Here’s an example of a precision focus with the Bertele 50mm 𝒇2 MC FLB lens that wouldn’t be otherwise possible to get accurately with the vintage lens.
Omnar Bertele 50mm 𝒇2 MC FLB is a modern recreation of the classic Jena lens formula from 1934.
The founders, Chris (of Skyllaney Opto-Mechanics) and Hamish (of 35mmc.com), have been making premium machined brass rehousings of classic lenses since 2021. Bertele is their first project to utilize an advanced focus correction mechanism (FLB) with new glass elements crafted using a 91-year-old formula by Dr. Ludwig Bertele. Designed, manufactured, hand-finished, and hand-assembled in the UK.
The Omnar founders’ love for the Bertele formula had originally brought them together. But unlike their other creations (see: analog.cafe/comments/l1rc), the nearly century-old glass is not suitable for rehousing. The original design suffers from degraded coating, easily-scratchable glass, and focus recompilation errors that yield soft images at medium apertures and near focus.
Omnar Bertele 50mm 𝒇2 MC FLB resolves these recompilation errors using the Floating Lens Block design, which mechanically nudges the elements into an optimal position for tack-sharp focus and smooth, classic bokeh, without any changes to the original lens formula. The multi-coated glass elements are made anew, encased in a premium metal chassis for the Leica M-Mount (which helps further resolve the close-focus recompilation).
Bertele 50mm 𝒇2 MC FLB, starting at £2750, will be available at
Jollylook is making affordable mechanical instant film backs for the Mamiya RB67, RZ67, and other MF cameras.
Last month, the company announced the completion of their hand-crankable DIY instant film development units with an Instax Wide back — today, they’re working on adapting the same technology to medium format film cameras.
One of the nicest things about film cameras is that many of them require no batteries or have no electronics at all. But that’s not the case for most instant film cameras, which at least have a motorized film ejection mechanism. The peel-apart film is very hard to come by, so one of the very few options for going instant-batteryless is Jollylook’s system.
Jollylook’s camera design (eg, analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…) relies on intricate cardboard and plywood assembly that may not always give reliable results. However, the plastic+metal film rollers & frame work nicely in DIY projects (like analog.cafe/r/building-the…). We’ll soon find out how well this technology holds up for medium format cameras. If successful, it may become an affordable way to quickly convert your medium format camera into an instant film camera.
Note: I’ve reached out to CineStill for comment on June 2nd and will update this post once/if I hear back.
There’s still no word from either company about this, but I’m sure we’ll know soon enough what the future holds for Kodak Vision 3, rejmet, and CineStill.
This is great, and I am right there with you. Been battling my own depression and demons, and photography can help me step away, step back, and look at what is going on. This sounds simple, but it really isn’t. I also agree that the task of going through thousands of digital images is daunting! I still have a ton to cull and catalog. Thanks for this post — seriously.
Light Lens Lab outlined ambitious goals for 2025 and shared more samples of their newly formulated black-and-white film.
“This emulsion reflects the heart of our film project: to create film materials without historial [sic] baggage, third-party patent entanglements, or manufacturer dependency. It is built from the ground up — powered by creativity and user feedback. Our prototype assembly line is set to begin operation in June 2025, with V3 emulsion production following shortly thereafter.” — @lightlenslab.com/blogs/upc…
Light Lens Lab (located in Shangrao, China) is on the cusp of releasing a newly-formulated black-and-white film which, according to their blog post, would feature “the widest colour sensitivity range among civilian black-and-white films, achieving a range of around 380-700nm.”
The new film should be available in 135, 120, and sheet formats. But there’s more:
LLL is working on peel-apart film, an ISO 400 traditional grain film (the emulsion that’s nearing production is an ISO 125 T-Grain; what is T-Grain: analog.cafe/r/ilford-delta…), motion picture formats, inc. 70mm, and researching colour slide films, including the possibility of resurrecting the K-14 process (a.k.a., the Kodachrome process).
In an unconfirmed announcement published by Memorylab on Instagram (instagram.com/p/DKQpkdhS6EF), it appears that Kodak may be forgoing the remjet layer in their future products.
Technically, this would mean that unmodified Kodak Vision 3 films will be suitable for normal C-41 development, although the ban on bulk purchases remains in effect (analog.cafe/comments/up67). The remjet layer’s anti-static and anti-halation properties will be integrated using another technology: Anti-Halation Undercoat or “AHU.”
Cinema Shorts and other brands that sell repackaged Kodak Vision 3 film warn that those films can not be developed in normal colour chemicals.
The remjet backing is designed to counter static discharges and halations. It’s the black carbon layer on the back of the Vision 3 films that can ruin developer chemicals if not properly removed, as described here: analog.cafe/r/how-to-remov….
Remjet is a defining quality of those Kodak films, and its absence is also defining for films like CineStill 800T, which are the same films but with remjet removed after the fact, creating a unique look: analog.cafe/r/cinestill-80….
Updated: Analog.Cafe v3.29.78 fixes a previously hidden bug that may’ve caused recent service disruptions.
A memory leak in the application router crashed Analog.Cafe last night. There’s been a steady increase in traffic to the website which caused a minor bug to suddenly become a serious issue.
I spent today’s afternoon debugging Next.js router events (which were the ultimate cause of the issue, although it took a while to figure that out).
Analog.Cafe should now feel a bit faster and it’s ready to receive more visitors. Welcome, new readers!
The challenge of a small panoramic film camera with a 22mm lens is making sharp images, particularly when the lens is made of plastic. Minolta P’s (Riva Panorama), mentioned above, had a glass lens, and its images often looked soft, particularly in the corners.
This is because a panoramic mask cuts part of the image, effectively reducing the overall resolution. Plus, a lens that is this wide is particularly complicated to make sharp.
Previously, I reviewed another plastic panoramic camera, Vivitar IC 101 (analog.cafe/r/vivitar-ic10…), which was a lot of fun but not particularly sharp either.
Still, the samples RETO sent in the press package look promising:
RETO PANO is a new film camera with a switchable panoramic mask, an “ultra-wide” 22mm lens, and a built-in flash.
RETO’s line of seemingly simple plastic cameras is more ambitious than they may lead on. RETO PANO is not an exception.
One of RETO’s first entries into the market was RETO 3D, a 2019 Kickstarter project and a fresh take on a cult-classic Nishika N8000. On this blog, I reviewed H35N, a half-frame plastic camera with a glass and an aspherical lens element, which I think made it the sharpest camera in its class: analog.cafe/r/kodak-ektar-…
RETO PANO adds a switchable mask to the full-frame exposures to produce panoramic images, similarly to how Minolta P’s does it: analog.cafe/r/minolta-ps-r… — but in a slightly lighter package, weighing just 93g/3⅓oz.
PANO uses a single AAA battery for flash, although it shouldn’t need it for most shots. Its shutter is fixed at 1/100s and its lens is a fixed focus acrylic 22mm 𝒇9.5.
First, an update to the earlier posts about @aymenfilmm, an account that shares AI-generated images and labels them as film. They have disabled comments and quotes on their account.
I don’t know who’s behind @aymenfilmm, but it seems understandable, given that many of the comments call them out for posting AI images and tagging them as film. Some of those comments are mean, though their previous actions suggest that they simply do not want to reveal how their images were created. Still, this community cut-off hasn’t stopped @aymenfilmm from sharing; in fact, they’re posting more often.
Meanwhile, another post came across my Threads stream where @scanmyphotos used an AI-generated image to promote their services (of scanning film). The camera in that image has no take-up spool chamber, the film canister has a very strange font and no branding, and the whole scene concept is ripped off from the One Hour Photo film by Mark Romanek, starring Robin Williams.
A further look at @scanmyphotos’s reveals more AI-generated promos.
Thank you so much for writing. You’re absolutely right: the Olympus PEN system truly was a unique and tremendously capable professional half-frame system. Your thoughtful approach to negatives and enlarging with a half-frame mask really highlights its strengths. I’m delighted that my review encouraged you to share your insights.
Updated: film Q v1.0.0-beta.10 adds support for lossless TIFF output in 16-bit colour.
While the low-compression full 4:4:4 chroma JPEG files that film Q outputs have enough data for significant edits without distortions, there may be a time when more colour data is needed.
For example, if you need to make significant corrections to exposure, contrast, saturation, or colour balance of your scans, working with a lossless 16-bit per channel TIFF file can make a big difference.
High bitrate files can help reduce noise and prevent banding, but they require a true 16-bit colour processing pipeline, which film Q now supports.
But: TIFF files are HUGE compared to JPEG, and they are often larger than camera RAW files. Thus, I suggest you use this option sparingly.
Thanks for your support! And please let me know if you find any issues with this app or anywhere on Analog.Cafe.
Dmitri Jun 9, ‘25
Dmitri Jun 9, ‘25
ninetwentysix Jun 5, ‘25
Dmitri Jun 4, ‘25
Dmitri Jun 4, ‘25
Michael Carnell Jun 3, ‘25
Dmitri Jun 2, ‘25
Kaiser Jun 2, ‘25
Dmitri Jun 2, ‘25
Dmitri Jun 2, ‘25
Dmitri Jun 1, ‘25
Dmitri May 30, ‘25
Dmitri May 26, ‘25
Dmitri May 26, ‘25
Dmitri May 26, ‘25
Dmitri May 26, ‘25
Dmitri May 26, ‘25
Dmitri May 22, ‘25
Danilo Leonardi May 21, ‘25
Dmitri May 21, ‘25