Tag: #believeinfilm

Question on the Pentax 17 future

As Kosmo Photo reports that the main designer left Pentax, people are questioning the Pentax 17 future, or more realistically future Pentax film cameras.

Ricoh Imaging has said the Pentax Film Project – which led to the release of the Pentax 17 last summer – is now on hold while it investigates whether there is demand for further new film models.

If the main person behind the Pentax 17, driving the effort of film camera design, left Pentax, is there a possible future for further film cameras?

In the run-up to its release, Ricoh Imaging had said that it was investigating a raft of camera releases that could include a film SLR in due course.

I’m still not convinced that the Pentax 17 is for me. I would love to give it a try, but if I don’t enjoy shooting it, what’s the point? What I feel I might not like with the Pentax 17 is both the scale focusing and the lack of control on the exposure in general. On the other hand what I do like as a differentiator is the half frame vertical aspect ratio (but not its marketing). I do understand the constraints in the design and Pentax commitment, and this is why I hoped that they would develop further film cameras.

My ideal film camera design might be a difficult one in the current market. If it’s a reflex, a choice of mount might need to prevail to have an interchangeable lens camera. If not a reflex, it probably would have to be a fixed lens and have to be a rangefinder; otherwise a coupled rangefinder might mean Leica M mount, which mean relatively expensive glass. It’s one thing to build a camera, it’s another to build a lens system, or rely on out of production lenses. Right now film photography is on borrowed time.

Previously: Pentax 17, Reflex, a new 35mm film camera design

News: TTArtisan to release an Instax camera

TTArtisan is known to produce more budget friendly lenses for a variety of camera, including Fujifilm XF mount and Leica M rangefinder.

Now they are entering the market of the Instax cameras. Since the announcement is blocked by the Instagram wall, I’ll link to Kosmophoto: TTArtisan announces Folding Instant Camera which shoots Instax film:

Lens maker TTArtisan has launched a new folding camera which shoots Instax film.

It’s shooting Instax mini, it seems to be based on the Chinese Seagull 203 folding camera, and the shutter is mechanical.

Price is not available at the time.

New Harman Red

Harman Technologies announced the Harman Red 125.

It’s a 35mm “redscale” negative film in the standard C-41 process. It’s a new emulsion based of the Phoenix colour film. Rated at 125 ISO it can be shot between 50 and 400 ISO for different effect. It comes in a 36 exposure roll.

DPReview has some more info.

Glad to see Harman investing in new films.

Kodak to clamp down on bulk loading

Apparently Kodak Alaris decided to restrict the sale of colour film in bulk, unless you are a movie production.

No more respooling to save on costs, which is what a lot of reseller were doing. Paying US$8-9 for a roll of Ektachrome instead of US$22 from Kodak was a significant saving.

As Kosmofoto reports, Reflx Lab says that its respooled colour film might not last long including the Cine film.

All of this coincide with them being sold to a private equity. Correlation is not causation, but coincidences are rare.

Previously: Kodak price updates and Kodak pauses film production for factory upgrades.

News: Kodak price updates

Kosmophoto tells us Kodak Alaris announces price rises for January 2025 – but Tri-X is getting cheaper:

In contrast to previous price increases, the majority of price increases will under 10%, with most falling between 5% and 8%.

It’s a mixed bag, some film raising in prices and some falling, with 120 rolls rising more than 135.

To be continued…

Previously: Kodak pauses film production for factory upgrades, Fujifilm film price increase, Price hike on Kodak film

News: Kodak pauses film production for factory upgrades

The Verge signals us that Kodak pauses film production for factory upgrades to help meet demand:

Eastman Kodak has temporarily paused all film production. The news comes as part of a shutdown in November allowing the company to upgrade and modernize its Rochester, New York factory,

I tried to not make the headline click-bait, like the bits I saw earlier this week.
This is actually a good news in which Kodak need to pause production to better produce, due to increased demand. Increased demand is good, as it means film is alive.

From Kosmo Photo:

In 2020, Eastman Kodak said demand for film had doubled between 2015 and 2019, after a decade-long period of decline following the start of consumer digital photography.

Let’s hope this is a positive signal from the previous news of Kodak photo businesses being sold to private equity.

Link: Pakon F235

Dante Stella tell us about the Kodak / Pakon F235 Plus high-speed film scanner:

First, it is designed for speed. An F235 Plus, for example, will do 800 frames an hour at 3000×2000 resolution (yes, that’s 33 rolls per hour, or a roll or 24 frames about every two minutes). With Digital ICE turned on, it still does 400 frames an hour.

Colour correction. Kodak basically owns the world of colour correction, and this machine nails the colours 99.5% of the time.

In sum, this is an exiting piece of equipment made accessible, sadly, by the collapse of commercial film processing.

I mentioned this previously as an alternative to the Frontier. Fujifilm vs Kodak. It’s sad nobody produce these and that the know how has disappeared, but then would they exist new at $2,000 a piece? The used refurbished market from these seems to be the way to buy what cost much more initially.

The 2017 followup article: The Kodak/Pakon F235 Plus, revisited.

Previously: The magic of Fuji Frontier SP-3000