A new film scanning project, several new film cameras, and some news about Kodak and Lucky colour films surfaced recently.
Something happened at home, and I couldn’t write about any of these projects in time; this video summarizes all of the above, plus the sad news of the Epson flatbed scanner line discontinuation:
Metal Fingers and others have praised the new Adox Color Mission batch, which, I must agree, looks great. Still, I’m bothered by the lack of availability and the sudden jump in quality, compared to last year’s results (analog.cafe/comments/1l0n).
Two years ago, Adox released a limited run of Color Mission, which I was able to test and review (here: analog.cafe/r/adox-color-m…). The company clarified then that this was what they had left in stock from the acquisition of a defunct film producer and that they had more to release later.
So, *is the new Color Mission batch coming from the film stocks Adox purchased previously,* or is it a dramatic jump in quality in their effort to replicate the original formula on their existing machinery?
Restoring old tech is a lot of fun! I wouldn’t be able to run this blog if I didn’t know at least a little bit about doing this kind of work. Honestly, I’m amazed at how long some of our tools can last. We really ought to repair more and buy less.
From what I’ve heard recently, you’ll be better off taking all your film to Japan, as all colour is priced highly there. That said, I’d probably pick something ISO 200-400 or maybe even Portra 800, as that would make shooting zone-focusing cameras much easier, if you’re still considering that!
It was only recently that I read about Selenium cell deterioration, specifically relating to the professional Weston Euromaster meters. There are a few experts who can replace the cells and recalibrate the Weston meters. It not cheap in the U.K. at $US 230+ but after doing the repair a Weston will probably last another 40-50yrs! Of course a refurbished meter costs about the same as the repairs, so it’s more about gear continuity in a family.
I’m looking at getting my 1970s Weston refurbished to use with my father’s Voigtlander 6x6 fold out clockwork camera that he bought when based in Singapore in the early 1950s.
I’ll need to use some leather conditioner on the bellows of that camera. In its superb brown leather case it looks immaculate.
Dad is 91. He bought the camera when he was 19. It would be great to take his portrait on it. I guess I could use my DSLR to ensure accurate metering.
You’ve solved my dilemma on which stock to take on a holiday to Japan. It doesn’t matter. You’ve also part explained why film is so expensive in Japan…it’s all imported.
After having my beloved Practika L stolen in the very early 1980s, I bought one of these excellent pocket cameras. It went everywhere with me taking really sharp photos of my young son (from 3 to about 10), my beautiful and classy new girlfriend in 1986 (we were married in 1990 and still are) and my lovely mum (she is no longer with us for the past 3 yrs).
If you understand depth of field, hence zone focus, it’s really easy to use. My standard approach for holiday shot was to try and shoot and f5.6 (sharpest performance) or f8 then set infinity at one extreme of the engraved DOF markers then try and ensure no on walked into the closer distance. At f8 this is about 10 ft.
It’s been all over Europe, Malaysia, America and was my pride and joy until I got my first Canon EF 600, then my EOS1 and onward into Canon DSLR and M series.
In the 1990s I did get a Fuji DL mini for its great lens and autofocus speed, plus wider angle view.
I’m off to Japan and Hong Kong in a few weeks (with my wife 40 yrs after we met) and it’s a toss up which of these two pocket cameras I’ll take.
My heart says the Minox for all its family history and our personal nostalgia but my brain says the DL mini to complement my X100VI as that has a 35mm equivalent lens and the DL mini 28mm for wider shots.
I guess the DL mini with Fuji film would make sense in Japan, but the Minox with Kodak Gold 200 would be an interesting contrast. I’m just waiting to get a new battery kit for the Minox and film stock.
Any film stock recommendations for autumn in Japan. I think Velvia is too expensive and I probably need the latitude of print negative. Gold 200?
Indeed, Gold and ColorPlus are nearly identical, though I think I saw some minute differences when I compared them a couple of years back: analog.cafe/r/kodak-gold-v…
Great compatison, thank you very much. I shot both films this year (but did not make exact comparison) and agree that the differences (if any) are totally negligible. To me, also gold and colorplus appear nearly identical in general shooting.
Jason used Negative Lab Pro to invert his scans with some editing after the fact. While that makes it harder to compare its colours to other films, it appears to have a great dynamic range and good grain control.
As it says on the package: 14 layers in the emulsion. (Jason adds that Kodak Portra films use 16 layers.)
This camera made waves last year as a handheld large-format SLR that could accept peel-apart film, Instax film, medium-format film, and even offered its gigantic top-down finder as a way to create optical bokeh on a smartphone camera. (I wrote about it briefly, here: analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…).
The Verge (Andru) reviewed two new cassette players and a CD player, all of which were made with high-quality materials and featured modern circuitry and software.
This new technology shows familiar parallels to modern film cameras, all of which show the same drawbacks:
Consider Minolta TC-1 (analog.cafe/r/minolta-tc-1…), the world’s smallest full-frame camera. Yes, it’s smaller than the smallest full-frame digital camera in 2025, and it’s made with a titanium shell. Compared to the top-of-the-line iPhone, which features the thinnest titanium coating on its edges you can imagine, TC-1 is more valuable. Could Ricoh have achieved this level of quality, design, and performance on the same production line that their Pentax 17 (analog.cafe/comments/ssin) was manufactured on? Absolutely not.
(Ricoh/Pentax is the biggest manufacturer that took on a modern film camera design to date.)
The best products on the planet require the same level of investment, regardless of whether they utilize modern or vintage technology.
But with enough continuous investment and modern innovation, maybe with setting the specs to earlier vintage years, I think that some retro-modern products can get close. Some examples are Rollei 35AF (analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…) and Instax WIDE Evo (analog.cafe/comments/427m).
Harman Phoenix is the newest colour-negative film on the market from a factory that isn’t Kodak. Made by the same company that sells the famous Ilford black-and-white film, Phoenix is their massive investment into a medium they haven’t worked on since the 1960s.
Harman Phoenix II features substantial upgrades to the dynamic range/contrast, grain, and colour over the original.
Since I published the original review, I’ve shot many more rolls of the old and the new Phoenix, staged a few experiments with that film (like turning it into slides), and compared it to other emulsions.
The updated review features updated facts, samples, and a fresh polish on the language so that it’s more fun to read:
Commodity fetishism lands Leica in hot water on Threads.
The brand drew fire to its social media account of over 96 thousand followers today with a post that romanticized ownership of their gear more than their followers were willing to take:
“Leica is not just a brand — it’s a lifestyle.
“It’s the reason why people love to take our cameras out on the town.
“It’s the camera that you want to sit next to you in the passenger side of your car.
“It’s the only piece of jewelry that is reciprocal to others because you can give an image as a present.
“It becomes a part of you.”
Leica makes famously expensive lenses and cameras that can fetch well over $10,000 new and more than most other cameras when bought used as well. Their price is usually justified by the quality of the design, assembly, and materials that make their tools durable, fun to use, and capable of capturing very sharp photos.
Leica is also celebrated for its history (famously, the company helped hundreds of Jewish people out of Nazi Germany in 1938-1939, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leic…). The company has recently celebrated 100 years with the addition of (reasonably priced) 35mm photographic film to its roster of products: analog.cafe/r/film-photogr….
Leica is not shy of lending its name to numerous other companies, which over the years have generated a large ecosystem of accessories, clothing, and more.
However, the social media team’s post that dressed up the Leica brand as a “lifestyle” has struck a nerve with the photographers.
“This kind of pretentious nonsense makes me want to sell my Leica.” — @fredrikplam.
“When the camera itself gets romanticized more than the work it creates, when the priority becomes posing with it, showing it off, or treating it like an accessory or ‘jewelry,’ that’s when the tool starts overshadowing the art. And that’s not the kind of ‘lifestyle’ I’m interested in.” — @illkoncept.
“As someone who’s been shooting with Leica’s for almost 2 decades and has been published in LFI Magazine, I just don’t have the words to express how cringey this post is.” — @dezfoto.
“This is not the flex you think it is…it makes Leica owners seem like a bunch of posers more concerned about how they look rather than the art itself.” — @denizdemir.photos.
And it keeps going (so far, there are nearly 600 responses on the original post: threads.com/@leicacameraus…).
Leica’s social media team has been exceptionally active on Threads since they came online, one of the fastest large camera brands to reply and post their takes on the Meta-owned app.
In an attempt to respond to some of the posts, the company attempted to double down:
“Ramon from the marketing team 👋
I wrote the post so let’s talk about it. Two things can be right at once. It can be an instrument and a part of your daily routine. I’ve been to Wetzlar to see how these products are made and you’re right — they are engineering marvels.
But let’s be honest, I’ve never heard someone refer to their camera as ‘my precision instrument’. But a camera is your lifestyle if you carry it daily to make photos.”
That effort appears to have fallen on deaf ears, as the comments condemning Leica’s original thread are in the hundreds and continue to multiply as more people are becoming aware of it.
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