Analog photography has been making a comeback over the last few years, including instant film. Now, Fujifilm is working to increase production of its popular Instax film again – a move that’s expected to increase Instax film production by 70 percent compared to 2022 by the time the new production facility begins operations in 2027.

Earlier this week, Fujifilm Japan announced a three billion yen investment at the company’s Ashigara Site Kanagawa Factory – about $18.9 million / £14.2 million / AU$27 million / CA$26.7 million at current exchange rates. The investment will help expand production for Instax film.

The updated production facility is expected to begin operating in the spring of 2027 and be fully operational by the following year. Fujifilm says it's expected to increase film production by 20 percent compared to the current fiscal year.

But, the announcement isn’t the first time that Fujifilm has increased Instax production. Alongside additional investments in Instax from the past few years, the combined enhancements are expected to increase film production by 70 percent compared to 2022.

Last year, Fujifilm said that Instax reached record-high sales numbers for the fifth year in a row. The year before that, Fujifilm reached a 100 million unit milestone in cumulative worldwide sales.

Analog film and retro camera tech have been rising in recent years. Instant film brings some of that same analog charm, but without the wait and cost to send a roll of film to a lab for developing – though Fujifilm’s disposable film cameras have been on the rise in recent years too.

“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,” Fujifilm North America vice president of marketing and consumer products Ashley Reeder Morgan told Digital Camera World earlier this year.

Morgan also noted that, while at the beginning Instax users tended to skew towards younger generations, in recent years the Instax user group has become more diversified.

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Take a look at the best instant film cameras. Or, read about the new Instax Square 2.

The Canon AE-1 is arguably one of Canon’s most well-known film cameras. The AE-1’s classic look, simple shutter-priority mode, and readily available price make the 1976 camera a popular choice even for modern analog photographers. But the film camera that I bought is actually its less well-known sibling: The Canon A-1.

A few weekends ago, I went to what could only be described as camera nerd heaven: A vintage camera swap hosted by a historical photography club nearby. I’d put a few rolls of film through my Pentax K1000, but I went to the vintage camera sale on the lookout for one feature in particular: Double exposure.

On a majority of film cameras, the shutter is locked after a photo is taken until the film advance lever is pulled, which prevents an accidental double exposure. On cameras that don’t have a double exposure mode, like the Pentax K1000, there’s a workaround that involves partially winding the film roll back to expose the shot a second time.

But the thought of messing with the winder and not getting the film to line up just so made me a bit nervous – hence my search for a film camera with a double exposure mode.

I didn’t have a particular model in mind, just the double-exposure feature, but I was immediately drawn to the iconic look of the A-1. The Canon A-1 has a small lever at the top that will cock the shutter without advancing the film, essentially creating a double exposure mode.

While the double exposure mode is what drew me to the Canon A-1, the more I started exploring the camera’s multitude of features, the more I fell in love with it. The Canon AE-1 shoots in shutter priority mode, but the A-1 can shoot in full manual, aperture priority, shutter priority, and programmed auto exposure.

The A-1 was reportedly the first electronic SLR to combine those four modes that are now standard on pro cameras, as it was the first with an electronically controlled programmed auto exposure mode.

The A-1 may be from 1978, but it uses a microcomputer to display the light meter readings at the bottom of the viewfinder. It even has a built-in self-timer.

The Canon AE-1 is the simpler camera to use, but the A-1 is the camera with more built-in tools. That does make the camera harder to learn. I had to look up a few tutorials, even as someone who shoots digital photos professionally.

I’ve just put my first roll of film through the Canon A-1, and I can’t wait to get it developed. But if first impressions are anything to go by, this is a retro analog camera that I hope will get a lot of use.

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Looking for a vintage film camera? I recommend looking at reputable used camera dealers, like MPB or KEH Camera. Or, take a look at the best film cameras or the best 35mm film.

In 1920 The Czech playwright Karel Čapek had introduced the word "robot" to the world in his play R.U.R., where it meant an “automatic worker”.

The term seemed to fit, for while most manufacturers concentrated on making cameras that produced a single carefully composed photograph, the Robot was designed to make many photographs quickly, reliably, and almost automatically. In many respects it anticipated the motor-driven cameras that would not become commonplace for another 30 years.

The Robot story begins with Heinz Kilfitt, who later became famous for his Kilfitt lenses and other camera designs. He was the son of a German watchmaker and inherited an intimate understanding of precision mechanisms. During the early 1930s, he admired the Leica cameras, but wondered why the photographer needed to wind the film. Could not the camera do that?

So Kilfitt designed a clockwork spring motor, much like that used in a movie camera. A single winding of the spring advanced the film and cocked the shutter, allowing rapid-fire photography for the first time. Yet, both Kodak and Agfa rejected his proposals.

Fortunately, a young entrepreneur, Hans (Heinrich) Berning, saw its potential and founded Otto Berning & Co. in Düsseldorf to manufacture Kilfitt’s design. The original Robot immediately stood apart from every other miniature camera.

Among its innovations were the spring-motor film advance, which allowed shots to be taken at the breakneck speed of 4 photos per second. This was unheard of in the 1930s and foreshadowed the motor drives and winders of the 1960s and 70s. He also pioneered the rotary shutter, variations of which were used in many later cameras, such as the Olympus Pen F and the American-made Mercury. And because it was a focal-plane shutter, it accepted interchangeable lenses.

But the most brilliant idea was the adoption of a 24 x 24 mm negative, which allowed 50 exposures on a 36-exposure roll. When shooting at around four frames per second, this made a huge difference to film costs, and mimicked the format of the Rolleiflex.

Just prior to World War Two, in 1938, the Robot II refined the original design with better film transport, flash synchronization, a somewhat larger body for easier handling, and more interchangeable lenses.

During World War Two, the Robot became far more than a civilian camera as it was adapted to serve as Luftwaffe gun cameras and for reconnaissance and use in bombers for bomb-damage assessment. The spring drive was ideal for military use because it required no batteries and functioned reliably under harsh conditions. The compact size and rapid sequence capability made them invaluable.

After the war, Berning resumed civilian production and in 1951 brought out the Robot IIa, which was now compatible with Kodak’s new, standardized 35mm film cartridges, making the camera much easier to use.

It was followed by the Robot Star, which introduced an improved finder and automatic filml rewind. It became the classic, post-war Robot. Perhaps the ultimate Robots were the Royal 34 and Royal 36, which featured coupled rangefinders, interchangeable finders (for the different lenses) and speeds approaching six frames per second!

The Royal 24 and Royal 36 were intended as premium professional cameras competing with Leica and Contax. Mechanically, they were masterpieces, but commercially they struggled because they were expensive and arrived just as Japanese cameras were beginning to dominate photography.

Ironically, Robot achieved its greatest commercial success outside consumer photography. Thousands of Robot cameras were sold for bank surveillance, industrial inspection, scientific recording, and traffic enforcement. The spring motors were eventually replaced by electric drives and very large film magazines.

Many European (and some North American) speed trap cameras of the 1960s through the 1990s were, in essence, heavily modified Robot cameras.

Civilian Robot cameras continued in small numbers into the 1990s, with the last collector-oriented models appearing in 1996. By then, however, the company's primary business had shifted to industrial, surveillance, and traffic-enforcement imaging systems. The Robot name later became part of the Jenoptik group and survives today in industrial imaging rather than consumer cameras.

Robot cameras have an outsized reputation because they remained in production for over 60 years. But they were always a specialist product. Nobody knows for sure, but a realistic estimate is that approximately 110,000 to 130,000 consumer Robot cameras were built between 1934 and 1996.

The Robot remains one of the more interesting cameras of the twentieth century, despite never approaching the commercial success of Leica, Nikon, or Pentax. But it introduced many features that we now take for granted, long before their time.

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 Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo Cinema is unusual as far as cameras go – for starters, it has a “time travel” dial that recalls styles of past decades, and it’s an instant film camera that “prints” videos. But the retro camera’s design is unusual enough that the camera just earned a new title: A Time Magazine Best Inventions of 2026.

When I tried out the Evo Cinema earlier this year, I called it the “strangest camera that I’ve ever used” based on the camera’s incredibly fun decade dial that calls up a specific video style from the past. That’s not the only unusual part, though – the Evo Cinema also feels like a modern, miniature remake of an old Super 8 video camera with its trigger-style recording.

The editorial staff at Time must have agreed. The Best Inventions awards are given out based on four key factors: originality, efficacy, ambition, and impact. The Evo Cinema’s originality is obvious in the unusual design, and creating a video camera built around the Instax still photo system also certainly feels ambitious.

Time writes that the Instax Mini Evo Cinema “offers oodles of analog charm in a digital-friendly package.”

While the Evo Cinema is a unique camera, it shares several features in common with other Instax digital hybrids, including a 5MP 1/5-inch sensor and a built-in printer that uses Instax Mini film. Last year, Time also gave a Best Invention title to the Instax Wide Evo.

The Instax Mini Evo Cinema wasn’t the only camera on TIME’s list of 300 inventions. The Nikon ZR also earned recognition for its compact design mixed with a full-frame sensor and RED color science. GoPro’s first mirrorless camera, the Mission 1 Pro ILS, also earned honors.

Along with those cameras, TIME's Invention of the Year also recognized gear like the HooverAir Aqua waterproof drone, Aura’s e-Ink digital picture frame, Honor’s gimbal-clad Robot Phone, and even a light meter, the Lit Duo 1.

It feels entirely appropriate that the time-traveling Instax Mini Evo Cinema has also earned a place in modern tech history as one of the Best Inventions of 2026.

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Take a look at the best hybrid digital instant cameras for more inspiration, or check out another camera made to look like an old Super 8, the Camp Snap CS-8.

Digital creator Kai George claims that an LA-based camera repair shop has returned her heirloom Rolleiflex camera in a significantly different state than was originally supplied. The camera, which belonged to her late grandmother, is at the center of a dispute that George has dubbed ‘Camera Gate’ on her Instagram account (@kailaide), posting regular video updates as the situation has unfolded.

The Rolleiflex camera

The camera at the heart of the dispute is a Rolleiflex 3.5F Planar, a legendary German-made twin-lens reflex medium-format film camera produced from 1958 to 1976. Rolleiflex prices vary wildly on the used market, depending on the exact model and condition. However, such cameras can regularly be found used for upwards of $1,000.

The camera dispute

Roughly a week ago, George posted a video explaining that her grandmother’s old Rolleiflex camera had been found in a drawer and that she had taken it to LA-based Walter’s Camera and Digital Repairs for cleaning.

Another video was posted showing an initial interaction with a shop employee, who assessed the camera. He explained that the lens element was in good condition, but the mirror needed replacing and the shutter was sticking. George was quoted $450 for the work.

The dispute began when George returned to pick up the camera, captioning the video with the following allegations: “Missing parts, dents and scratches??!” This is the first of multiple video posts detailing the ongoing dispute in which George has challenged the camera repair store directly, going so far as to discuss the matter with the police, who explained that the dispute was a civil matter.

The basis of George’s claims is that the camera is not in the same condition as it was when it was handed over, citing various discrepancies, alleging that some parts are different or missing.

In the second video, a store employee can be heard explaining: “The tools that allow you not to damage small, intricate pieces, they do not make them anymore.” At the beginning of another video, the employee says: “It dissolved the leather piece,” when referring to alcohol application on the camera’s leather.

The current situation

In the most recent video, George takes the camera to another repair shop, Rolleiflex camera specialist Rollei Repairs, and explains to the owner that the serial numbers match: “So, yeah, got the camera now, the serial numbers match, they… I feel like it just looks in worse condition than what I actually gave it to them in.”

Digital Camera World has reached out to Walter’s Camera and Digital Repairs for comment, but has not yet received a reply. This article will be updated accordingly should the website receive one.

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Check out the latest camera news. If you're interested in vintage cameras, take a look at the best film cameras. If you'd like something that looks old but functions like a modern device, he are the best retro cameras.

Ask any photographer who shoots real film the reason behind choosing analog, and I’m guessing the answer is going to have the word “color” in it. The new Fujifilm Instax Square 2 instant film camera has a built-in party trick just for color.

The Instax Square 2 feels like a larger version of the Instax Mini 13 in that it’s a fully automatic camera built to be simple enough that nearly anyone can find success with it. But the one unusual feature the Square 2 hides gives creators more control over moody colors with a built-in warm (orange) and cool (blue) filter that’s activated with a flick of a switch.

Fujifilm Instax Square 2: Specs

• Film: Fujifilm Instax Square
• Film size: 86mm x 72mm
• Picture size: 62mm x 62mm
• Developing time: Approximately 90 seconds
• Viewfinder: Reverse Galilean finder, 0.4x with target spot
• Lens: 65.75mm 1:12.6
• Exposure: Automatic, 1/2 to 1/400 shutter speed with slow syncro for low light
• Flash: Constant fire with automatic light adjustment
• Lens range: 0.3m and beyond
• Battery: 4 AA batteries, lasts about 30 packs of film
• Dimensions: 139 x 119.5 x 71mm / 5.47 x 4.7 x 2.79 inches
• Weight: 450g (without batteries, film, or strap)

Fujifilm Instax Square 2: Price

The Instax Square 2 is expected to retail for $119.95 / £94.99 / CA$139.99. That puts the camera at a bit higher price point than the smaller format Instax Mini 13, but under the price of the Instax Square SQ40.

The cost of film is always a consideration with any analog camera, and the Instax Square film packs sit at about $22 for a pack of 20, which comes to about $1.10 each photo. That’s around half the cost of Polaroid i-Type film, which is $19 for an eight-pack.

Fujifilm Instax Square 2: Build and Handling

The larger film format creates a chunkier camera – but the trade-off is that it also gives the Instax Square 2 a more comfortable grip than cameras like the Instax Mini 13. The camera is rather oversized at 139 x 119.5 x 71mm / 5.47 x 4.7 x 2.79 inches, but competing Polaroids aren’t “compact cameras” either.

That larger design does give my hands a nice grip to wrap around, which is also where the four AA batteries hide. The shutter button rests right where my index finger lies naturally, so it’s a comfortable design considering the size.

Twisting the control around the lens turns the camera on and also houses the three modes: landscape, standard, and close-up.

A switch near the lens controls the camera’s new “mood modes,” which can create a cooler or warmer look to the shot. There’s also a small mirror on the front to aid with selfies.

The back of the camera houses the door for the film packs. Loading is simple; just remember to line the yellow on the film pack with the yellow mark on the camera. There’s a small window that shows the number of shots remaining.

The camera uses a classic optical viewfinder.

Fujifilm Instax Square 2: Performance

The Instax Square 2 is almost a fully automatic camera, right down to the flash that can’t be switched off. That makes the camera very easy to use. The only thing to remember is to adjust the lens, which has landscape, standard, or close-up mode based on what you are shooting.

While the Square 2 is simple enough that a kid could use it, serious photographers may be more disappointed by the lack of controls. I would love for a Square version of the Instax Mini 99 with a bit more tools to customize the shot, but that’s not what Square 2 is – and thankfully the price reflects its beginner status.

The instant photos spit out the top and take a rather quick 90 seconds to develop.

I’ve shot with several Instax Mini cameras, and the Square 2 delivers everything that I’ve come to expect from Instax film, just in a larger, square format. I didn’t spot any unusual lines that may indicate a roller error or other negative surprises.

The photos pack in the colorful charm of analog film and often feel a bit moodier than the real-life scene.

The Square 2 has a built-in warm and cool filter that allows for controlling that mood a bit more. The cool filter creates a more hazy look that I think would be great for urban portraits and indoor parties, while I wanted to leave the warm filter on permanently while photographing fall colors.

The fully automatic design meant a few occasional exposure errors. Not being able to turn off the flash can create bright spots, particularly when shooting close to the subject.

On the flip side, shots taken just before golden hour in a forest rendered a little too dark.

The camera's three lens modes do leave room for focus errors, particularly with close-ups. The close mode is meant for .3 to .5m (about one foot to 1.6 feet). The standard mode is meant for .5 m to 3m (about 1.6 feet to 9.8 feet), and the landscape mode for anything beyond that distance.

That is, of course, all par for the course when shooting instant film, which is meant to be more charming than perfect. The images from the Square 2 met my expectations and were exactly what I was expecting after using Mini series cameras like the Instax Mini 13.

Fujifilm Instax Square 2: Verdict

The Fujifilm Instax Square 2 is a fun, simple-to-use instant film camera with a classic square film that’s competitively priced compared to Polaroid refills. With nearly everything automated, it’s an analog camera that anyone can use.

There are just two things to control on the camera – the lens mode (landscape, standard, close-up) and a moody color filter to add warmth or cool down those film tones with a simple switch.

More serious shooters may wish for more controls and creative modes like double exposures. But for easy analog? The Square 2 is an easy win.

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Shooting film is all about the retro colors – but Fujifilm’s new square format shooter levels up its color game with built-in blue and orange filters. The Fujifilm Instax Square 2 is an instant film camera with classic square prints and a surprisingly easy set of features.

Announced late on October 13, the Square 2 ends a three-year gap since the last square-format shooter from Instax, the SQ40. Instax's square cameras have been hard to find in many regions, with Fujifilm Japan apologizing earlier this year when production couldn't keep up with orders for the six-year-old original SQ1.

Now, the Instax is back with a new model, along with a new film, Instax Square Haze, which is designed for reduced contrast and a softer look.

The Instax Square 2 is almost fully automatic. The exposure is fully automatic, and the flash can’t be turned off. But photographers do need to remember to twist the dial on the lens to close-up, standard, or landscape mode to get the subject in focus.

While built for simplicity rather than advanced controls, there is one unusual creative tool built in. Flipping a switch on the front of the lens adds a blue or orange filter across the lens. The blue filter creates moody shots that feel a bit more hazy with cooler colors. The orange filter, meanwhile, adds a pop of warmth – I didn’t want to turn it off when out snapping photos of fall colors.

While serious photographers may have been hoping for something with controls more along the lines of the Instax Mini 99, the Square 2 is simple enough that I think even older kids could use it. The built-in filters add more mood to the already charming instant film.

I’ve shot with several Instax cameras. The Square 2’s larger film format comes with a much chunkier camera than the options from the Instax Mini series. It’s a 450g / 15.9-ounce camera without the film or batteries loaded. Like the Instax Mini SE, the Square 2 also uses replaceable AA batteries instead of a rechargeable one.

That simpler design also heralds in a more basic price point, with the camera expected to retail for $119.95 / £94.99 / CA$139.99. That’s not much higher than the Instax Mini 13 and is under the list price of the existing Instax SQ40 – though the older camera is hard to find at US retailers.

The new Instax Square Haze film pack brings a softer look to the photos and is expected to list for $18.99 / £9.99 / CA$16.99 per pack. Both the new camera and film are expected to begin shipping before the end of October.

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Take a look at the Instax Square 2 review, or browse the best instant film cameras.

Fujifilm’s disposable QuickSnap cameras are very, very big business. As of 2026, the manufacturer has sold more than 1.7 billion of these little single-use 35mm cameras in the 40 years that they’ve been on the market – and yes, that’s ‘billion’ with a ‘b’. This year, Fuji refreshed the line a little with two new QuickSnap models, one of which is the slim, fetching Fujifilm QuickSnap Black and White.

Pre-loaded with 27 shots of ISO400 monochrome 35mm film, the Fujifilm QuickSnap Black and White is exactly what you’d expect from a disposable camera. It sports a wide-angle lens made of plastic, its settings are fixed, and once you’ve rattled through your exposures, you’re done – it’s time to send the camera off to be broken open and developed.

So, the QuickSnap Black and White promises to be a take-everywhere all-rounder of a disposable camera in fetching, stylish monochrome. How does it measure up? I took it on a long walk to find out.

Specifications

Price

The Fujifilm QuickSnap Black and White is, as you might expect, very cheap. It comes at a recommended price of $22.90 / £20.99 / AU$34.95, pre-loaded with a roll of 27 exposures. This isn’t the cheapest on the market – Kodak’s FunSaver disposables tend to be a few dollars less – but it’s about in line with what you’d expect a disposable to go for in 2026.

Also, interestingly, despite the fact that this edition of the QuickSnap uses black & white film, Fujifilm says that it can be developed via the standard C41 process normally used for color film. This not only provides some fairly strong hints as to which film stock is probably inside it (more on which later), but also means that development is slightly cheaper, as most labs will charge less for C41 development than B&W.

Design & handling

One of the first things that will likely strike you about the Fujifilm QuickSnap Black and White is just how tiny it is. Weighing just 90g and measuring just 115mm along its longest edge, this is a properly pocketable camera. Heading out with the QuickSnap, I found I was able to tuck it neatly into my front jacket pocket and quickly draw it out when I wanted to capture a moment. I loved that.

Controls are, of course, very limited. On the top is the shutter release button, on the rear is the standard wind-on wheel, and on the front is the switch to activate the flash. When you do activate the flash, a clear plastic cube pops up on the top of the camera, which then glows red once the flash is charged and ready to use. An inconsequential little touch, maybe, but I rather liked it.

It’s all made of cheap plastic, of course. But overall, the ergonomics of the QuickSnap Black and White were better than I expected. It was addictively easy to pull the camera out for quick grab shots, and once I hit my limit of 27 exposures and the wind-on wheel no longer stopped turning, I was genuinely a little disappointed – though of course, I now had the excitement of waiting to see how my shots had come out.

Performance

Fujifilm has not specified what exactly the ISO400 monochrome film inside the Quicksnap actually is – whether it’s a proprietary new stock, or something borrowed from another manufacturer like Ilford. Given that it’s a ISO400 black and white film that can be developed using the C41 process, it seems entirely plausible that it’s Ilford XP2 Super 400; Fujifilm doesn't make its own ISO400 black and white film - the only one it does make is the ISO100 Neopan Acros 100II. Looking at my QuickSnap scans side by side with images I’ve previously shot on XP2, I can’t say for sure whether it is the same film – but it is pretty similar.

Fine by me. I like XP2. Regardless, whatever the stock inside actually is, the Fujifilm QuickSnap Black & White delivers images that look pretty darn good, with a wide range of tones from deep blacks to glowing highlights. The fine grain means a decent level of detail when you’re shooting up close, and there’s enough contrast for images to have the level of drama that monochrome shooters are looking for. The flash is also handy, providing a burst of illumination where needed – I found it filled out a self-portrait quite pleasantly, adding drama and contrast without blowing the image out.

There are limits, of course. It’s a disposable. The plastic lens is only going to give you so much, and the edges and corners of images are very soft indeed. You’re locked into a 27mm perspective, and at distance, details can become a bit muddy and indistinct. The camera’s fixed settings mean that you can’t adjust exposure for challenging shooting situations, like a strong backlight. And sometimes, conditions are so bright that the exposure is simply overwhelmed.

But of course, none of these are problems with the Fujifilm QuickSnap specifically – they’re baked into the concept of a disposable. You’re not going to buy this camera if any of these things are a deal-breaker. And honestly, this is one of my favourite disposables that I’ve used.

Verdict

I really enjoyed shooting with the QuickSnap Black & White and I really liked a high percentage of the images I produced with it. It’s tough to argue with that. All the criticisms I’d make of it are just things that are inherent to disposables – the limited settings, the soft lens, the wasteful nature of all its single-use plastic. You know all that.

What can I say – I was charmed! The camera is a slim, tidy object that’s genuinely pocketable, easy to take everywhere, and its attractive monochrome images feel a cut above standard disposable shots in terms of quality. Black & white isn’t for everyone, of course – but of all the disposables I’ve used, this is the one that I’m most tempted to buy again.

Alternatives

The original Minox is the stuff spy legends are made of, and it became one of the most famous cameras ever made. People would recognize it on sight, even if they could not remember the brand. But that was not what its inventor, Walter Zapp, had in mind.

Zapp felt that cameras had become unnecessarily large and complicated. During the early 1930s he envisioned a camera that could, and should, fit in a waistcoat pocket, produce enlargements of surprisingly high quality, and require almost no adjustments to operate. It was a tall order!

His earliest prototypes were built between 1932 and 1935 with the help of Richard Jürgens; a precision machinist and mechanical engineer. Jürgens ran a small precision workshop in Riga during the early 1930s. Walter Zapp had conceived the Minox but lacked the facilities and practical machining expertise to turn his ideas into a working instrument.

The first working Minox prototypes, completed around 1935–1936, were largely fabricated in Jürgens' workshop. Without his craftsmanship, it is doubtful that Zapp's concept would have gone beyond paper drawings. Yet it progressed to the point where it attracted the interest of the Latvian electronics company VEF.

Zapp’s revolutionary design featured a stainless-steel body that could be concealed inside a clenched fist. Extending the shell simultaneously advanced the film and cocked the shutter. Focus was by guesstimation, with closeups measured with bumps on a chain. No camera like it had existed before.

Once the prototypes proved successful, Zapp began approaching manufacturers, but most dismissed the project almost immediately, saying it was too complicated to manufacture.

From a business perspective, this was a reasonable concern.

The turning point came when Zapp demonstrated the camera to executives at VEF (Valsts Elektrotehniskā Fabrika), Latvia's state-owned electrical manufacturing company.

Although VEF specialized in electronics, it also possessed one of the finest precision engineering facilities in Northern Europe.

The demonstration reportedly astonished the engineers. But even after VEF expressed interest, many engineers remained skeptical. The greatest challenge was not designing the camera—it was manufacturing thousands of identical examples. The camera contained around 140 precision parts, many of them tiny and requiring exceptionally close tolerances.

Remember, this was the mid-1930s. Modern CNC machines did not exist. Every operation relied on precision lathes, milling machines, jigs, and highly skilled workers.

Eventually VEF's management approved the project. It was a remarkably bold decision as the company had no proof that a market even existed for such a camera. Still, they invested heavily in tooling and optical manufacturing equipment. When production finally began in 1938, the Minox emerged as perhaps the most precisely engineered miniature camera ever built. But the timing was disastrous for the young Minox enterprise. By the time the Soviet’s invaded Latvia in June of 1940, production was well established. Some production continued, but the Soviets shifted more and more resources to military communications equipment, and production fell.

After a year, the German army invaded, as part of their war on the Eastern front. Under German control, production of Minox cameras resumed on a limited basis during the occupation. In all, some 17,000 “Riga Minox” cameras were produced.

When the Red Army returned in 1944, Walter Zapp fled westward rather than remain under renewed Soviet rule. He eventually settled in Wetzlar, West Germany, where he succeeded in reviving Minox production in 1948 under the newly formed Minox GmbH.

The new factory was established in Wetzlar, Germany—the city already famous for precision optics and home to E. Leitz GmbH, makers of the Leica. Unlike Leitz, Minox manufactured virtually every component in-house, including shutters, film cassettes and lenses. A level of vertical integration that was extraordinary for such a small manufacturer.

The postwar cameras became known simply as the Minox A, Though nearly identical to the Riga model, manufacturing quality became even higher.

During the next forty years Minox produced a remarkable succession of models.
The Minox B (for Belichtungsmesser, the German word for light-meter) became the best-known model and is often considered the classic Minox. In all, from 1928 to then end of production in 2003, just under one million Minox miniature cameras were made.

Despite a tiny 8×11mm negative, Minox cameras produced enlargements rivalling much larger cameras. Most models used the superb 15mm f/3.5 Complan though later versions introduced others. All of them could resolve extraordinarily fine detail.

No discussion of Minox would be complete without mentioning espionage. Many intelligence agencies reportedly used Minox cameras, including those of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, East Germany, Israel and undoubtedly many more who simply don’t want to say.

The Minox became so closely linked with spies that it appeared in countless novels and films. But, in reality, most Minox cameras were purchased by ordinary people.

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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One of the strongest childhood memories most of us have, me included, is of cameras coming out at family gatherings. And during the 1970s and 80s the camera that typically came out most often was a Polaroid.

It was undoubtedly the theater of the device’s operation plus the immediate output that appealed to us kids. There was no need to wait a week to fully see the results, just a couple of minutes.

Prior to the instant gratification digital photography gifted us, an image emerging through the cigarette fog of my grandparents’ living room and appearing on the milky white Polaroid paper felt like magic being witnessed.

Recent Polaroid-branded cameras have done little to dispel the market dominance of Fujifilm Instax, however, which snatched the ball from Polaroid in the mid 2000s and ran with it.

But could all that be set to change with the introduction of the Polaroid Mod? Is there still time and opportunity for the instant print pioneer regain the crown? And why am I suddenly re-enthused after so many years?

Because the Polaroid Mod finally feels like a step forward. And by giving the filter-enabled smartphone generation a relatable creative option via its lens encircling mode dial, thereby making it easy to quickly switch from fully auto capture to hands-on experimentation.

Deliberate double exposures, split frames, the ability to freeze motion with flash plus light painting style effects can be accessed via a dial twiddle. When the current trend is to embrace photographic imperfections as somehow more ‘authentic’ than a perfect shot, the Mod, with all the built-in quirks that come with Polaroid prints, feels like a camera for our AI-weary times.

Because one of the best things about photography is not just the possibility to freeze time and, with it, a passing moment, but also its ability to enchant us with the process. Polaroid cameras and instant print photography deliver on both accounts, while giving us something tangible, affordable and accessible.

Though the price per print still gives reason to grumble, it feels like a price worth paying. No wonder they are being embraced by successive and otherwise very different generations.

I went to a vintage camera swap over the weekend, and as I was geeking out over the tables of film cameras, one style in particular caught my attention: brass accents. But now film brand Lomography has read my mind. The Lomomatic 110 Panthera is an analog camera with a brass body and leopard print pattern that feels like it stepped out of the 1970s.

The Panthera color launches alongside the Ladybug, a glossy red camera with, as the name hints, black polka dots.

Both the Panthera and the Ladybug are refreshed designs of an existing film camera, the Lomomatic 110. The 110 format is arguably an easier entry into film photography because 110 film is built into a plastic cartridge that pops into the back of the camera rather than learning how to correctly spool 35mm film.

The Lomomatic 110 mixes that smaller film format with a 23mm lens – that lens is built from glass, so it should have better sharpness and clarity than the plastic lenses from disposable film cameras.

The Lomomatic 110 shoots with auto exposure, but photographers can also choose from f/2.8 or f/5.6 aperture using buttons at the top of the camera for more control. The camera uses zone focusing, as well as an ISO control to match the film that’s loaded inside.

The camera also brings back another iconic retro feature from old compact cameras: a sliding design. But rather than sliding one piece over the lens, the end of the camera slides out to open the lens, which also helps to make the film camera a bit smaller when not out shooting.

I shoot with film becuase film is fun – and having a wild, retro design elevates that experience. The Panthera isn’t Lomography’s only brass body 110 camera either, joining the earlier Lomomatic 110 Bellagio, which is still available.

The Ladybug joins several other color options at a $119 / £109 / AU$189 / CA$159 price point. Because the Panthera uses brass, it sits at a slightly higher price than the earlier Bellagio at $189 / £169 / AU$289 / CA$259. Film and a battery (one CR2 required) is not included.

The new Panthera and Ladybug color options are available to order from Lomography.

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Scanning film at home can be expensive. Dedicated scanners can cost the same as dropping dozens of rolls off at the lab for scanning. However, the Lomography DigitaLIZA Max aims to make this a lot more affordable.

What separates the Max from the cheaper DigitaLIZA+ is the included smartphone stand, which means you can also turn your phone into a film digitizer. The kit supports 35mm, 120, 110, and 127 film, including less conventional formats such as panoramas and frames incorporating exposed sprocket holes. Lomography has also updated the backlight to a CRI 97 panel.

Getting quality film scans with a capable smartphone sounds like a dream, but is this setup actually good enough to earn a place in our best film scanners guide?

Specifications

Price

The DigitaLIZA Max originally launched in 2022 for $99, but the current US price has risen slightly to $109.90. At the time of writing, Lomography lists it for £84.90 in the UK, €99 in Europe and A$159 in Australia.

I think that still represents very good value, particularly if you are curious about digitizing your own film but aren't quite ready to commit several hundred dollars to a more serious setup. Importantly, most of what you need is already in the box, with your phone providing the most expensive part of the system.

There is a cheaper DigitaLIZA+ if you know you only want to scan using a digital camera, although for the relatively modest extra cost I think the Max's smartphone stand makes the complete kit considerably more versatile.

Design & Handling

The DigitaLIZA Max arrives as a neat little package of components, and getting everything assembled is refreshingly straightforward. Nothing here feels particularly luxurious, and there is a fair amount of plastic, but everything feels sturdy and secure enough for what it needs to do and about right for the price.

I would have liked some kind of storage case or sleeve in the box, though. There are quite a few individual pieces once you include the masks and holders, and these are exactly the sort of things I can imagine slowly disappearing unless you keep everything together.

The film holder attaches magnetically to the base, which makes assembling and dismantling the setup quick, although I would have preferred slightly stronger magnets.

The film masks also sit on top of the lightbox underneath the holder, which then prevents the holder from attaching directly to the base magnetically, so it can slide around. I think a slot or some other method of fixing this mask directly into the holder would have made the whole arrangement feel much more secure.

The 35mm mask itself is also a fairly tight fit around a standard frame, which requires some careful positioning if you want to make sure you capture everything. The corners of the opening are slightly curved as well, and I had a few negatives where the image extended marginally farther than the mask allowed, meaning I had to make a decision about cropping during the scanning process rather than afterward.

Once the film is loaded, however, the wind-on mechanism works very well. It is smooth enough to make moving through a strip of negatives quick, but precise enough that lining an individual frame up with the mask never became frustrating.

Mounting a phone is similarly simple. The clamp is built into the stand, and I had no trouble getting different phones securely positioned above the negative. If you would rather use a proper camera, the smartphone stand can be removed entirely, although you then need your own tripod or, preferably, a copy stand to keep the camera square with the film.

The backlight can be powered by two AA batteries, which makes the whole setup genuinely portable. I found that it really does need relatively fresh batteries, though, as the panel became noticeably dimmer when I tried using older cells.

You can alternatively power it over Micro USB, but that connection already feels somewhat antiquated in 2026, and there isn't even a cable supplied in the box. I suspect quite a few people have reached the point where finding a spare Micro USB cable involves digging through a drawer of long-abandoned wires.

Performance

There is no such thing as a universal "DigitaLIZA Max image quality". The DigitaLIZA Max itself is really only one half of the scanning equation, because the quality of the final image depends enormously on what you point at the negative.

I initially tried scanning with an iPhone, but I didn't have much success with its macro capabilities at the distance and framing required by the setup. I got considerably better results using the Oppo Find X9 Ultra, whose 50MP 3x camera gave me much stronger close-up images and allowed me to fill far more of the frame with the negative.

The backlight and film holder combo performs really well. It kept the film flat enough for me to achieve consistent images; illumination was even across the frame, and I couldn't see any meaningful shift in color from one part of the negative to another (this version uses a CRI 97-rated light source).

I experimented with photographing an entire 35mm frame, including the film borders, rather than cropping tightly to the image area. Even when allowing the surrounding lightbox into the shot, I was still able to get good results, with only a small amount of light bleed appearing around the edges of some particularly dark images.

The supplied 35mm mask does an excellent job of cutting that stray light when you don't want the border included, although its very tight opening and slightly rounded corners are a bit odd.

Using a smartphone isn't going to give you quite the same sharpness or fine detail as a good digital camera paired with a proper macro lens, but for images I wanted to post on Instagram or other social platforms, the better phone scans were easily good enough, and the convenience of being able to get an image from a negative so quickly is the biggest part of the DigitaLIZA Max's appeal.

If I were digitizing a negative because I wanted to archive it at the highest quality possible or make a large print, I would still get out my mirrorless camera, macro lens, and tripod. But the Max gives you that option as well.

Whichever device you use, I would also strongly recommend capturing RAW files wherever your camera or phone allows it. Negative conversion inevitably involves fairly significant adjustments to color, contrast, and exposure, and having the extra latitude of a RAW file makes that process considerably easier.

All the photos in this review were converted using Negative Lab Pro.

Verdict

I enjoyed using the DigitaLIZA Max because it takes something that can otherwise become very complicated and makes it very manageable. Loading and advancing film is straightforward, the backlight is excellent, and capturing with a smartphone is incredibly simple.

It isn't completely polished. I would like the film masks to lock into place more securely, stronger magnets would make the whole assembly feel more solid, and Micro USB really should have disappeared by now. A simple case to keep all the individual pieces together would also have been welcome.

Those issues don't undermine what the DigitaLIZA Max does well, though. For around $100, you can digitize several different film formats using equipment you already own, and with a capable phone I got results that I was more than happy to use online. When I need more, I can swap the phone for a proper camera.

Alternatives

Viral cameras like the Kodak Charmera have brought tiny cameras back into the spotlight – but tiny cameras are far from a modern concept. In the mid-1950s, Leica built a half-frame 35mm film camera that measured only 10 cm – about 2.5 inches – tall.

The Leica Box camera is a prototype from the mid-1950s. The camera measured just 100 x 64 x 48mm – about 3.9 x 2.5 x 1.8 inches – and used a fixed tiny Leitz Summaron lens.

Despite the small size, the camera took 35mm film loaded using a special cassette system. The Leica Box shot in half-frame format, getting twice as many shots per roll. And while many modern compact cameras skip the viewfinder, the Leica Box still fit in a tiny optical viewfinder, a shutter speed dial, and an aperture ring around the built-in lens.

While the Box camera is tiny, the compact camera bears the classic styling that makes it look more like a miniature member of the longstanding Leica M system family. The camera was made with solid metal, finished with chrome and black vulcanite.

The Leica Box, sadly, never made it out of prototype stage – making it extremely rare to find one. But the Leitz Photographica Auction has what it believes is the only working Leica Box in existence. The only other Leica Box camera known to exist is in the Leica Museum, but it doesn’t work.

The camera’s designers appeared to have considered a few different lens options, including a 2.8 cm (28mm), 3.5cm (35mm), and a 5cm (50mm). The prototype up for auction used a fixed 3.5cm (35mm) lens, but the non-working version in the museum had a 2.8cm (28mm) lens.

The Leica Box, with serial number 000.01, will be up for auction beginning on October 29. Leitz Photographica Auction currently estimates the camera could fetch as much as €500,000 – or about $562,875 / £424,006 / AU$805,921 / CA$799,902.

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The Pentax 6x7 (later simplified to the Pentax 67) was one of the great medium format cameras, combining the handling of a 35mm SLR with the image quality of 120 roll film.

For many photographers, it offered the ideal balance between portability, simplicity, reliability and exceptional image quality. Even today, almost 60 years after the system's introduction, it remains one of the most sought-after film cameras.

Development of the camera began in the mid-1960s as Asahi Optical (now Pentax, a brand owned by RIcoh) wanted to build a medium format SLR that would feel familiar to photographers accustomed to 35mm SLRs.

Rather than copying the square 6x6 format used by Hasselblad, Bronica and others, Pentax chose the 6x7cm format, producing negatives approximately 56x70mm – about 4.5 times the area of a 35mm frame and, more importantly, a 4:5 image ratio, a perfect match for the standard 8x10-inch print.

It was first shown as a prototype at the Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany, in 1966, but was called the Pentax 220 – as Pentax wanted to emphasize that it could use the new 220 film introduced by Kodak the year before.

Unlike most medium format cameras, the Pentax 6x7 was intentionally designed to resemble an oversized 35mm SLR. It featured a right-hand shutter release, a film-wind lever, a focal-plane shutter and interchangeable lenses.

Someone familiar with a Pentax Spotmatic, Nikon F or Canon F-1 (or virtually any modern 35mm SLR) could begin using the Pentax almost immediately. It is a big, heavy camera, but one that balances well in the hand.

It made 10 exposures on a roll of 120 film or 20 exposures on 220 film (21 on the later 67II). The Pentax used a cloth focal-plane shutter, with speeds to 1/1000 sec and flash sync at 1/30 sec. This meant simpler (lower cost) lenses with larger maximum apertures.

The first production Asahi Pentax 6x7 appeared in 1969, while the final version, the Pentax 67II, remained in production until 2009, giving the system an exceptional 40-year life.

The four versions were a fairly straightforward evolution. The 6x7MLU followed in 1976 and was identical except for the addition of a mirror lock-up, to eliminate the mirror-slap (desirable as it greatly reduced mirror-induced vibration during long exposures and close-up work).

In 1989 the electronics were updated, it was given a cosmetic overhaul and its name was shortened to the Pentax 67. The last version, introduced in 1998, provided better ergonomics, added an LCD display and improved the metering in the form of an autoexposure prism. The 67II was made until 2009 – well into the digital era!

One of the Pentax 67's greatest strengths was its remarkable lens lineup. More than 40 lenses were eventually produced, covering focal lengths from the 35mm fisheye to a 1,000mm mirror lens.

But it was its standard 105mm f/2.4 lens that made the Pentax 67 famous – and its history is almost as fascinating as the camera itself.

From the beginning, the company wanted a standard lens that would equal or exceed the quality of Zeiss Planar lenses on Hasselblad cameras, be fast enough for available-light photography, provide excellent edge-to-edge sharpness on the large 6x7 cm negative yet remain reasonably compact and affordable.

Those requirements were difficult to reconcile.

Simultaneously with the development of the Pentax 6x7, Asahi began investigating multi-layer coatings and negotiated the rights to the technology from a California company, Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc.

Asahi's achievement was inventing an industrial process that could apply those coatings consistently and economically to photographic lenses.

Applying up to seven ultra-thin layers uniformly to every air-to-glass surface of a complex photographic lens was extremely difficult in the late 1960s. But it enabled Asahi to upgrade all its lenses with its now-famous Super-Multi-Coat (SMC) standard in 1971.

On any camera, the focal length of a "normal" lens should be roughly the diagonal of the negative in order to give a perspective equivalent to the human eye (not counting peripheral vision).

For a 35mm camera, the diagonal is 43.3 mm. Thus, manufacturers have used anything from a 40 to 58mm lens as standard; with the longer focal lengths used on early SLRs where the length was needed to enable the rear element to clear the mirror without resorting to more complex retrofocus designs.

The diagonal of the Pentax 67 negative measures roughly 89.5mm, so a 90mm lens should do it. But Asahi selected 105mm because it provided a slightly narrower field of view than a 90mm (about equal to a 52mm lens on a 35mm camera) for a more flattering perspective for portraits.

This was enough working distance for general photography and room for a relatively large f/2.4 aperture without making the lens gigantic.

The optical formula comprised six elements in five groups. Rather than chasing extreme sharpness at every aperture, the designers struck a careful balance between high center resolution, excellent correction of spherical aberration, smooth transition from sharp to out-of-focus areas (bokeh), and low distortion.

This balance is a major reason for the lens' enduring reputation. But curiously, the lens did not achieve instant legendary status in the 1970s.

It was respected as an excellent standard lens, but its near-mythical reputation grew in the digital era when high-resolution film scans revealed just how much detail the lens could resolve. As a result, prices for clean examples have risen dramatically since the 2010s.

In the digital era, the Pentax 67 has enjoyed a resurgence among portrait, landscape and fine-art photographers, with its large negatives scanning exceptionally well and producing images with a distinctive depth and tonal richness that many photographers prize.

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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Take a look at the best Hasselblad cameras of today – which are still among the best medium format cameras on the market.

Working with photography tricks like long exposures typically requires an in-depth understanding of photography – but the Polaroid Mod has reimagined four distinctive creative shots into modes that are almost just as simple as auto mode.

The Polaroid Mod may share a similar nostalgic look to the rest of the analog camera maker's lineup, but the Mod packs an unusual focus: A set of creative modes designed for experimenting without the complexity of full manual mode.

A turn of the dial takes the Mod from a standard auto mode to double exposures, split shots, light paintings, and a mix between long exposure and flash.

But perhaps the Polaroid Mod’s biggest trick is this: I think Polaroid has somehow managed to create a creative analog camera that will delight both new photographers and seasoned experts. Take a quick look at the camera in my guided tour video below:

Polaroid Mod: Specifications

Polaroid Mod: Price

The Polaroid Mod is coming first to the US, with an October 6th ship date, before arriving to additional countries in early 2027.

The Mod lists for $169.99 / £149.99. That slots the instant camera in between the Polaroid Now+ Gen 2 and the Polaroid Flip.

Film should always be a key pricing consideration for any instant camera. Polaroid’s i-Type film typically costs $18.99 / £15.90 for eight exposures – that’s about $2.25 / £1.98 per photo.

Polaroid Mod: Build and Handling

The Polaroid Mod has the classic and endearingly retro shape that I’ve come to expect from Polaroid, with a large base the film sits in, tapering up to an optical viewfinder.

That classic design is far from pocketable – and less compact than Polaroid’s options that use the smaller Go format film. But the camera isn’t terribly heavy, and it comes with a surprisingly high-quality rope-style neck strap for carrying.

The Mod sits in the middle of Polaroid’s range – and the controls reflect that. The Mod is built around the concept of introducing creative modes in a way that’s nearly as simple as using auto scene modes. The Mod’s modes allow photographers who may not even know the definition of shutter speed to try shots like light painting.

Those modes are built into a dial around the camera lens. While the Mod doesn’t have manual modes, there is a dial for exposure compensation to help control how light or dark a shot is. On the opposite side of the lens is the shutter release.

At the back of the camera, a miniature screen shows a tally of the number of shots remaining (or, in the case of the double exposure and split mode, the shot number that you’re on). Two buttons nearby control the flash and self-timer.

Film loads into a door at the bottom of the camera. Loading is fairly straightforward – load with the protective film face up and the rainbow tab facing out towards the front of the camera.

The camera has a rechargeable battery using USB-C. That battery is rated for up to 15 packs of film.

Rather than Polaroid’s typical bright colors, the Mod takes on a more classic black and silver design. I think it’s quite eye-catching!

Polaroid Mod: Performance

The Polaroid Mod is built around experimental creative photography. Turn the mode dial from Off to Auto, and you can get a classic, straightforward Polaroid like this:

But that’s about as normal as the Mod gets – the rest of the four modes around the dial are built for experimental, creative photography.

Double exposure combines two shots on one classic Polaroid frame. This mode is limited to two shots – you can’t, for example, take triple exposures – but opens up a lot of fun experimental shots.

Split mode uses an accessory that comes with the Mod – a lens cover that only covers half the lens. In this split mode, you place the cover on one half of the lens, take a shot, then move the cover to the other half of the lens and take another shot to combine two photos into one frame.

Light painting mode uses a longer six-second exposure to blur moving light sources – like traffic on a city street, or moving around a sparkler or flashlight. This mode requires a tripod, or placing the camera on a table or another surface to hold it steady.

Motion freeze combines a longer, three-second exposure with a burst from the flash at the end. This mode is built to be shot while moving the camera during that exposure. The result is that any light sources create blurred streaks while the subject is sharply lit with that burst from the flash. It’s a creative effect that works best when there are a lot of light sources in the background – like city lights or string lights.

Motion freeze also works using a bright, colored video light on the subject to put both a blurred subject and a sharp subject in the same shot. That's the technique that I tried, but my video light wasn't quite strong enough, so the effect is more subtle:

The Polaroid Mod makes it refreshingly simple to get in-camera creative effects on analog with a twist of the dial. Part of the joy of instant photography is happy accidents – and putting experimental modes into a twist of the dial is bound to create more of those unexpectedly wonderful results.

Waiting for the photo to appear on the film is part of that experience, building anticipation. It was almost physically painful to wait for the instant film to develop and see how the shots turned out.

Using the creative modes doesn’t necessarily require an in-depth understanding of photography. I think you can get some creative shots with the Mod if you have no idea what terms like aperture and shutter speed mean.

But while creators don’t need to know the photography jargon, the best shots come from understanding each mode and how to get the best results. Polaroid includes a paper guide in the box that includes essential tips, such as using a tripod for the light painting mode, that creators will want to revisit often.

The Mod’s creative modes are the antidote to increasingly over-perfected modern photography. That said, like most creative endeavors, expect some failures. I used two packs of film in the Mod, and I liked about half of those shots. That’s not bad considering the experimental format, but when every shot costs about $2 / £2, those failed experiments can add up.

I ran into three challenges that tended to create a few failed experiments. First, if you turn the flash off, it automatically turns back on for the next shot – including for the second shot in the double exposures and split frame modes. I forgot to turn the flash off again for the second shot more than once.

Second, the Mod’s viewfinder has some parallax errors – photography jargon that means that the viewfinder isn’t entirely accurate because it’s placed in a slightly different position from the lens. Parallax errors also tend to be exaggerated when shooting up close. The parallax made it particularly challenging to precisely line up double exposures and split shots.

Finally, the Mod – and instant photography in general – doesn’t always get the exposure right. The Mod uses an f/11 lens – even in fairly good lighting, like shooting in the shade, the camera wants to use the flash, and if you turn it off, you might get some blur or a shot that’s too dark. I got a handful of shots that were overly bright, and I would have preferred my long exposures and motion freezes to be a bit brighter.

The Polaroid Mod is an analog camera built for taking unusual, experimental shots. While experimental photography will also include some missed shots, the Mod makes experimenting with photography simple and fun.

Polaroid Mod: Verdict

The Polaroid Mod rebels in a world of over-Photoshoped photographs and AI-generated images. The Mod doesn’t want to be perfect – it wants to be fun – and Polaroid’s latest camera deserves that word.

The Mod is the Polaroid camera to choose if you want an analog film camera for experimenting – without the cost and complexity of fully loaded, manual-mode-capable cameras like the Polaroid I-2.

It’s not quite perfect; exposures are sometimes off, and I’m a bit annoyed that you have to turn the flash off for every shot. But my biggest annoyance says a lot about the camera: Experimental photography means inevitable failures, so photographers need to be willing to grab a few packs of film.

While film is a bit pricey, I think the Mod itself sits at a great price point. It's a more affordable option that still has room to experiment without the price of the Polaroid I-2.

The Polaroid Mod is the camera for creators unafraid of experimenting.

Polaroid Mod: Alternatives

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Camera tricks like light trails and double exposures are typically complex processes that require understanding at least a bit of camera jargon. But Polaroid’s newest camera wants to make photography tricks almost as simple as turning a mode dial.

The Polaroid Mod, unveiled on September 29, is a fully analog instant camera designed around experimental photography. The Mod looks quite a bit like other recent full-sized Polaroids except for one big feature: a mode dial wrapped around the lens. Take a look in my quick guided tour video of the camera below:

The mode dial has, of course, an automatic mode that gets the typical shots. But the other four spaces on the mode dial are dedicated to experimental photography, including double exposures and light painting.

A split shot mode uses a half lens cap to cover half the lens to get two photos into the same iconic Polaroid white frame.

A “motion freeze” mode mixes a long exposure with a rear-curtain sync flash – photography jargon that means it creates a light trail but uses flash so the subject is still sharp.

On a typical camera, those four camera tricks typically require leaving auto mode and entering full manual mode. The Polaroid Mod makes those tricks more accessible by treating long-standing camera tricks like scene modes.

There’s still some know-how required to use the Mod. For example, you need to know that the light painting mode requires a tripod (or a table, since the bottom of the camera is nice and flat) – and that’s all explained in the intro instructions that come with the camera. Similarly, the best double exposure shots come from understanding that high-contrast shots and textures work well.

I think the Polaroid Mod’s biggest trick is that both new and seasoned photographers alike are able to have some fun experimenting with the same camera. I’m a pro photographer, and while I did wish for manual mode to make the light painting exposures a bit longer and brighter, I still had a lot of fun with the Mod.

While the Mod doesn’t have manual modes, it does have an exposure compensation dial as well as the ability to turn the flash off. Like other modern Polaroid cameras, the battery is rechargeable via a simple USB-C.

The Mod is a refreshingly fun camera that rebels against pixel-peeping perfection. The Polaroid Mod is launching in the US on October 06, with additional countries to follow in early 2027. The Mod lists for $169.99 / £149.99 – which puts the camera between options like the Polaroid Now+ Gen 3 and the Polaroid Flip.

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There are plenty of exciting new cameras available to pre-order right now, but I’m not sure many of them can compete with this one when it comes to sheer value for money. This wonderfully inexpensive little digital camera is currently available to pre-order at Amazon UK for just £20.99, making it the sort of camera purchase you can make almost entirely for the fun of it.

• Pre-order at Amazon: £20.99

And that is really where the appeal lies. Not every camera needs to have a full-frame sensor, blisteringly fast autofocus or cost more than your first car. Sometimes you simply want something small, fun and inexpensive that you can throw into a bag, hand to the kids, take on holiday or carry around without worrying about damaging thousands of pounds' worth of equipment.

Cheap compact digital cameras have also become unexpectedly fashionable again. The resurgence of the humble digicam has seen photographers and younger creators embracing the imperfect, slightly nostalgic look that these cameras can produce, particularly when compared with the heavily processed photographs we have become accustomed to seeing from modern smartphones.

At £20.99, this camera sits firmly at the fun end of the market, and that is exactly why I think it is so appealing. It costs less than plenty of camera straps, memory cards and even some lens caps, yet gives you an entirely separate camera that you can experiment with. At this price, expectations obviously need to remain realistic, but that almost feels like part of the charm.

It could also make a brilliant first camera for someone who simply wants to experiment with photography without immediately reaching for their phone. There is something very different about carrying a dedicated camera, however inexpensive it might be, and having a device whose sole purpose is encouraging you to look for photographs.

Sample images

You can currently pre-order the camera from Amazon UK for just £20.99. In a world where new cameras regularly arrive with four-figure price tags, there is something refreshingly entertaining about seeing a new camera that costs little more than a takeaway for two. I certainly wouldn't expect it to replace my Leica, but for £20.99, I would have an awful lot of fun finding out what it can do.

I was charmed immediately by the Kodak EC35. Cheap, analog point-and-shoots are hardly in short supply – indeed, they’re undergoing something of a renaissance – but the styling of this slim, plastic 35mm camera, with its sliding lens cover reminiscent of an Olympus Mju, is exactly to my taste.

Though the name on the box and the camera body is Kodak, the EC35 is in fact a product of brand licensee Reto Project. Reto has engineered a number of Kodak-branded successes in recent years. Most prominent has been the keychain-sized Kodak Charmera, a massive viral hit on Instagram, but in the analog space we’ve also seen the half-frame point-and-shoot Kodak Ektar H35N, and the slightly more swanky full-frame point-and-shoot Kodak Snapic A1, with its automatic wind-on and three-element glass lens.

So, with its rock-bottom price tag, where does the Kodak EC35 fit into this picture? I loaded it up with film and headed out to learn more…

Price

Cheap like the proverbial chips, the Kodak EC35 comes at an asking price of just $35 / £35 (about AU$55) for the camera on its own, or $45 / £45 (about AU$63) when bundled with film and a camera strap. That puts it as one of the cheapest new film compacts around – cheaper even than Reto’s half-frame Kodak Ektar H35N, which goes for $52 / £67, and considerably cheaper than the flashier Kodak Snapic A1, which sits at $99 / £99 (about AU$138).

Specs

Build & handling

At a feather weight of 102g, the Kodak EC35 is made for one-handed operation and pocket transportation. Dimensions-wise it’s absolutely perfect for carrying around on city-breaks and day trips, a camera you can easily have about your person all the time and pull out at a moment’s notice. Since all settings are fixed, controls are very minimal – the only button on the top plate is the shutter release.

Film is wound on via a disposable-style geared wheel, and rewound using a flip-out lever. A switch on the front is used to toggle the flash, which is powered via AA batteries – these are only needed for the flash, and the camera will operate just fine without them. Open up the back and film is loaded on the right-hand side – simply thread the sprockets into the take-up spool and you’re away. There’s a very small shot counter on the bottom of the camera, which in bright daylight I found a little hard to see, but it’s not a serious problem.

I’ve already alluded to the camera’s most immediately striking feature – its sliding lens cover, which hearkens back to any number of classic analog compacts, particularly those made by Olympus. I look at this camera and I think of cameras like the Mju, or my beloved XA2 with its clamshell-style cover. And it’s not purely aesthetic – this may sound obvious, but the cover serves the useful purpose of actually protecting the lens, something that most similarly priced compacts aren’t bothered about. Also, when the cover is closed, the shutter won’t fire, and I am exactly the sort of person that kind of feature is made for, so I am grateful.

I’d also say a word to commend the color options here. Reto is keenly aware of the power of aesthetics, and one of the reasons that so many of its Kodak-branded cameras have been so successful is because they’re, well, cute. The EC35 comes in a broad selection of lovely, pastel color options – I was genuinely a tiny bit disappointed to receive the Midnight Black as my sample unit, when I might have had the stunning Butter Yellow. Also available are: Avocado Green, Vanilla White, Powder Blue, Blush Pink and Lavender. A small thing, perhaps, but in my view it demonstrates how well Reto knows its target market.

Performance

I knew that the Kodak EC35 was a very cheap camera, and so I tempered my expectations accordingly – but even so, the low-quality plastic lens on the front of this camera does put a pretty hard limit on what you can achieve with it. Detail gets muddy quickly at any distance, and corner sharpness is almost non-existent.

The fixed settings of 1/100sec and f/10 are standard fare for a point-and-shoot. The 25mm lens is fixed-focus with a minimum distance of 1.5m – so mind you don’t get too close to your subjects. The more sophisticated and expensive Kodak Snapic A1 provides two-zone focusing, but there’s none of that here.

Now, as I’ve said ad nauseum, the Kodak EC35 is a very cheap film camera. But here’s the thing – film itself is not cheap. Developing is not cheap, whether you do it at home or hand it off to a lab. For this reason, ultra-cheap film cameras feel to me like a bit of a false economy. The more film I shoot, the more the $60 or so I saved by buying the Kodak EC35 rather than the Kodak Snapic A1 is eclipsed – and it should be said that the superior glass lens on the Snapic A1 takes much better pictures.

I would say that if you’re looking to shoot film on the cheap, the half-frame Kodak Ektar H35N is a much better investment. It’s about $20 more expensive than the EC35, but it’ll give you double the shot count from the same roll of 36 frames. Sure, they’re smaller, but I don’t think that full-frame images from the EC35 look much better than half-frame images from the H35N, especially given that the latter camera has a glass element in its lens.

Sample images

These sample images were shot on Kodak ColorPlus 200 film using the Kodak EC35 camera, in Valencia and London from late summer 2026 to early fall 2026. They were developed at box speed using the standard C41 process.

Overall verdict

The Kodak EC35 is fun. Its colors are fun, its retro look is fun, its point-and-shoot operation makes it fun for anyone to use. It’s at its best when you embrace its lo-fi vibe, rather than worrying about image quality – since you’re not going to get much. But with film as expensive as it is, you have to really, really like the lo-fi vibe for this camera to be worth it, even with its rock-bottom asking price.

I think this is a cute camera for anyone looking to try out film for the first time, even if I would try to gently steer that person towards the half-frame Ektar H35N. But I have difficulty imagining many people using it long-term. It seems inevitable that after a few months with the Kodak EC35, one of two things will happen. Either you chafe against its limitations and upgrade to a higher-quality camera that gives you more creative control – or the novelty wears off, the price you’re paying for these blurry shots starts to bite, and the camera makes its way to the bottom of the cupboard.

Alternatives

If you’re a film shooter but you don’t always pay close attention to the latest goings-on in the analog photography world, you may have been caught out by spotting Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160 for sale at your film retailer of choice. What’s this – a brand new Kodak film stock? Well, no. Not exactly.

Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160 is a rebranded version of a very famous and popular film stock, the legendary Kodak Portra 160 (as are the other versions of Ektacolor with higher ISO ratings). The reason for its appearance and its natty rebranding is that the original Eastman Kodak company has managed to bring some of its film manufacture back in-house, following years of financial turbulence that saw its film stock being distributed by Kodak Alaris – a separate private equity-owned division that was divested from Eastman Kodak in 2013.

Having somewhat reversed its financial fortunes, Eastman Kodak is ready to make films again – but Alaris still owns the name ‘Portra’. So, one of Kodak’s most popular color films gets a quick rebrand, a snazzy new box – and a slight but much-needed price discount.

Specs

Price & availability

Eastman Kodak has set the price of Ektacolor a little below that of its more famous Alaris sibling. Currently, you can get hold of Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160 for around $14.59 / £15.45 per roll – Portra 160, when you can find it, tends to go for around $21.99 / £20 for a single roll, so that’s a not-inconsiderable saving.

Availability, however, is more of an issue. Word is starting to spread that Ektacolor is Portra by another name, and stock drops tend to be hoovered up quite quickly – I’ve got into the habit of signing up to be notified so that I can pick some up the instant a fresh drop arrives, so to be fair, you could call me part of the problem.

So, while it’s cheaper than Portra, it’s considerably pricier than other color films like Kodak ColorPlus 200 ($8.49 / £9.90) or Kodak Kodacolor 200 ($8.99 / £9.99). Overall it sits somewhere in the mid-range – not so expensive that you’d be precious about shooting it, but not cheap enough to be considered a budget film.

Performance

Portra is perpetually one of Instagram’s favorite films, and it’s not hard to see why. Its color reproduction is absolutely stunning – vivid and crisp, but also pleasingly natural for the most part. Sure, those blue skies might be a shade deeper than you remember them, those pink flower petals a little more vivid, but it never looks overblown or unnatural. Skin tones are also soft, subtle and pleasing; it’s an excellent choice for portraiture.

With an ISO rating of 160, this strain of Ektacolor is a daylight film – at its best when the sun is high in the sky and there’s plenty of light to go around. Its grain is incredibly fine – not quite as non-existent as Kodak’s famously sharp Ektar 100, but make no mistake, this is a clean, sharp film.

Portra is also well-known for its exposure latitude, and Ektacolor Pro 160 did not disappoint. Even in harsh, directional light, you’ll find that the film tends to deliver a well-balanced exposure with plenty of detail in highlights and shadows – opening up lots of interesting possibilities if you’re someone who likes to edit your scans in Lightroom or similar software. This is especially useful if you want to tweak your tones a little following a bit of a dull day light-wise.

The film still looks good if you decide to blow out the highlights for artistic effect, while if you go the other way and happen to underexpose, it still holds out pretty well, with no unsightly colour shifts. Shooting in a range of lighting conditions on some quite changeable days, I found that Ektacolor Pro 160 delivered pleasing results again and again.

Sample images

These images were shot on Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160, using a Pentax ME Super with a 50mm f/1.2 lens and a Canon EOS 300 with a 28-90mm f/4-5.6 lens. They were shot in London on days when the weather was mostly sunny with some cloud cover. They were exposed and developed at box speed, using the regular C41 process.

Verdict

It’s Kodak Portra at sub-Portra prices. If you’re looking for a sharp, clean, naturalistic daylight film that’ll make colors pop and doesn’t mind a bit of over-exposure, Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160 is your girl. There’s absolutely no reason to buy regular old Portra anymore, not while this cheaper but otherwise identical alternative exists.

I think the only real criticism I can level at Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160 is that if you’re someone who’s into film photography for lo-fi looks, grainy vibes and unexpected chemistry, you might find it a trifle dull. It’s certainly nothing like, say, Harman Phoenix II, which is a genuinely unpredictable film that thrives on dramatic halations and crazy colors. Ultimately, Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160, is a nice-looking, naturalistic film that is well-suited to a broad range of shooting situations. Nothing wrong with that!

Alternatives

It was 1966 and Canon had a problem. During the 1960s, Canon had become successful with enthusiast SLR cameras such as the Pellix and FT series, but professional photographers overwhelmingly favored Nikon.

Canon realized that professionals wanted more than just a camera – they wanted an entire photographic ecosystem that could withstand heavy daily use.

Canon had learned a bitter lesson in 1959 with its Canonflex, which while beautiful was somewhat odd in it’s features and to say it was a commercial failure would be putting it mildly.. The months between introduction and being discontinued could be counted on the fingers of one hand, with digits to spare!

It had been developed by engineers, not photographers. In addition to its odd, bottom wind, it lacked the lenses professionals needed, and those it did have lacked the features professionals wanted. So, in 1966 they began, in earnest, to create their answer to the Nikon F. The Canon F-1.

The objective was ambitious: to build a camera to challenge the Nikon F and achieve reliability under the harshest conditions. . They wanted to develop an extensive array of accessories to fill almost any imaginable need. It was no small undertaking and, according to Canon, it consumed resources comparable with the development of ten conventional cameras!

During 1967, the project expanded to give the new body interchangeable eyelevel and waist-level finders, focusing screens, motor drives (note the plural, here), bulk film backs and remote control systems.

Unlike other makers, Canon intended to have them all available for purchase on the day of the launch, rather than add them over several years, as Nikon had done.

By 1969, working prototypes were undergoing extensive testing. They evaluated shutter durability, film transport reliability, viewfinder alignment, light-meter accuracy, resistance to dust and humidity and most of all, the camera’s ability to operate in extreme temperatures. The camera had to work, without modifications for approximately 100,000 shutter cycles in temperatures from –30°C to +60°C, no matter what the humidity. While these specifications may sound a bit hum-drum, today, they were remarkable at the time.

A small number of trusted professional photographers were invited to test prototype equipment and provide feedback. Many ergonomic details—including the placement of controls and finder designs were refined.

By March 1971, it was ready. But still, Canon did things differently. They had designed the more capable FD lens mount but kept compatibility with the older FL mount lenses photographers may already own. And the camera launched with 14 FD mount lenses available, covering focal lengths from 17mm to 300mm. The full array of 180 accessories was also available on day one.

The Canon F-1 was unusual among professional cameras because Canon deliberately promised that the basic camera would remain in production for ten years, allowing professionals to invest in the system with confidence. It was a promise Canon kept.

In fact, despite a minor tweak in 1976 (still called the F-1 by Canon) it did not launch a new pro-level camera until the “New F-1” in 1981. And they didn’t change the lens mount until the EOS autofocus system introduced in 1989!

The camera itself was truly professional-grade, with a fully mechanical shutter (battery required only for the light meter), a titanium-foil horizontal-travel focal-plane shutter with speeds from 1 second to 1/2000 second plus Bulb, mirror lock-up, depth-of-field preview, Interchangeable viewfinders and screens and extremely rugged all-metal construction. Remarkable, for the era.

The F1 immediately established Canon as a serious competitor in professional photography. Even so, Canon did not surpass Nikon in the professional market, until somewhere around 1992–1993, after the introduction of their EOS-1 with autofocus.

Canon never published production numbers for the F1 and variants, but the commonly cited estimate is about 750,000 bodies over the 10 year run. While this is still slightly lower than the Nikon F’s eventual numbers, it reflects the smaller market and much higher price for pro-level gear.

One interesting footnote: the 1992 Barcelona Olympics are often cited as the moment when the balance of power shifted. Television coverage of the sidelines showed a striking increase in the number of white Canon super-telephoto lenses—a visible sign that many elite sports photographers had migrated from Nikon to Canon. By the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Canon's lead in professional sports photography was widely recognized.

In 2003 Canon became the world's largest seller of interchangeable-lens digital cameras and have never looked back, though Nikon is now nipping at their heels.

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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Take a look at the best Hasselblad cameras of today – which are still among the best medium format cameras on the market.

Instant cameras built for kids allow kids to both take and print their photos – but the print refills either tend to be pricey or are black-and-white thermal type. But the new Photo Creator Instant Color Camera from Canal Toys is a kid-focused camera where prints cost less than 50 cents / 20p per photo.

Built for ages 6 and up, the Photo Creator Instant Color is a digital camera with a built-in photo printer. Hybrid digital-instant kid cameras tend either to use pricey Zink paper with embedded ink, real instant film, or thermal receipt paper that only prints in monochrome.

The Photo Creator Instant Color instead uses a built-in printer that requires both a pack of photo paper and an ink cartridge, but the refill packs tend to sit cost-wise under the cost of Zink and instant film refills. A pack of 100 print refills cost about $48 / £20, coming out to about 50 cents / 20p per photo. The camera itself ships with 100 prints already in the box.

The camera uses a built-in 2.4-inch screen that allows kids to add filters, frames, and stickers before printing those photos.

The company did not share specs on the camera’s resolution, but the camera can shoot both stills and videos. A built-in flash aids low-light and indoor shots.

The camera has some built-in memory, which can be expanded by buying a separate microSD card.

The camera uses a rechargeable Li-ion battery.

While there are plenty of hybrid digital instant cameras available, including some built for kids, the new camera’s key selling point is the price for photo refills while still getting full-color prints. Instax Mini prints tend to cost about 88 cents / 85p. Refills for Zink-based printers are a bit more competitive, costing around 50 cents / 60p for each photo.

The new Photo Creator Instant Color camera is available now, starting at about $130 / £90 / AU$153 for the camera with enough ink and paper for printing 100 photos in the box.

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Take a look at the best cameras for kids, as picked by real photographer parents. Or, explore more hybrid digital-instant cameras.

In 1966, a customs officer in New York looked at a passport and commented that the bearer had the same name as a famous camera. The visitor just smiled and said, “I am the camera.”

Born in 1906, Victor Hasselblad was raised in a family that ran a large trading (import / export) business, including a small division that distributed Kodak products throughout Sweden.

He eventually joined the family business, but was more interested in photography than commerce. He became an accomplished bird photographer and camera expert, studying photographic manufacturing in both Europe and the United States.

Early in World War II, the Swedish military presented him with a captured German reconnaissance camera and asked him to build something similar for them. His famous reply was: "No, not one like that, but a better one".

He formed a new company, Ross AB, to build this new camera. Nobody is sure why that name was chosen – though the best bet is that as a defense contractor in neutral Sweden, "Ross AB" was a nondescript name that did not reveal its purpose.

Building on his experience with the HK-7 aerial reconnaissance cameras, after the war the avid birdwatcher set about designing his dream camera: a waist-level SLR that made 6x6 photographs on 120 film, the Rossex.

By 1948 it was ready and the company was renamed Victor Hasselblad AB. It was a beautiful camera, designed by Sixten Sason, who also designed the original Saab car.

It was modular with interchangeable lenses, film backs and viewfinders. It had a focal plane shutter of stainless steel foil, speeds up to 1/1600 sec. It had an array of fine Kodak Ektar lenses and was now called the Hasselblad 1600F. It was the world’s first SLR for 120 film, yet smaller and lighter than most medium format cameras of the day.

It was so far ahead of its time that it stood alone for a decade, though its general design was later copied by Bronica, Mamiya, Rolleiflex and, eventually, Arsenal in Kyiv (then part of the Soviet Union) as well.

When the 1600F’s shutter proved not to be as reliable as hoped, Hasselblad reduced the top shutter speed to 1/1000 sec and, critically, redesigned the internal “gear stack” that controlled it, creating the more reliable Hasselblad 1000F of 1952.

While testing the 1000F for an article in the December 1954 issue of Modern Photography, the editor, Herbert "Burt" Keppler and the magazine's staff ran some 500 rolls of film through the camera and, during that time, accidentally (some reports say deliberately) dropped the camera onto a hard floor – twice!

The camera continued to function well enough for the tests to be completed – and the incident became one of the stories that established Hasselblad's reputation for ruggedness. Ironically, over time the 1000F's shutter also turned out not to be as reliable as expected.

Sadly, even the 1000F’s redesigned focal plane shutter was still not as reliable as Hasselblad wanted. So, in 1957, Hasselblad introduced the 500C, replacing the focal-plane shutter with a Compur leaf shutter built into each lens. This made them more expensive, but totally reliable – a practice that continues with the best Hasselblad lenses today.

The 500C became one of the most successful professional cameras ever made, because it offered exceptional reliability, flash synchronization at all shutter speeds and outstanding image quality, thanks to the large 6x6cm negatives and superb Carl Zeiss lenses.

In the 1960s, US astronaut Wally Schirra was a fan. Owning a 500C himself, he suggested that NASA use the cameras in space – which started a long cooperation with Hasselblad and NASA.

Custom-modified Hasselblads first flew with Schirra on his Mercury 8 mission, on October 03 1962. The success of Schirra's photographs established the Hasselblad as NASA's still camera of choice for the remaining Mercury flights, and all flights of the Gemini and Apollo programs.

When Apollo missions were to go to the moon, NASA considered the lighter Leica cameras. The Saturn rocket had lots of power to reach the moon, but the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) did not, and every ounce counted.

Then some bright soul figured out that if they simply left the camera body and lens on the moon, the film back alone could be returned to the earth.

That said, during Apollo 15 (1971), astronaut James Benson Irwin used a modified Hasselblad 500EL on the lunar surface. Although it was intended to be left on the moon with the others, to save weight for lunar samples, he brought the camera home.

For years it remained in private hands, eventually becoming the subject of debate over its provenance because NASA records indicate that other lunar Hasselblads also came home.

Mission transcripts show, for example, that Alan Shepard was instructed to bring his camera back and evidence suggests that Eugene Cernan also brought his home. When the Irwin-associated camera was auctioned by WestLicht in Vienna in 2014, it sold for $940,000 (around £571,000 / AU$1.2 million).

So, if you really want a Hasselblad and you've not got the budget, there are up to 12 (some say 16) very lightly used ones on the moon. All you have to do is go and pick one up!

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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Take a look at the best Hasselblad cameras of today – which are still among the best medium format cameras on the market.

Fujifilm has officially introduced the Instax Pal 2 – and if you fancy getting your hands on one of the smallest and arguably strangest cameras in the Instax family, preorders are now open.

In the US the new camera can be preordered from Adorama and B&H for $169.95, while UK buyers can currently place an order through Amazon, Jessops, and Park Cameras for £144.99.

Fujifilm says the Pal 2 is expected to become available in late September, with black and white versions on offer.

The important thing to understand about the Instax Pal 2 is that this isn't really an instant camera in the traditional sense. There is no film inside and nothing pops out of the bottom after you press the shutter.

Instead, this is an incredibly small digital camera designed to make taking photographs simple and fun, with images either transferred to your phone or sent to one of Fujifilm's compatible Instax printers or hybrid cameras if you decide you want a physical print.

It can work with Instax Mini, Square and Wide formats, giving it considerably more flexibility than a conventional single-format Instax camera.

Fujifilm has also made the Pal 2 feel much more like an actual camera than the original Pal. There is now a built-in optical viewfinder along with a 1-inch LCD screen, while the camera itself uses a 28mm-equivalent f/2.2 lens and a 1/3.06-inch CMOS sensor.

You can choose between 10MP and deliberately lower-resolution 1MP shooting (like the Kodak Charmera), which is an interesting idea if you want a more lo-fi digital look, while single autofocus and face-detection AF should make it considerably easier to use as an everyday point-and-shoot.

It can also focus from around 80mm, opening up the possibility of getting surprisingly close to your subject.

A big part of the Pal 2 is still about having fun rather than obsessing over technical specifications. Fujifilm offers five filter themes containing six effects each, with favorite effects selectable through the accompanying Instax Pal app.

There is also a new Instax Animation mode, where holding down the shutter can capture up to 10 consecutive images and turn them into a flipbook-style animation. The camera can hold around 100 photographs internally before you need to transfer them, with microSD, microSDHC and microSDXC cards also supported if you want additional storage.

I think that slightly unconventional approach is exactly what makes the Instax Pal 2 interesting.

Camera phones already make taking technically excellent photographs incredibly easy, so Fujifilm isn't really trying to compete with one here. Instead, the Pal 2 is a tiny camera you can carry almost anywhere, point at something without thinking too hard about it, and enjoy the process of making pictures again.

You can keep the results digital, share them through your phone, turn them into animations or make an Instax print afterward. At $169.95 in the US and £144.99 in the UK, it certainly isn't the cheapest way to take a photograph, but it might be one of the more entertaining.

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Take a look at the best instant cameras and the best hybrid instant cameras, and check out the differences between the various instant camera film sizes.

Ilford has given one of its best-known black-and-white films a rather stealthy makeover, launching a new limited-edition version of Delta 400 Professional in 35mm.

At first glance, the big difference is obvious: the familiar packaging has been replaced by an all-black cassette and matching carton that looks considerably more dramatic than the standard roll. However, this is not simply a collector-friendly redesign, as Ilford has also made a subtle but potentially very interesting change to the film itself.

The Collector's Edition Delta 400 Professional is coated onto a clearer roll-film base complete with anti-halation protection, marking the first time Ilford has used this particular construction on one of its black-and-white 35mm films. According to Ilford, the result is a series of small improvements in dynamic range, shadow detail, scanning performance, halation control, and overall sharpness.

Delta 400 was already designed as a fine-grain, high-sharpness ISO 400 film, so these are refinements rather than a completely new photographic look, but they could make this version particularly interesting for photographers who regularly digitize their negatives.

Importantly, Ilford has not changed the fundamentals of Delta 400. The limited edition retains the same ISO 400 speed, familiar characteristics, and processing times as the standard film – meaning anyone already accustomed to shooting and developing Delta 400 should be able to load a roll without having to change their usual workflow.

Standard Delta 400 has always been a particularly versatile black-and-white stock, combining relatively high speed with fine grain and making it suitable for everything from available-light photography to documentary, street, and fine-art work.

Perhaps the most refreshing part of the release is that Ilford is not charging a premium simply because the words “limited edition” are on the box. The new version is being offered at the same price as standard Delta 400 Professional, although quantities are described as very limited and it will only be available while stocks last. In the US, the limited edition has been listed at $15.99 per roll at B&H, while UK retailer Wilkinson Cameras currently has the 36-exposure film listed at £15.99.

There may also be a little more behind this release than Ilford simply wanting to give Delta 400 a new look. The company reportedly explained in response to photographers on Instagram that the limited run is effectively a test to see what people think of the clearer base and whether there is enough demand to justify producing it again.

Ilford indicated that a positive response could potentially see the film return as a regular product, although a permanent version would likely cost more because of the additional manufacturing involved.

For now, though, this feels like one of those rare limited editions where the interesting part is not really the packaging at all. There is a genuinely different piece of film inside the cassette - and for black-and-white shooters, that makes it considerably more tempting.

There’s a trend going around on social media for adding fake film edges on digital photos – but a new remake of a popular camera is meant to not only keep the full, authentic film frame, but also use every millimeter of film for the photo down to the edges. The Lomography Sprocket Rocket is a compact camera that shoots panoramic images so wide that it’s meant to shoot right through that iconic film border.

Any 35mm film camera can retain that iconic border with the sprocket holes and film name without digital fakery – just ask the lab to include the film rebate or full frame in the scans. (Or, of course, scan your own film).

But what’s unusual about the Sprocket Rocket is that those iconic edges are actually part of the photo. Instead of the classic black border, the camera shoots right through to the edges of the frame, so the sprocket holes go right through the image. The camera is built to shoot 3:1 panoramic photos on 35mm film rolls, shooting 18 exposures per roll instead of the more traditional 36.

The Lomography Sprocket Rocket isn’t new – the original launched in 2011 as the first wide-angle 35mm camera meant to use those sprockets. But Lomography has refreshed the camera with two new space-inspired models, the Starlight and Ultra Violet, bringing a catchy metallic silver and deep purple to the camera.

Like the original, the new Sprocket Rockets are fully mechanical cameras, with no batteries required. The manual wind also has a reverse gear, allowing photographers to re-shoot a roll for surprise double exposures.

The camera uses a 30mm lens that can shoot at f/10.8 or f/16. Shutter speed can be set to 1/100 or bulb, with a hot shoe slot to add in an external flash.

And while the Sprocket Rocket is meant to take full advantage of those film sprockets, an optional frame insert helps photographers frame the shot with a clean border when desired.

The new color options come in at the same price point as the original – $69 / £45 / AU$69 / CA$69.

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Read the original Sprocket Rocket review, or browse the best 35mm film to load inside.

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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Take a look at the best 35mm film to load inside the new Fisheye No.2.

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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Take a look at the best film cameras or the best 35mm film.

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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Take a look at the best rangefinder cameras you can buy today

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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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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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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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.

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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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