RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘film’

The Kanton DX35 concept is an all-in-one film development machine the size of a coffee maker

13 Jul

Developing film isn’t necessarily a difficult task. But it is time-consuming and, generally speaking, it tends to require a decent bit of space and equipment to get started. Industrial designer Thomas Müller is hoping to change that, with a clever device he calls the Kanton DX35.

This tabletop device is a ‘smart home solution to develop your colour as well as black and white films in both 35mm and 120 [film] without the need of a darkroom.’ The Kanton DX35 is little more than a concept right now, but Müller hints it could become more by asking consumers to sign up for more information when ‘further progress’ is made. Whatever stage of development it’s in, it’s quite the setup.

To load film, it’s simply a matter of adjusting the reel to fit your roll of 35mm or 120 film and slipping it back into the container. Once it’s in the container, it’ll automatically unwind the film in complete darkness. Once unwound, it’s a quick cut of the film with the integrated cutter, and you’re on your way to the next step.

Development is aided by a dial and screen that automatically heats up the chemicals to the correct temperature and lets you know when you need to switch out the chemicals, pending your development method of choice. Step by step, the Kanton DX35 guides you through the process of adding the required chemicals to container and automatically agitating the film inside the container to get an even development.

Once the film is developed and chemicals are back in their places, it’s simply a matter of giving it a rinse and removing the reel from the container. Below is a visual step-by-step guide provided by Müller:

Sure, this concept doesn’t account for all of the intricacies of developing film, but for a device that doesn’t take up much more space than a coffee maker, it looks pretty impressive.

To sign up for updates from Müller on the Kanton DX35, head on over to his product page and sign up. If he ever decides to bring it to life, you’ll be the first to know.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on The Kanton DX35 concept is an all-in-one film development machine the size of a coffee maker

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Kodak Alaris brings 35mm Pro Image 100 film to Europe

06 Jul
Mani.Rae/Flickr used under CC BY-ND 2.0, shot on Kodak Pro Image 100

Kodak Alaris has announced its 35mm Kodak Professional Pro Image 100 film is now available in Europe.

Until now, there was no official means of acquiring Kodak Professional Pro Image 100 film in the European market. Released in 1997, the film has a strong presence in Asia as well as a handful of South American countries, but it’s never been distributed through official Kodak retailers in Europe (or North America for that matter).

The decision to bring the film stock to Europe comes after Kodak Alaris ran a trial period in the UK, which apparently proved successful. Andrew Church, Printing and Operational Supplies and Film Capture Product Manager of Kodak Alaris, says ‘Pro Image 100 gained such positive feedback during its trial period in the UK that the decision whether it should be made available in further countries became easy for us. We are really pleased to offer this popular film to the whole European market.’

In Kodak’s own words, Pro Image 100 color negative film ‘is a medium speed (EI 100) film that features high color saturation, accurate color and pleasing skin-tone reproduction, and good underexposure latitude.’ Kodak adds ‘it is intended for portrait and social applications, and can be stored at room temperature—even in hot, humid climates. Its printing characteristics are similar to those of KODAK GOLD Films to help simplify printing for photofinishers.’

Both Lomography and Flickr have a great collection of photos captured on Pro Image 100 film.

Kodak Professional Pro Image 100 is currently available in packs of five rolls through all Kodak film dealers in Europe.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Kodak Alaris brings 35mm Pro Image 100 film to Europe

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Kickstarter: Pixl-latr aims to simplify film digitization

19 Jun
The Pixl-latr flattens film on a diffused surface so that it can easily be photographed with a conventional digital camera.

The analog revival continues unabated, and a new product – the Pixl-latr – could provide a long-awaited easy solution to the challenge of converting film to pixels.

Just launched on Kickstarter, at its core the Pixl-later is a diffusing plate which comes with a series of pins and frames that can flatten 35mm, 120mm (up to 6×12) and even 5×4 sheet film to be photographed with a digital camera – it even comes with a small stand to prop your negative up.

120 film being loaded into the Pixl-latr.

The idea for the Pixl-latr came to creator Hamish Gill (of 35mmc fame) when he realized the lack of affordable 5×4 film scanning solutions. He decided to create something that could easily flatten his film to be photographed, rather than scanned. Anyone who’s tried to photograph negatives knows what a pain getting them flat can be – the Pixl-latr seeks to solve this very annoying problem.

Through Kickstarter, the Pixl-latr can be yours for the ‘Super-Early Bird – Supporter Special’ price of £25 / ~$ 33, assuming that the funding goal is met.

Personally, considering the time and effort I’ve spent scanning film over the years, £25 seems like a real bargain and I truly hope it gets fully backed. If it has piqued your interest, you can read more about the Pixl-latr and and support the Kickstarter from the link below.

Read more about the Pixl-latr and support the Kickstarter

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Kickstarter: Pixl-latr aims to simplify film digitization

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Instant Magny 35 is a film back that turns SLRs and rangefinders into instant cameras

13 Jun

NINM Labs has launched a Kickstarter campaign for Instant Magny 35, a film back that transforms rangefinders and 135 SLR cameras into instant film cameras. The film back supports Fujifilm Instax Square film and doesn’t require any camera modifications. The instant film back is described as ideal for rangefinders and SLRs from Pentax, Leica, Olympus, Canon, and Nikon.

The Instant Magny 35 film back replaces the original camera back, featuring a total of three attachable components. Once connected, the camera with instant film attachment can be used normally. According to NINM Labs, Magny features an aluminum lens barrel, enlarging optics film back, and an ejection unit.

Features include a built-in dark-slide, on-off switch to prevent accidental shots, automatic film feed, a film ejection button, and an LED film counter. The film back is powered by four AAA batteries. Without the batteries or film, the Instant Magny 35 weighs about 485 grams / 1lbs.

NINM Labs is seeking about $ 50,000 on Kickstarter, where a single Instant Magny is offered for pledges that start at 778 HK$ / $ 99 USD.

Via: DIY Photography

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Instant Magny 35 is a film back that turns SLRs and rangefinders into instant cameras

Posted in Uncategorized

 

DPReview TV: A look back at APS film

10 Jun

Every photographer knows about APS-C sensors, but what about APS film? This week, Chris and Jordan take a stroll down memory lane and try out the original APS format, short for ‘Advanced Photo System’, a technology that promised to streamline the film workflow, but which ultimately lost out to digital technology. Tune in to see what made APS so interesting, and whether 15-year-old expired film is still up to the task.

Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new episodes of DPReview TV every week.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on DPReview TV: A look back at APS film

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Canon drops flagship EOS-1v film body and projects end date for repairs

01 Jun

It’s a bad week for film lovers as Canon follows Leica with the news of the discontinuation of an important 35mm camera from its line-up. Earlier Leica reported the end of the M7, and now Canon has announced it has ceased production of its flagship film body, the EOS-1v. The fact that most of us didn’t even know it was still in production anyway hardly softens the blow, as the launch of this model in 2000 was truly one of Canon’s greatest moments.

The hard-as-nails professional body can shoot at 10 fps with the PB-E2 power pack attached, and can even manage 9 fps in AF servo. It has a 45-point AF array, a shortest flash sync of 1/250 sec, a top shutter speed of 1/8000sec and is claimed to be good for over 150,000 actuations. It can store the shooting data from 100 rolls of 36 exposure film to be read-out using Canon’s EOS Link ES-E1 software and matched to the roll using an ID number imprinted on the film leader by the standard camera back. Best of all, its 0.72x 100% viewfinder presents a huge, clear and bright view of the world even by today’s best standards.

When it was launched in 2000 the camera was priced at 270,000 yen ($ 2480 at current rates), and used models still fetch around $ 600 through online auction sites.

Canon says repairs will be carried out until October 31 2025, though after its statutory repair period in 2020 expires the company can’t guarantee it will have the necessary parts.
If this sad news is too much for you, reading the Google Translate version of Canon Japan’s statement might cheer you up. You can also read more about this fantastic camera in Canon’s fabulous Camera Museum.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Canon drops flagship EOS-1v film body and projects end date for repairs

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Leica M7 film camera comes to an end

30 May

Leica has discontinued its M7 film camera after 16 years of service. According to the Red Dot Forum, which is run by the Miami Leica store, the last of the M7 standard and ‘a la Carte’ bodies has been built and no more will be made. The Miami store lists the camera as ‘Out of Stock’ but models will remain in circulation elsewhere until they are sold through. The UK Leica stores have stock listed at £3900 and New York at $ 4795 – the same price as the Leica MP and £/$ 100 more than the M-A film bodies.

The M7 caused a bit of a stir when it arrived with features that required battery power to operate – particularly the electronic shutter. Without power users are restricted to shutter speeds of 1/60sec and 1/125sec, whereas models before the M7 had used an entirely mechanical shutter and could therefore continue working in the event of a flat battery- or no battery.

The M7 also brought aperture priority to the M range, a feature that has found a place in a number of M bodies, but not all, since, and it was the first M to feature a DX code reader to automatically set the ISO for the internal metering system by ‘reading’ a code printed on the film cassette.

Ironically, while the slightly modern M7 will descend in to history with its new-fangled electro-wizardry, two perhaps less helpful film models will continue the previous traditions of fully mechanical shutters and all-manual operation. The MP and the M-A remain on the product list, though the MP seems to be widely listed as Out-of-Stock in official Leica stores.

For more information see the Red Dot Forum and the Leica website.

Red Dot statement

Leica M7 Film Camera Discontinued

Today marks the passing of a legend, the venerable Leica M7. First introduced in 2002 as the follow-up to the M6, the Leica M7 brought a more modern aperture priority mode and electronically-controlled shutter to a classic mechanical M design. The M7 was also the first M camera with a built-in DX code reader for ISO detection. The camera has been well-loved for over 15 years, but all good things must come to an end.

Effective immediately, Leica will no longer produce any more new M7 cameras, in black or silver. There still might be a handful in stock at various dealers, but once sold out, no more will be coming from Wetzlar. The same goes for the a la Carte program. No M7-based configurations will be accepted or built for customers wanting a custom camera.

While this is certainly sad news for analog lovers, fear not. The Leica MP and Leica M-A film cameras remain current items in the catalog and will continue to be produced.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Leica M7 film camera comes to an end

Posted in Uncategorized

 

A photographer has designed and built the first E-Mount film camera

26 Apr

Photographer Alexander Gee has created something pretty cool: the first (to our knowledge) Sony E-Mount 35mm film camera. It’s called LEX, and when it’s finally finished, Gee intends to make the camera’s design files open source so that anybody with a little bit of interest, soldering skill, and access to a 3D printer can built their own from scratch.

The LEX is the result of more than a year of design work, 3D printing, and trial & error, which Gee actually documented on the LEX Optical website. Development began around the shutter mechanism from a Sony a7, and continued from there until he had achieved a working prototype that has been improved upon and tidied up to create the version you see below:

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_3532342693″,”galleryId”:”3532342693″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”isMobile”:false}) });

The current prototype isn’t quite as pretty as the mockups, but it’s not far off either. And more importantly: it works. There are already sample photos posted on the LEX Optical website and more (we assume) to come as development continues. The website doesn’t offer any specific timetable, but Gee does say that he might crowdfund “a small batch of devices before opening the design files up.”

To see sample images, keep an eye on the project’s status, or jump onboard if and when Gee crowdfunds that batch of pre-built LEX cameras mentioned above, head over to the LEX Optical website or follow the project on Facebook and Instagram.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on A photographer has designed and built the first E-Mount film camera

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Moar Megapixels! Pixel peeping a 709MP drum scan of 8×10 slide film

17 Mar

Large format wilderness photographer Ben Horne recently embarked on a little experiment with some help from his friend, Michael Strickland. Horne shoots large format 8×10 slide film, and Strickland has a drum scanner that can scan that film at insanely high resolution. How high? Using a little bit of trickery, Strickland was able to provide Horne with a 709.6-megapixel file to pixel peep in this video.

Take that, 100MP medium format sensors!

To give you an idea of just how high resolution this file is, printed at 300ppi, the resulting print would measure 79.3 x 99.4 inches. As we mentioned, this took a bit of ‘trickery’—namely: Strickland actually had to drum scan the print twice. He first scanned the top half, then the bottom half, and then merged the two scans together in post.

In the video, Horne zooms in to 100% and makes his way around the file. He explains how he shot the image, what sacrifices he had to make regarding sharpness in the closest foreground and furthest background, and shows off just how sharp this thing is in the parts of the image he’s most concerned with.

Check out the full explanation for yourself up top, and then head over to Horne’s YouTube channel for more videos like this one.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Moar Megapixels! Pixel peeping a 709MP drum scan of 8×10 slide film

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Report: Agfa Vista film is no more, stock drying up world-wide

13 Mar

According to a report by Japan Camera Hunter, Agfa Vista color negative film is no longer being produced. The site says the information—which has been rumored for a few months—has now been confirmed by ‘reliable industry sources,’ and that supplies are drying up around the world.

The film has become popular for its low cost and punchy colors, but obviously not popular enough for it to remain in production.

Since the demise of AgfaPhoto GmbH in 2005, the film was distributed by Lupus Imaging and Media, a marketing company that bought the rights to use the Agfa name on a range of items from film to memory sticks. At first, the company slit the remaining stock from Agfa’s factory in Leverkusen, but in more recent times it is widely believed Fujifilm was the manufacturer of the Vista films.

Japan Camera Hunter’s dramatised Death of Vista illustration.

Agfa was one of the very early experimenters with color photography, bringing a color emulsion to the market shortly after Kodak introduced Kodachrome. Agfacolor Neu was much easier to process, however, as it needed only one pass through the chemistry to develop all three colors.

Rolls of Agfa Vista in both ISO 200 and 400 varieties are still available from specialist stores and even Amazon UK, so panic buying hasn’t quite taken hold yet. But JCH doesn’t expect stock to last too long.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Report: Agfa Vista film is no more, stock drying up world-wide

Posted in Uncategorized

 
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »