I love Alan’s openness and positive attitude towards cheap new cameras, which often undeservingly get flack just because they’re made of plastic. Diana Mini (analog.cafe/r/diana-mini-7…) was an excellent example of such a camera, and Super Sampler was another one that was my entry into the film photography world (analog.cafe/r/lomography-s…). There are others like the Ektar H35N (analog.cafe/r/kodak-ektar-…), which feature a glass and an aspherical element.
FND aimed to make a premium version of a cheap new camera with a metal casing and a quirky autofocus mechanism. Unfortunately, the focusing system did not work out, and the quality of the Nana lens does not appear any more impressive than of the cheap plastic “toy” cameras mentioned above. Worse yet, according to Alan and FND’s blogs, there seems to have been an attempt to circumvent Kickstarter’s TOS with a significant (allegedly ~AU$20,000) “self-pledge” to force the project into fruition. This is a big no-no.
FND is offering refunds to anyone who wishes to withdraw from the project. I’m curious to hear user feedback once Nana, which is admittedly a pretty camera, is in the hands of its backers.
Dmitri