This $49 Reusable Film Camera gives your Holiday Photos the Perfect Retro Touch

You may know Moment for their top-notch smartphone photography gear. Moment makes some of the best iPhone camera lenses (the Anamorphic lens still remains on the top of my wishlist), and even accessories like filters, tripods, and mounts, but the company is now dipping its toe into actual photography with the Long Weekend, a 35mm point and shooter with a disposable-camera aesthetic, but a reusable film design. With an incredibly modest price tag of $49.99, the Long Weekend is perfect for holidays, get-togethers, and special events. The photos it clicks have a distinct retro appeal with the focus-free 31mm, F9 optical grade acrylic lens that gives your images a dreamy 90s aesthetic.

Designers: Long Weekend & Moment

Click Here to Preorder: $49.99

The Long Weekend is a perfect camera for low-stakes high-memories photography, whether it’s a wedding, a beach holiday, or even your kid’s first serious camera. It’s intuitive to use (with just a shutter button and a flash switch) and comes with a lightweight plastic body that can take a few bumps without your heart skipping a beat. The camera comes in two color-ways – a default black, and a gorgeous retrocam-looking cream and blue that reminds us of the Polaroid OneStep.

Optimized for 135 Film (24X36mm) with an ISO range of 200/400, the camera offers versatility in film choice, allowing users to experiment with various film stocks, from classic black & white to popular color films like Kodak Ultramax. The focus-free 31mm, F9 optical grade acrylic lens simplifies the shooting process, making it a great tool for beginners. However, this simplicity does mean a reduction in creative control, as there are no adjustable settings for shutter speed or aperture.

The camera’s shutter speed is fixed at 1/120, and the aperture is locked at f/9, offering a depth of field that covers objects from a distance of one meter onwards. This focus-free approach makes operation straightforward, as you’d expect from a disposable camera… but with the ability to switch out films and continue shooting for as long as the camera lasts you! The lens is made of plastic, resulting in blurry and vignetted corners, a characteristic that you’ll surely come to love.

The Long Weekend also comes equipped with a built-in flash (with a recycle time of 10-15 seconds), making it suitable for low-light shooting. This feature, along with its simple and intuitive operation, makes the camera a fun, easy-to-use device for all skill levels. The flash and the camera itself draw power from a single AAA battery, adding to its convenience and portability.

The camera is available for preorder at $49.99, with deliveries expected to begin from December 26. That may mean missing out on capturing the holiday memories with your friends and family, but it’s just in time for your New Years party or a holiday that follows after!

Click Here to Preorder: $49.99

The post This $49 Reusable Film Camera gives your Holiday Photos the Perfect Retro Touch first appeared on Yanko Design.

Kodak Super 8 film camera revival is finally happening but there’s a huge catch

The Super 8 film camera has become an important part of photography history, particularly when it comes to cinematography. The distinctive design of the camera and its unique format inspired many amateurs who would later become industry veterans, and that legacy is fondly remembered and even commemorated in a 2011 movie bearing the camera’s very name. Not long after that film was released, Kodak, whose name has become closely associated with the camera, announced a new version of this beloved camera that sticks true to its unique analog experience while adding a few digital conveniences. Almost 8 years later, that camera might finally be ready to roll, but it seems that very few fans will actually be able to get their hands on it.

Designer: Kodak

The Super 8 camera can probably be credited for giving birth to home movies that are now made using smartphones. Making motion picture cameras more accessible to the masses helped aspiring moviemakers get started without having to burn through their savings. Although Super 8 cameras are actually still available today, they are already considered vintage by today’s standards, especially because of their use of physical film. That said, a faithful Super 8 successor won’t be able to win hearts unless it also stays true to that format and medium.

That’s exactly what Kodak was going for when it revealed plans to upgrade the Super 8 camera back in 2016 at CES. It would still be a film camera like its predecessors, but it would add a few convenient features taken from digital cameras. The new Super 8 would also retain the same basic shape, especially the gun-like pistol grip that has become iconic of the camera’s design. There’s an addition of a top handle with an integrated run button for more difficult angles. It does modernize the aesthetic, though, adopting a more industrial appearance with plenty of flat planes and sharp angles. It is a look that’s both fresh and new yet still unambiguously Super 8.

As for those modern conveniences, it sports a 4-inch LCD swiveling viewfinder, similar to all video cameras today. It comes with a detachable wide-angle 6mm 1:1.2 C-mount lens, so you can actually use any other C-mount prime lens or adapters, depending on what you need. There’s an SD card reader for recording audio directly into storage, as well as a micro HDMI port for connecting an external monitor. Ironically, despite all the new hardware, the camera still charges with an old and slow micro USB connection. And yes, it still shoots on analog film, so you’ll need to make sure to have a stock of KODAK’s Super 8 cartridges at hand.

Given how long ago the announcement was, there were perhaps some doubts about whether Kodak would actually be able to pull this off at all. The good news is that Kodak has finally opened up sign-ups, with shipping expected to start next month. The bad news is that, in addition to limited availability, the price tag for this new Kodak Super 8 film camera is a whopping $5,495, more than twice the announced SRP back in 2016. This immediately puts it out of the reach of all but the most dedicated collectors, a rather disappointing U-turn for a camera that originally catered to amateurs and aspiring moviemakers.

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DIGI SWAP gives your old film camera a new lease in life as an upcycled digital camera

You can now continue enjoying the unique analog experience of a film camera without giving up the conveniences of your smartphone.

Although the camera market continues to survive and even thrive despite the onslaught of smartphones, one type of dedicated shooter has almost gone extinct. Except for pros and hobbyists that are trying to faithfully recreate the intricacies and flaws of the physical medium, film cameras have been mostly left gathering dust, unused, and forgotten. People often keep these old cameras as memorabilia of a time long past, when taking pictures had a certain element of uncertainty and excitement whenever you pressed the shutter button. Now you can relive those moments and reuse your old film camera thanks to this rather ingenious system that combines the feeling of an analog shooter with the conveniences of a smartphone camera.

Designer: Yoshihiro Komori

Click Here to Buy Now: $188 $235 (20% off). Hurry, only 974/100 left!

DIGI SWAP is actually made up of two parts, two sides of the same coin. On the one hand, you have an adapter that attaches to the back of your film camera and acts as a mount for your iPhone. In a nutshell, the adapter projects the image that goes through the film camera’s lens into the iPhone’s camera, effectively turning the smartphone into the equivalent of the roll of film. Of course, that alone doesn’t complete the experience, which is where the DIGI SWAP app comes in.

That app is almost magical in the way that it seemingly syncs with what you do on the film camera without actually connecting physically with those controls. Aside from adjusting some settings on the app, like the ISO sensitivity, everything happens automatically. You use the film camera’s controls for aperture, shutter speed, and focus adjustment, but the photo is automatically saved to the iPhone’s gallery the moment you press that physical shutter button.

Samples were taken with DIGI SWAP.

This has the effect of recreating both the feeling as well as the visual style of old-school film cameras, which often have a rather blurry quality. You can pull the wind-up lever just before you shoot your picture, just like in the old days. In fact, the app even has a “Film Empty” screen that shows up after taking 36 shots. Of course, it’s just an artificial limitation, and you can keep on shooting by tapping the “Film replacement” button, but it still faithfully recreates the emotions that often run high when you realize you’ve run out of film.

More importantly, DIGI SWAP offers shutterbugs a fun and useful way to upcycle their old faithful companions. Rather than just letting them gather dust or, worse, throwing them away, they can now use that very same film camera in a new way that lets you relive the feelings that even digital cameras today don’t provide. It can even become a way for different generations to connect, where the young and the old meet halfway with a loving and nostalgic blend of the past and the present.

Click Here to Buy Now: $188 $235 (20% off). Hurry, only 974/100 left!

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This instant film camera brings the digital camera convenience to the art of film photography

Moir 21 is an instant film camera concept designed to blend the quality of film photography with the convenience of digital cameras.

While today’s world is swarmed with endless content and digital photographs, we’ve lost touch with the art of analog photography. Most of today’s feeds feature photos taken from smartphones and digital cameras, but you can always tell the difference between those and photographs taken on film.

There’s a mystique to film photography, but for modern purposes, we tend towards digital mediums. Blending the two together, design team Sarwan Bhinder and Vishnu R conceptualized Moir 21, an instant film camera that takes the best of both worlds to meet the beauty of film cameras with the convenience of digital photography.

Moir 21 is named after the French word mémoire, which loosely translates to the concept of recordkeeping. Maintaining the integrity of a film camera and resolving the limitations set by current digital cameras, Moir 21 allows for multiple prints of hand-selected photographs. Many photographers who enjoy takings photos on film appreciate the medium for its single-shot takes.

In order to keep that spirit alive, Sarwan and Vishnu designed Moir 21 to automatically erase a photograph only a few minutes after it has been taken. Additionally, the team of designers equipped Moir 21 with a minimal control panel so that modern users can remain close to the clean display of most digital cameras.

The actual photograph won’t be erased, but the photographer will only be able to see it again after been printed. Through the electronic viewfinder (EVF), photographers can change the settings on their cameras to produce different photographs, similar to a film camera.

Speaking to this, the designers suggest, “The controls are fluid and seamless in order to give a smoother and faster experience while shooting and printing.”

Designers: Sarwan Bhinder and Vishnu R

Sarwan and Vishnu designed Moir 21 to maintain the simplicity of a modern digital camera’s display.

Moir 21 has been conceptualize din two different colors, sleek black and optic white.

The post This instant film camera brings the digital camera convenience to the art of film photography first appeared on Yanko Design.

Balenciaga’s neon energy inspires this old school camera’s film – resulting in Instagram worthy effects!

Much like record players, film cameras came to popularity in the 20th century, but both designs have still found their own niche crowd of modern-day buffs who are sure to fill up today’s tech grids and timelines with the occasional nod to yesteryear. Film cameras have since transitioned out of the 20th-century, opting instead to join the growing market of digital point-and-shoots and smartphone cameras, but something about film’s accuracy and crispness, along with the patience required for it still lingers in Instagram filters and selfie sticks – we still love taking photographs, that’s never changed. Inspired by the bright, neon lights of Balenciaga’s eclectic personality and the acquired technique in using film, Dongjae Koo’s film camera comes equipped with fluorescent soaked 35mm film to capture the energy behind the famed fashion house’s latest campaign.

Koo designed five different rolls of 35mm film in neon pink, yellow, green, blue, and purple. While film filters might be considered more like accessories to the camera, giving each developed photograph a desired filter, or effect like washed light and neon imprints, this camera would be designed for the use of its filters. With a relatively standard ISO of 400, Koo’s film would be suitable for daylight, twilight, and indoor shooting – perfect for shooting editorials or Instagram group photos worthy of being called one. The film camera itself is a little bit elusive in appearance, with a touch of color on an otherwise all-black, sleek, matte-steel body reminiscent of some of Balenciaga’s all-black runway looks. The distinguished personality of Balenciaga buzzes through this camera with its minimal, no-frills, metallic structure that was fashioned after Balenciaga’s collection of richly textured and colored duffle bags and purses. Koo’s overall design comprises both the physical film camera and the companion film filters, which are ready for use with each shot. For the most part, Koo’s design is similar to other film cameras with intuitive locks, dials, and clicks that open and close the camera’s film compartment, or change the camera’s shutter speed and focus. Then, the camera’s digital interface indicates to users how many shots have been used up with each roll of film, the zoom aperture, along with the option of using a self-timer. By interweaving modern-day digital language with tried-and-true film hardware, Koo bridges the world of today’s conveniences with yesterday’s proven struggle.

When new film camera designs like Dongjae Koo’s shuffle into today’s market, the world of old school design converges with contemporary values and practices in order to uphold the relevancy behind the film camera. We’ve always loved taking photographs, it’s the subject and reason that’s changed throughout the years. Today, due to the smartphone’s and social media’s rise in popularity, the world of fashion is at our fingertips, closer than ever, and is inspiring many global designers to reach out to take hold of its relevancy. Take a picture if you’d like, as we’ve learned, it’ll last longer.

Designer: Dongjae Koo

Lomography’s new 35mm camera has a lens you can fill with liquid

Lomography's latest panoramic 35mm camera has a trick up its sleeve. You can pour liquid into the lens of the HydroChrome Sutton’s Panoramic Belair Camera (yep, that’s the full name) to add some colorful effects to your panoramic shots. Lomo suggests...