the Sultan’s 50th birthday and limited to only 125 pieces.

It would seem that the camera in the LiveAuctioneers listing has gone to market before. I can see from the images that the serial number is HB-178, the same serial number present on a lot listed by Flints Auctions. Personally, I’m confused as to why the listing doesn’t feature more information, given that I was able to source almost all of the information from elsewhere. Add with the typo, I definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable bidding unless I could find out more about the item, first. Then again, finding out more is standard practice; a $35,000 camera isn't exactly an impulse buy...

Regardless, this is an undeniably cool find. And one of the most striking Leica cameras I think I’ve ever seen, and with the legendary German manufacturer’s penchant for dazzling special editions, that’s saying something!

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One of the rarest Rolleis ever made is up for auction – but whether its limited edition looks reek of class or crass might be up for debate.

At its heart, the Rolleiflex Aurum is a twin-lens reflex camera with an 80mm f/2.8 Schneider-Kreuznach Xenotar lens… but obviously, the Aurum isn't content with being an ordinary twin-lens reflex.

Its brass is plated in gold and the body is wrapped in brown African lizard-skin leather – and only 1,500 of these were ever made, back in 1983 after the production of Rolleiflex F series was suspended, one of which is currently being listed by LiveAuctioneers.

It has to be said that the auction's listing images do the camera no favors, making it look like one of the cheap Chuzhao TLR cameras or the even gaudier Hasselblad-styled version.

But look up the Rolleiflex Aurum listings on eBay and you'll get a much better idea of how the camera really looks. The Aurum looks leagues more tasteful, with much less yellowy gold and a better rendition of the tone of the leather.

You might even find a more appealing price, too, if you're happy taking a chance trusting an eBay seller with a camera like this.

And that's really the story here. Sure, the folks at LiveAuctioneers might not know how to take a decent photo (even, ironically, when it's a luxury photographic device) but they're very reputable and you know that you're going to get a quality item. Or, indeed, that you're going to get an item period.

There's little information on the auction listing, other than the condition is "great" and the starting price is $4,000 (approximately £3,020 / AU$5,800) with an estimate of up to $6,500 (£4,900 / AU$9,430). Bidding begins on July 13.

And, of course, the note that this model is outfitted with a Schneider-Kreuznach taking lens instead of a Zeiss Planar (which is arguably the more desirable of the two).

If you're interested, check out the LiveAuctioneers listing for more information.

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I was over the moon to see the Polaroid Go Gen 3 for, fittingly enough, a trifecta of reasons.

Firstly, the Go – a teeny-tiny instant camera series launched to challenge the monolithic Instax Mini line – has clearly been a success to warrant a third outing. Secondly, because the Polaroid Go Gen 3 comes in the best selection of colors yet.

Most importantly, though, Polaroid has made the decision to switch up the focal length – going from a 34mm equivalent on the Polaroid Go and Go Gen 2 to 42mm here. But that's not all; the flash is more powerful, the aperture is more measured and the shutter is faster.

The net result is that the Polaroid Go Gen 3 is the company's best miniature camera yet, with the most consistent and best-quality results – and as an owner of both previous Gos, I'm happy to make the upgrade. So what's different, and is it a better buy than the Instax Mini 13? Let's take a closer look.

Polaroid Go Gen 3: Specifications

Polaroid Go Gen 3: Price

The Polaroid Go Gen 3 is available now at a price of $89.99 / £79.99 / AU$159.99. The Polaroid Go Gen 2 is still an active product (at least for now) and carries the same price tag.

The latest version of its rival from Fujifilm, the Instax Mini 13, was released around the same time and is similarly priced at $93.95 / £79.99 / AU$139.99.

It's important to note, however, that there is a difference in the price of film for each camera, with Polaroid Go film working out more expensive (US$1.24 per shot) than Instax Mini film (US$0.79 per shot).

Polaroid Go film can only be bought in double-packs of 16 shots, while Mini film can be bought in single packs of 10. Either way, you'll spend more per pack and per shot with the Polaroid.

Polaroid Go Gen 3: Build & handling

As I've alluded, there are some physical differences with the Polaroid Go Gen 3 compared to the Gen 2 (and Gen 1) – both internally and externally.

Obviously the lens DNA is chief among these, with the modification of optical components contributing to the slight increase in size and weight. In particular, the lens housing protrudes further forward (with less of a "lip" on the front) while the viewfinder extends further to the rear.

While Polaroid is still calling this "the world's smallest instant analog camera", the Gen 3 is a couple of millimeters bigger and almost 13g heavier than its predecessor.

In my hand this was basically imperceptible – but a slight rearrangement of buttons threw my muscle memory for a moment.

The flash and power buttons have both moved. The biggest change is that the flash button is now black and lives below the LED shot counter, rather than on top next to the shutter. This led to a bit of phantom finger as I instinctively searched for a button that wasn't there, but it didn't take long to adjust.

The power button now sits directly below the shot counter and flash button, and is the same color as the body. Again, other than trying to find where to turn the camera on the first few times I used it, this was no big deal.

Otherwise, the Polaroid Go Gen 3 handles just like its predecessors. It's small but perfectly formed, like holding a tiny slider hamburger, and can be pinched and operated between your thumb and forefinger. It's also the perfect size for children's hands, making it a great camera for kids.

Other features include a selfie-mirror and a built-in, USB-C-rechargable battery. The latter is obviously much better for the environment, but does mean that you can't slap in fresh batteries if you run out of juice during a shoot. And the integrated battery can't be replaced (at least, not without dismantling the camera) which puts a lifespan on the camera.

Polaroid Go Gen 3: Performance

It may seem like a strange comparison on the surface, but when I started using the Polaroid Go Gen 3 it felt a bit like the Leica Q3 43. Just as the Red Dot Brand took the Leica Q3 and replaced its 28mm lens with a 43mm one, Polaroid took the Gen 2's 34mm equivalent lens and replaced it with a 42mm option.

That change in focal length alone makes the Gen 3 a completely different beast to its predecessors, with a longer lens that better suits what and how I like to shoot.

I mainly use my Go to shoot people pictures, so the slightly longer lens is better suited for close-ups, and it's also much more useful when I want to snap items of interest while I'm on vacation without having to run right up close to them. There was only one occasion where I missed having the wider lens.

However, the biggest performance boost to the Polaroid Go Gen 3 comes in the improvements to exposure – especially in bright outdoor environments.

While there was a fair amount of sample variation, both the OG Go and the Gen 2 had a habit of completely overexposing in bright conditions. But the Gen 3 has hit the sweet spot in balancing the aperture (with f/14 and f/32 options, compared to f/9 and f/32 on the Gen 2 and f/12 and f/52 on the Go) and shutter speed (1/500, compared to 1/300 and 1/125).

I found shots to be much more evenly exposed, as well as noticably sharper, in all conditions. Polaroid is quite proud about the fact that the flash is also much stronger, which I can't say as I particularly noticed in and of itself, though it undoubtedly plays into the overall improved exposure.

As I mentioned at the top of the article, photographs taken on this camera inescapably have the "Polaroid look". This is characterized by cyan- and magenta-heavy hues, deep punchy shadows and washed-out – sometimes even overexposed – highlights.

You'll either see this as "delightfully characterful" or "poor image quality". Personally, I love this look; Polaroid's photochemistry is more volatile and unpredictable than Instax's, so you don't get the crispness and consistency but you definitely get a better vibe and true uniqueness – and an aesthetic that's impossible to replicate with editing software.

In terms of functionality, like previous Gos the Gen 3 offers both a self-timer and double exposures. It's worth noting that the Instax Mini 13 has caught up in terms of adding a self-timer, but it still doesn't offer multiple exposures – which I think is a big feather in the cap of the Gen 3.

Shooting with the Go has always been an absolute joy, as are the inevitable conversations and friendships that are struck up when people catch sight of it. It really is so small and so cute that it's an excellent ice breaker – which makes it particularly suited to parties and other social environments.

Polaroid Go Gen 3: Samples

I figured the most useful thing I could do is take a bunch of shots to illustrate the Polaroid Go Gen 3's photographs compared to those on the Gen 2.

Directly below are a selection of shots on the Gen 3, then the following two selections show the same shots – taken in the same position – on the Gen 2. This was the best way to show the difference in field of view between the two cameras, along with the differences in how they expose. As you can see, they're pretty significant!

I loaded both cameras with film from the same pack (and, thus, the same batch) to make the closest comparison possible. I think it's pretty clear to see that the Gen 3 shots are sharper and better exposed.

Polaroid Go Gen 3: Verdict

As soon as I was done testing the Polaroid Go Gen 3, I ordered one of my own. I think it's a brilliant little camera, which earns its place on my shelf next to its predecessors thanks both to its improved image quality and its different focal length.

Visually I do prefer the look of the Gen 2 and OG Go, at least as far as solid colors go – but the black "visor" of the Gen 3 actually makes a really cool accent for the color options. (I've gone for the purple version, which I think looks the business.)

If you already own a Go, I don't know that there's enough here to warrant upgrading unless you're really unhappy with your current model's image quality or you really want a bit more reach.

If you own an Instax Mini (as I did before getting my first Go) you might want to make the switch if you like the traditional square image format, the more "characterful" image quality and the ability to take double exposures. Not to mention a smaller, cuter body and the ability to recharge via USB-C.

The best instant cameras are still the full-size options like the Polaroid Flip, but as far as the mini options go this is by far my favorite. The only thing that's missing is a black-and-white Go film stock. Come on, Polaroid – let me shoot mono on the go!

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Check out the Instax vs Polaroid differences to see which brand is right for you. Make sure to pay attention to what type of instant film you need for your camera, along with the different instant camera film sizes.

Disposable film has made a comeback alongside retro tech. But Fujifilm is refreshing its QuickSnap compact one-time-use film cameras with a brand first: black and white film. Two new QuickSnap cameras will arrive this fall – and one of them is the first time Fujifilm has put black-and-white film inside a disposable.

Fujifilm announced the QuickSnap Black and White and the waterproof QuickSnap Active in celebration of the disposable camera line’s 40th anniversary. While black-and-white disposable film cameras exist from other brands, the move is the first time in the line’s 40-year history that Fujifilm has launched a disposable film camera pre-loaded with black-and-white film.

The disposable film camera comes with black-and-white ISO 400 film preloaded inside. Fujifilm doesn’t specifically name what film stock it is, though Fujifilm’s Across is a well-loved monochrome film that inspired a film simulation on the brand’s digital cameras by the same name.

That’s a notable launch, as QuickSnap cameras have historically used color negative film. Fujifilm says this particular film stock is designed for rich contrasts and textured grains – a look that will likely prove popular for its even more retro look over color.

The new Black and White includes a built-in flash, which can also be powered off, unlike the new QuickSnap Active, which doesn’t include a flash.

The QuickSnap Active replaces the brand's earlier waterproof disposable film camera as an all-weather disposable that can head underwater up to 35 feet. That’s thanks largely to the camera’s protective housing.

Without a flash – and designed to head underwater – the Active comes preloaded with a higher ISO color film than the Black and White, using a color negative ISO 800 film.

The QuickSnap first emerged in 1986 as the first widely produced one-time use camera, though a few snap-and-mail cameras existed before then. The QuickSnap stripped down film’s complexities into a simple point-and-shoot camera that didn’t need to be loaded or unloaded.

That simple design could be one of the reasons that disposable film is seeing a resurgence in popularity. The format doesn’t require learning how to load or handle film, yet it still snaps photos that are all analog.

Both QuickSnaps come pre-loaded with film good for 27 images. Like all disposable film cameras, the film comes pre-loaded, but the cost doesn’t include development.

Both of the new QuickSnap cameras are expected to begin shipping later this year; Fujifilm US estimates a fall 2026 shipping date, while Fujifilm UK says the cameras will arrive in September. The QuickSnap Black-and-White retails for $22.90 / CA$34.99 – about £21 / AU$23. The waterproof housing makes the Active slightly more expensive, sitting at $24.75 / CA$36.99 – about £22 / AU$25.

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Even just a few years ago, picking up retro tech required scouring the internet or garage sales. But the trend for disconnected, nostalgic tech is now so big that I can buy anything from vinyl records to disposable film cameras at my local superstore.

Film photography is one of those surging nostalgic trends – but the reason behind the trend may actually be quite modern. The trend isn’t new, as it has been steadily growing over the last few years, but I just came across a survey that highlighted one of the reasons why film photography is making a comeback: social media.

Japan Today notes that film photography is trending alongside vinyl records, as well as 'kissaten' coffee houses and the Japanese candies and snacks, 'dagashi'. But the article also highlights a survey suggesting that nearly half of those shooting film attributed social media as the reason behind doing so.

Another study suggests a similar social media influence. A global market report notes that more than a third of global film camera users are between 18 and 30 years old, and are heavily influenced by social media trends.

The rise of analog photography today mixes a longstanding format with modern technology – which means that, unlike the early days of consumer film cameras, photographers are being influenced by social media posts.

Social media is likely serving as both an inspiration to try analog, but also could be influencing which film cameras are getting picked up – and what format, whether that’s disposable film, instant film, 35mm or even large format.

I’m part of the generation that grew up with film cameras, but ended up with a digital camera before leaving high school. When I returned to trying film as an adult, YouTube tutorials on how to properly load the film have been invaluable.

Film may be making a comeback as a part of a slower, digital minimalist mindset, but its return in a modern era means that there’s a wealth of knowledge on the topic – and it doesn’t matter that the 1970s SLR that I picked up at a garage sale had long lost its user manual.

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This year is the 40th anniversary of the Fujifilm QuickSnap, called the Utsurun-Desu in Japan (which translates as “It takes pictures”). The QuickSnap was introduced in 1986 as a “disposable” camera – though the term was quickly changed to “single-use” for a better public image.

The QuickSnap is credited with being the first camera in what became a huge success story. It was an amazing success, but was it really the first single-use camera? Not quite.

Back in 1886, an American, AP Whittell, created his Ready Fotografer – a lightweight pinhole camera that used a heavy paper box and a roughly 2x2-inch dry plate. The camera had to be cut open to remove the plate for development, rendering it unusable after one shot.

Although it sold for just 25 cents, at a time when regular cameras cost $50, it was an idea before its time and disappeared after just a couple of years.

Things stayed pretty quiet until 1948, which saw the Picture-Box – a cardboard camera that featured a simple lens, an everset shutter (around 1/25 second) and a method to wind the 35mm film. When done, the photographer mailed the camera back to have the film developed and prints made.

The cardboard camera was destroyed in the process, so very few remain today.

ABOVE: Watch this vintage commercial for the Kodak Fling from 1987!

The next year, another American, HM Stiles, invented a way to enclose 35mm film in an inexpensive cardboard enclosure without the costly precision film-transport mechanism. The Photo-Pac took 8 photos on 35mm film and sold for $1.29, including a prepaid mailer for developing and prints. The instructions read: “Aim – Snap – Mail.”

It was more durable than the Picture-Box, as it used some plastic parts, though exactly which bits are unclear today. It too was a bit before its time and, like the PictureBox, the Photo-Pac failed to make a permanent impression on the market.

The Encore Camera Company, in California, made upscale disposable cameras. Rather than bright colors and graphics, the cardboard casings of the various Encore Cameras were designed to mimic leather or lizard skin.

Introduced around 1950, these snap-and-mail disposables took 12 exposures on 127 film and were used by banks and airlines, as premium incentives. Users would insert $1.25 into a slot in the camera’s bottom, along with a 6-cent stamp and a mailing label with their address for the return trip, and mail it away for prints.

The company would then develop the film and return the prints, often recycling the lens and shutter mechanisms into new cameras. Exact dates are not clear, but Encore and its camera were gone by the end of the decade.

In 1951, the IMP camera was a plastic, single-use camera priced at $1.79, pre-loaded with 12 exposures of 35mm film. Like those before it, it offered low-cost simplicity. It was followed by The Pro, which sold for $3 plus a $1 processing fee. And in the early 1970s, the Mini-Mate became the first disposable camera offered with color film!

But the IMP's big innovation was that, while the camera was disposable for the user (and mailed back for processing), the plastic body was actually reusable. The company could reclaim, reload and resell the body, making it an early form of recycling.

In 1972 Technicolor Inc threw its hat into the ring, introducing the “returnable” Techni-Pak camera in 1972. Made in Hong Kong, the Techni-Pak was the first disposable to feature variable exposure stops. The focus-free, 35 mm camera took 20 color photographs and included aperture settings for “bright” and “cloudy”.

Designed so that only Technicolor agents could open the cameras, they were reusable. A reloaded Techni-Pak was returned to users with their printed photographs and the system lasted into the mid-1980s.

In 1973, a Canadian company introduced the 16mm color Lure, which was sold in the United States as the Love. Offering 12 exposures, the Love included a mount for Magicube flashbulbs and users advanced the film in the camera by rotating the mount.

Although a contemporary of the Techni-Pak, the Love was not built with reusability in mind; in order for the film to be processed, the camera had to be “cracked open like a walnut.”

Sales of the Love camera (sold in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom and Italy) dried up by the late 1970s. The design was sold to a Brazilian firm in 1981 and disappeared altogether in the middle of the decade.

The problem for all these makers was that “disposables” were a niche market without a big name like Kodak, Fujifilm, Ilford or Agfa. But that would all change in 1986.

It was then that Fujifilm introduced its QuickSnap line. The QuickSnap is the first truly successful “disposable” or "single-use" camera. Loaded with 27 exposures of Fujifilm's Superia color film, it became immensely popular throughout the 1990s and 2000s, with Japanese sales peaking at over 89 million units in 1997.

Kodak responded the next year with its Fling, but the smaller format of its 16mm film meant lower-quality images (especially in enlargements) than Fuji's offerings, which used the larger 35mm film. Thus, within a year, the Fling was flung and replaced in 1988 with the Kodak FunSaver, still sold today.

Despite being made largely obsolete by the rise of camera phones, both the QuickSnap and the Funsaver have survived the digital transition.

Sales declined to less than 5 million annually by 2012 but rebounded to over 9 million in 2019, cementing its status as a staple for weddings, travel and retro-style photography. It’s estimated that in 2025 single-use camera sales reached $1.02 billion globally.

So they’re not going away any time soon. And even the FLing lives on, spiritually, as the inspiration for the Kodak Charmera's most popular design!

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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Many of the retro-inspired cameras built today are inspired by the 1970s, 1980s, and even Y2K, but one small French company is bringing back an even more historic camera format: the wooden field camera with folding bellows.

The Fasquel & Co. 4x5 Heritage is a new large-format field camera that pays homage to photography’s roots while creating a durable, portable camera for modern film artists.

The field camera is a folding bellows camera format that first appeared in the 1840s, and began gaining popularity in the 1850s. The bellows focus the lens, which is mounted to a lens board. This classic camera format has no viewfinder; instead, a ground glass screen projects an upside-down image of what the lens sees at the back of the camera.

Once the photographer composes and focuses the camera, a sheet filter holder slides into place in the back – or, in the earliest cameras, a freshly prepared wet plate collodion.

The Fasquel & Co 4x5 Heritage doesn’t take inspiration from one specific historic field camera, though the company says the US brand Deardorff (1923-1988) and the UK brand Gandolfi (1885-2017) served as inspiration. Instead, the new camera focuses on quick setup, easy alignment, and durability.

Fasquel & Co – founded by Emilien Fasquel and Enzo Luca in 2002 in France – has previously designed 8x10 and even an 11x14 Heritage camera. The newly launched 4x5 Heritage is designed to be a more portable system. Folded, the camera measures 94 × 192 × 230 mm – about 3.7 x 7.5 x 9 inches. The camera weighs about 1.6kg or 3.5 pounds.

The field camera allows photographers to use 4x5 sheet film using a sheet film holder, but the camera is also compatible with even older techniques, including wet plates. The camera can use a variety of large-format lenses mounted on Linhof Technika-style lens boards.

Despite being hand-assembled, the camera is weather-resistant, the company says. The camera is built largely from mahogany, but some special orders also use ebony, cherry, or walnut. The wooden pieces are protected with a traditional varnish to add durability.

Those wooden components are mixed with black anodized aluminum and steel, while the bellows are made with a synthetic material that the company says is also durable and weather-resistant.

The durability and size, the founder Emilien Fasquel said, are designed to give outdoor photographers access to the 4x5 format.

“Large-format photography has always been about slowing down, being intentional, and creating images with extraordinary detail and character,” Fasquel said. “With the 4x5 Heritage, we wanted to make that experience more accessible without compromising on craftsmanship. Every camera that leaves our workshop is built with the idea that it should not only be a photographic tool, but also an object that photographers will enjoy using and owning for decades.”

Slowing down isn’t just a part of using the camera – the company’s Heritage models are individually assembled in a workshop in France, which also allows the company to offer several customization options.

“Our process combines traditional craftsmanship with modern manufacturing methods,” Fasquel said. “Many operations require specialized machinery for precision and consistency, while assembly, finishing, fitting, adjustment, and quality control are carried out by hand. We believe this combination gives us the best balance between accuracy, durability, and the character that comes from a truly handcrafted product.”

The new 4x5 Heritage, as well as the company’s earlier larger format cameras, are available to custom order from the company’s website. The 4x5 is available starting at €1,790 – which converts to about $2,045 / £1,544 / AU$2,922 / CA$2,897. Fasquel & Co ships internationally; additional duties, taxes, and import fees may apply outside of Europe.

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After all the excitement of the launch of the Pentax 17 a couple of years ago, things have gone very quiet in terms of any new 35mm film cameras.

You may remember that Ricoh was promising another Pentax film model, but that looks to be on the back burner for the moment. Yet the volume of 35mm film being processed at commercial labs around the world continues to steadily rise – as do, logically, the sales of both color and B&W film.

Darkroom equipment and materials continue to tick along, too, so shooting film continues to grow in popularity. But what are these film fans actually shooting with?

The Pentax 17 – quite a curiosity in some respects – was primarily designed to appeal to a particular audience who were not only new to film, but new to using a camera rather than a camera phone.

Consequently, interesting though it is, it doesn’t have any appeal to more experienced photographers who either want to return to shooting film or who want to try it for first time. Either way, what’s needed is a more mainstream design – and that’s either a more conventional compact camera or, better still, a 35mm SLR.

The Pentax back-catalog should provide rich pickings for recreating the latter, assuming that there’s basic tooling still available (which the main chassis of the 17 suggests is indeed the case), so why has Ricoh’s film camera project seemingly pressed pause? And, subsequently, is anybody else in a position to make a new 35mm SLR?

It’s no secret that, after being in very high demand initially, sales of the Pentax 17 have slowed. Much of that early demand was driven by the curiosity factor, and people bought the camera because of its historical significance and because it was “something different”.

However, it was always one of those products that would reach the point where everybody who wants one has got one.

My opinion is that Ricoh should have kicked off with a more mainstream 35mm design and followed with the quirky half-frame camera. I suspect the potential customers for the former are far larger in number than whatever unit sales the Pentax 17 has achieved so far.

That said, Ricoh is reportedly happy with how the 17 has sold, and it’s still available with only a smallish reduction in price compared to when it was launched. But would the balance sheet have looked a lot better with a 35mm SLR or a full-frame film compact?

Ricoh says it hasn’t dismissed the idea of a revived 35mm R/GR series compact, which perhaps makes more sense given just how big the line’s following is now courtesy of the last few digital models (including the new Ricoh GR IV). Nevertheless, I still feel what’s really needed now is a 35mm reflex.

It needs to be priced at under $750 body-only and, while a fully mechanical and manual design has some appeal, I think it should have automatic operations – such as exposure, focus and film transport – because that’s what we’re all so used to now. Okay, manual focus is probably fine. But too much nostalgia might just be too much, period.

If you’re a purist, there are plenty of pre-loved classic mechanical cameras available to scratch that itch. But a reasonable degree of automation – backed by a new camera warranty and, of course, with manual overrides – would make jumping into film less of a culture shock.

There is the question of the lens mount, but the ubiquitous K bayonet would seem the obvious choice given the huge reservoir of lenses available, old and new.

Right now, though, we seem to have reached an impasse. An affordable 35mm SLR is what’s needed to kick the film revival up a gear or two, but the current numbers probably look a bit marginal in terms of profitability. I’m convinced that "build it and they will come", but somebody somewhere needs to take a leap of faith.

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Who’s on first? With apologies to Abbott and Costello, when it comes to autofocus SLRs, it gets a little convoluted – for the company that was first, was also the company that was last.

Ernst Leitz Company (now known simply as Leica) had been quietly working on autofocus technology since the late 1950s, and received its first patent in 1960.

At the 1976 Photokina, it made the world’s first demonstration of a working autofocus system built into a Leicaflex SL2 body. At that stage, it was more of a focus confirmation system; the photographer focused manually, while watching two LEDs visible in the top of the finder. Both were lit when in perfect focus.

Leica showed improved versions at the 1978 Photokina and a further improved one at the Minneapolis convention of the Leica Historical Association of America (now known as the International Leica Society) in 1980. This iteration was built into a Leica R4-Mot body and had a servo-motor-driven Summilux lens, for true autofocus.

Despite its innovations, however, Leica never commercialized its Correfot system. It seems that Leica viewed itself as catering to skilled photographers who preferred manual focusing.

It believed that the early AF mechanisms compromised the "precise focusing" made possible by the renowned lens mounts (accurate to 1/100mm). And at that stage of autofocus development, it may have been right.

It’s not clear if Leitz sold or simply gave its patents to Minolta, under a technical cooperation agreement between the two firms that ran from 1972 to 1997. Either way, Leica did not bring out an autofocus SLR until its medium format S2 in 2008.

While the Konica C35 AF of 1977 was the very first AF camera (using patents licensed from Honeywell), it was Leica’s Correfot technology that enabled Minolta to build the first truly successful SLR with autofocus in 1985.

It was sold as the Minolta 7000 AF in most of the world, and as the Minolta Maxxum in North America.

Curiously, the Maxxum 7000 was considered "advanced" because it placed the focus motor in the camera body. Earlier efforts by Leica, Pentax and others all used motors built into or attached to the lenses, making them both heavy and bulky (for example, the Pentax ME-F of 1981).

Ironically, the best modern AF cameras now have the motors built into the lenses – but then these newer motors are much, much smaller.

The Maxxum 7000 was the first 35mm with automated film handling, as it loaded the film, sensed the film speed, advanced the film and then rewound it, all under motor control. Power was supplied by four AAA batteries housed in the large grip.

The Maxxum 7000 was also the first SLR to have the body made entirely of plastic. The 7000’s body is light, but doesn’t feel cheap – its tough, almost unbreakable ABS gives it the advantage of reduced weight while avoiding any feel of flimsiness.

Over 40 years on, though, that old ABS plastic can turn yellow from UV exposure. The result is that Minolta’s white often appears beige.

The Maxxum 7000 was also the first camera to use Minolta’s new, larger A-mount, as its earlier SR/MC/MD mounts could not handle the needs of AF. This mount was used on Sony’s A-mount cameras produced between 2006 and 2020, and many of the old Minolta A-mount lenses will still work on them.

In 1987, Honeywell sued Minolta claiming that the Maxxum autofocus system infringed Honeywell's patents. Though mostly based on the Leica patents, in 1992 a jury found that Minolta had infringed on two of the Honeywell patents and awarded some $96 million in damages. Minolta also received a license to continue to use the Honeywell technology.

That crippling financial blow was one of the reasons that eventually led to Minolta merging with Konica in 2003.

In 2004, the new Konica-Minolta company introduced its Maxxum 5D and 7D cameras (sold as the “Dynax” outside the USA and the “A-7” in Japan), the first SLRs with sensor-shifting in-body image stabilization (IBIS), which it called “anti-shake.”

This had the advantage that the purchaser bought the system once, with the body, rather than re-buying the IS system with each lens.

Pentax would follow suit in 2006 and Olympus in 2007. All three firms adopted the IBIS system, in part because they had the engineering knowhow – but to a greater degree because they did not have any image-stabilized lenses and thus had no reason not to.

However, the 5D and 7D were the only DSLRs to bear the Konica-Minolta name before it sold the camera business to Sony and left the industry in 2006.

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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The legendary Coney Island Beach in New York probably isn’t the first place you’d expect to see a billboard about AI, but the sand, water, and sky create an unusual backdrop for Polaroid’s newest message: “Go jump in the water before the data centers drink it all up.”

The words are just one of Polaroid’s continued push to embrace analog in what the company calls an “over-digitized” world. The billboard, installed at Coney Island beach on June 18, re-ignites the analog photography brand’s radical campaign that last year put sayings like “AI can’t generate the sand between your toes” outside major tech stores.

Along with the billboard in Coney Island, Polaroid is sharing a similar message in London, England, including a tube station billboard at King’s Cross, as well as in Bethnal Green and Hackney.

Along with the striking statement about growing concerns over AI’s water use, the campaign also includes phrases like “You can’t bask in blue light” along with “dance like no one is recording” and “What a glorious day to stare into various screens for hours on end.”

The new campaign, “The best of summer is analog,” is both a rebellious celebration of a slowed-down summer with fewer screens and a way to promote the new Polaroid Go Generation 3, Polaroid's smallest instant camera yet.

“For Polaroid, the simple act of existing is already an act of rebellion,” said Polaroid Creative Director Patricia Varella. “While our campaigns are provocative and challenge our relationship with technology, we’re not anti-digital. We know we have to live alongside it, but we’re deeply pro-human, and know what humanity gives us. And we know what we stand to lose if we don’t protect it. That’s a fight worth fighting.”

The billboards aren’t the only rebellious way Polaroid is pushing analog – the company also convinced a dozen influencers to go offline. The company sent influencers a Go Gen 3 camera in a box that resembles a miniature garden.

The Coney Island billboard isn’t just an advertisement; Polaroid calls it “a metaphor for our over-digitization and the increasingly human need to step away from it.” The campaign, Polaroid says, encourages a break from scrolling for “imperfect” but tangible photographs.

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Some heritage brands nowadays are in fact ‘heritage’ in name only. Decades of history crammed into a logo that might connote quality and evoke a sense of nostalgia but, in reality, has been licensed out and slapped onto a product that bears little or no tangible link to the brand’s illustrious past.

And while I never thought Impossible Project’s acquisition of Polaroid fit that category, I had no idea just how much genuine Polaroid DNA courses through its modern films and cameras. A delightful documentary film by instant camera aficionado Ben Fraternale (In An Instant) takes viewers on a tour through the Polaroid factory, accompanied by his guide for the day, Senior Vice President of Film Manufacturing, Andrew Billen.

This isn’t just any old factory; it’s the world’s last Polaroid factory. A bastion of instant camera history that opened in the early ‘70s in the city and municipality of Enschede in the Netherlands. And while there’s a lot of new machinery, there’s still old machinery and throwbacks to decades gone by. Remarkably, although the company has replaced all of the old cassette molding machines, it still uses the original tooling.

Another thing that struck me is this modern iteration of Polaroid’s mantra regarding film. Andrew explains the complexities of the chemistry behind Polaroid’s instant film and that, despite incremental improvements being made to the formula every day, a generational overhaul is a huge, potentially catastrophic task.

One major upgrade to the formula can cause huge ramifications further down the line. As he puts it: “A generation change is multi-million, right? And it’s a huge commitment of resources; it’s not something you do lightly. You’ve got to prepare well for it, very clear scope, and then roll it out.”

Ultimately, Polaroid’s goal is to make the most user-friendly, robust and consistent instant film possible, but these aren’t changes that can be made overnight. The team is also aware that Polaroid film needs to look like Polaroid film; the goal isn’t perfect image fidelity.

And it doesn't seem like the team will be swayed by modern 'retro' aesthetics. As Andrew puts it: “When you photograph a red Ferrari it should look red, not orange, right? You can call it pastelly and analog, but we prefer it a little bit more red.”

What I’ve mentioned here is just the tip of the Polaroid iceberg, so make sure you watch Ben's full video to find out more about the production line and the incredible team of people that’s keeping Polaroid's unique brand of instant film alive.

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I don’t think it’s a coincidence that early digicams and dedicated compact cameras are resurging in trends at the same time that computers can “create” AI images. Experimental film giant Lomography has a new option for photographers trading modern tech for analog: The Fisheye No. 2 35mm Camera La Mer.

The Fisheye No. 2 takes circular photos, thanks to its built-in 10mm 170-degree view fisheye lens. That allows creators to fit more of the scene into the photo, or use the unusual distortion as a creative effect.

Lomography says that the Fisheye No. 2 La Mer is designed for experimental photography, embracing the exaggerated perspective of a fisheye and mixing it with film imperfections like grain, unusual color mixes, and light leaks. And yes, the camera is also capable of snapping multiple exposures.

The Fisheye No. 2 has a fixed f/8 aperture and only two choices for shutter speed: 1/100 or bulb. A built-in flash allows those settings to keep shooting indoors and at night.

As a 35mm camera, the Fisheye No. 2 takes a readily available film format, opening up more flexibility and experimentation based on what film is inside.

Those features are wrapped up in a compact camera – although the bulbous lens on the front adds to the size and gives the camera a rather unusual appearance. The camera uses a detachable viewfinder that slides into the hot shoe slot.

Lomography’s Fisheye No. 2 camera has actually been around since 2009 in multiple different colors and special editions, but the June 2026 refresh brings a seashore-inspired makeover to the analog compact camera. The new version of the camera features a pastel periwinkle body and a soft yellow color to the viewfinder.

Like the existing colorways, the experimental camera isn’t made to take a major hit on the budget (at least not on the camera itself). It retails for $69 / £69 / CA$89 / AU$109. The camera is available from Lomography and needs to be purchased along with 35mm film.

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Over the years, a number of waterproof cameras have been produced. Likely the best-known of them is Canon’s AS-6, the “Aquasnappy”. But for serious underwater photographers, there has only ever been one choice.

Back in the mid-1950s, legendary oceanographer and explorer Jacques Cousteau wanted an easy-to-use, compact, amphibious camera that could be carried on the research vessel Calypso and used both on land and at depth.

Conceived by Cousteau and designed by Belgian engineer Jean de Wouters in the late 1950s, it is widely regarded as the first practical, fully waterproof 35mm camera that could be used directly underwater without a bulky external camera housing.

De Wouters built a prototype, which he called the Spiro in 1957, and that eventually evolved into the Calypso camera, manufactured by Atoms in France and distributed by La Spirotechnique in Paris starting in 1960.

The Calypso (sometimes called the Calypso-phot) was named after Costeau’s famed research ship, the RV Calypso.

The Calypso used a simple bayonet lens mount, whereby mounting the lens also pulled the two body halves into a single, watertight unit.

Both 28mm and 35mm lenses (often by SOM Berthiot) and a 45mm lens (by Angenieux) were made, and de Wouters designed a simple, two-bladed, focal-plane shutter that ran from 1/30 to 1/1000sec.

Aperture and focus were set via knobs marked on the lens barrel, rather than on the body. Later Nikonos versions gained a flash port in the base, for underwater flash units, making it a complete system for underwater photography down to about 60 meters (200 ft).

The Calypso’s most distinctive feature is a combined wind-on and shutter release lever. A small top-front rocker locks the lever and, once unlocked, the lever swings forward to its operating position.

Pushing it forward wound the film and cocked the shutter. Pressing it back into the body released the shutter. This layout minimized the number of seals needed and was carried over into Nikon’s Nikonos series.

In the early 1960s the design was licensed to Nippon Kōgaku (now Nikon), which refined it and sold it from 1963 onward as the Nikonos – later expanding it into a long-running series of underwater cameras. Thus, the Calypso is the direct ancestor of the Nikonos line and sometimes referred to as the “proto-Nikonos.”

Nikon produced several models, each adding modest but useful improvements, culminating in the Nikonos RS in 1992. It was a top-line autofocus SLR, waterproof to 100m, with a built-in motor drive, DX‑coded film sensing and a dedicated underwater AF lens set.

The system used Nikon’s special Nikonos / UW-Nikkor lenses, some of which were “water-only” designs optimized for shooting submerged.

These lenses are tuned so that the water itself becomes part of the optical path, giving very sharp, colour-rich images underwater – and they generally do not focus correctly above water. Popular focal lengths included 28mm, 35mm, 50mm macro, 13mm fisheye and the RS‑era 20-35mm zoom and 28mm zoom.

The autofocus Nikonos RS, the most advanced model, was quietly discontinued around 1996-1997 after only a few years of production. Nikon continued to manufacture and sell the Nikonos V until October 2001, when the company formally announced the end of the entire Nikonos series.

It cited the rise of high‑quality underwater housings for standard SLR and DSLR cameras, plus the shift toward digital imaging, as the main reasons for stopping new Nikonos development.

A small number of Nikonos RS bodies were modified by Kodak for the US Navy around 1995-1996, fitted with a digital-back-style rear unit similar to the Kodak DCS 420/425 series; thus becoming the Nikon/Kodak DCS 425 Underwater System.

But it was a one-off military project, not a consumer camera. The exact number made is not known, but believed to be quite small – and the price likely astronomical.

Nikon never did produce a dedicated, digital Nikonos-style camera. Enthusiasts still talk about the idea of a “digital Nikonos,” but Nikon has never brought such a camera to market. At least, not yet…

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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In 1976, Polaroid built a massive instant camera that stood 6.5 feet / 2 meters tall and weighed 235 pounds / 107 kg – roughly the size of an average refrigerator. That camera would go on to be used by names like Ansel Adams, Sally Mann and Andy Warhol.

Now, fifty years later, the camera is once again being used by modern artists.

The oversized bellows camera uses specially made 20x24 Polaroid film. Polaroid originally built five of the cameras, designed to be an eye-catching piece at shows and events. But when it found new ownership through the Impossible Project, one of the massive cameras was discovered collecting dust in a storage room.

Polaroid decided to not only refurbish the oversized camera, but also make the large 20x24 sheet film for it. Now the Polaroid Foundation is taking the camera on tour, giving artists around the world the opportunity to use the rare camera while filming an ongoing documentary called the 20x24 Project.

The camera follows the classic design of a field camera with folding bellows – but it sits on a wheeled base and, unlike field cameras, was only ever meant to be used in a studio.

The film creates a 20x24 image. Like smaller Polaroid cameras, the its rollers rupture a chemical pod to develop the film without a dark room. But unlike the more classic instant film, these 20x24 images are cut from rolls after the image is exposed.

The 20x24 Project, with the support of Polaroid, is now taking the restored camera around the world. John Reuter, a former Polaroid employee, is accompanying it with protégée Harriet Browse. Traveling with the camera is no easy feat, however, as it’s too large to even fit on an airplane.

The organization has been taking the camera across the globe to be used by artists, including visiting the oldest art exhibition in the world – the Venice Biennale.

The organization’s modern goal in 2026 echoes the camera’s past. While originally built as a showpiece, the camera went on to be part of the Polaroid Artist Support Program. The program provided Polaroid cameras and film to both emerging and established artists.

The program was established in 1949 and, while modern camera brands now offer ambassador programs, the concept at the time was unique. The photos that the artists created using the free film and cameras would go on to be part of what later became called The Polaroid Collection.

According to the 20x24 Project, that history means the newly restored camera now on tour with modern artists was once used by artists like Robert Maplethorpe, Mary Ellen Mark, William Wegman, Chuck Close, Richard Prince, Peter Beard, Jullian Schnobble, Barbara Kassen, Lucas Mars, Helen Chap, Carrie Williams, Luigi Gary and others.

The Guinness Book of World Records notes that the 20x24 Polaroid, first built in 1976, still holds the world record for the world’s largest Polaroid camera. Film fans and camera nerds can watch the oversized camera’s travel adventures on the 20x24 Project’s YouTube Channel.

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The Minions are bringing their legendary mischief to the Fujifilm House of Photography in London, England. A Minion-Instax event will mix the mischievous characters with instant film, including photo opportunities, giveaways and even the chance to customize an Instax camera for free.

The event, which is set for June 18 to July 12, celebrates the upcoming Illumination Minions & Monsters movie (opening on July 01) by allowing the characters to take over the first floor of the Fujifilm House of Photography located in Covent Garden.

Guests will be treated to Minion-themed photo opportunities, including monster Irene. Fujifilm’s new Spot AR photobooths will also be available to try with Minion-themed templates for the instant film.

For two days only, on July 1 and 2nd, viral creator Matt B Customs, a Manchester-based artist known for handcrafted sneaker designs, will be on hand to customize cameras, free of charge.

Fujifilm notes that the customization is only for Instax cameras, and guests will need to choose between a variety of Minion-themed designs. Guests are welcome to bring their existing Instax or purchase a new camera at the House of Photography – no doubt including the Instax Mini 13.

It's not the first time that Matt B Customs has customized Fujifilm cameras – he previously also offered customization during a Fujikina event in 2005.

The event will also include several giveaways, including a trip for two to Rome (which is, of course, also Minion-themed), custom Instax camera giveaways and other Minions merchandise.

The event is free to attend and will continue from June 18 to July 12, with the customizations available only on July 01 and 02. The Fujifilm House of Photography is located at 8-9 Long Acre, London WC2E 9LH.

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I’ve taken a lot of selfies with gear from tripods to, yes, an iPhone with an outstretched arm. But I recently snapped a selfie with an unusual accessory: a camera strap. The Instax Mini 13 has an unusual selfie feature that’s unexpectedly hidden right in the instant film camera’s strap.

As the photographer in my family, I wouldn’t be in my own family albums without selfies – but I have to admit, I hate the awkward outstretched arm in the corner of the photo. But Fujifilm’s newest instant camera has an unusual hack for selfies without the awkward hold or bringing a tripod.

The instant camera’s strap has what looks at first glance like just a cute Instax logo. But this plastic piece is actually a wedge. Placing this wedge underneath the camera, I could actually prop the camera on a tabletop and still angle the camera just right to take a selfie without hauling a tripod along.

That unusual but clever feature comes along with the Instax Mini 13’s selfie timer. Instax’s higher-end cameras have had selfie timers before, but Fujifilm is now finally bringing it to the most affordable, party-ready instant film camera.

That’s a welcome change, as the Instax Mini 13 is the camera that’s more likely to wind up in the hands of casual users. Those selfie-focused changes have arrived as the camera maintains its simple point-and-shoot use and iconic instant film images.

No, the images aren’t going to be perfect. Timing a selfie on instant film is a challenge. But a slowed-down imperfection is the point of shooting with a retro format in the first place.

The Instax Mini 13 was originally unveiled back in March, but wasn’t expected to start shipping to the US until June, with no expected shipping date for the UK. Now, the ship month is here – and UK availability has finally been announced with pre-orders open today.

I’ve long loved the Instax Mini series and, while I think pricier options like the Mini 99 or the hybrid Mini Evo are better for serious photographers, I think the Mini 13 is an easy favorite for parties and snapshots. Instant film is a fantastic way to buck the modern tech trends and AI in a classic format – and the perfect way to slow down while taking snapshots.

The Fujifilm Instax Mini 13 retails for about $94 / £79 / AU$129 / CA$110. Pre-orders for the camera have now opened in multiple regions including the US, UK, Australia and Canada. Shipping is estimated before the end of June.

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The original half-frame Olympus Pen was a huge success, because it was small, inexpensive and had a fast, razor-sharp lens – and the half-frame camera format was thrifty on film.

But even the mighty Olympus Pen died, as people discovered the difficulties in getting a good quality enlargement from the cropped negatives. Yet it still had an amazing 24-year run over various models, finally biting the dust in 1983 after 17 million had been sold.

So why would someone, four years later, try to revive the half-frame film format in a much larger, oddly-shaped camera – one equipped with a nice zoom lens but terrible autofocus, and all at a considerably higher price? That’s a good question, for which I don’t think anyone has a good answer.

To give the Yashica Samurai full credit, the 25-75mm f/4-5.6 zoom lens was really sharp, and faster than the ones in most point-and-shoot cameras at the time.

It featured an inter-lens leaf shutter, programmed auto-exposure, built-in motor drive (claimed to reach 4.5fps) and a built-in electronic flash. The Samurai was a true SLR, exposing half-frame (17 x 24 mm) images on 35mm film.

On the plus side of the ledger, the film ran vertically through the camera – so the photos were in the classic horizontal format, something quite unusual for half-frame cameras.

The Samurai was a nice camera to hold, felt really solid and was fun to use. And the pictures were good, so long as the autofocus cooperated… but the autofocus was its Achilles heel, best described as loud, slow and inaccurate.

The Samurai series of bridge cameras were intended for convenient, one-handed operation, and their style, shape and size were inspired by early camcorders.

They were difficult to shoot with, as the contrast-detection auto-focus was painfully slow and would hunt for several seconds – even with a brightly lit, high-contrast scene. Anything less, and it was worse.

There was, however, one group of people who liked the Samurais, for Yashica did something rarely seen: it made the Samurai S-L, with the plastic case molded for left-handed operation. Lefties loved it!

But, sadly, that was not enough. Introduced in 1987 at $488, Samurais were being advertised by 1989 at just $239. Despite the addition of a pair of lesser-featured models in 1990, that year was also the end of the Samurai series. By 1991 they were gone.

Today they are collectors' items, and can be found in both Yashica and Kyocera branding with accents in either red or teal blue. But, even here, they are coveted only by camera collectors keen on unusual oddities.

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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