Best Film Camera & Most Popular Film

I’ve recently reviewed the world’s slimmest full-frame camera, which was designed in the 1990s and still holds that title, despite all the incredible advancements in digital technology since.

Think about it, more than 30 years have passed, and we still can’t fit a sensor in a body as slim as that of the Ricoh GR1 — plus, the motor drive and chambers for the film cartridge and the take-up spool. What else have we been missing out on when switching away from film?

In this letter, I’ll tell you about the slimmest and the smallest full-frame film cameras ever made, as well as the Analog.Cafe readers’ preferences (i.e., what’s the best film camera?), and include stats for the most-read film reviews (i.e. what film is the community most interested in today?)

In this newsletter: Free film. The slimmest, smallest full-frame cameras are film point-and-shoots made in the 1990s. “Best” film camera, according to you! The most popular films on Analog.Cafe. What’s next on Analog.Cafe? Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

Free film.

If you aren’t yet a GOLD subscriber, here’s a little incentive for you: I’ve been giving away 3-packs of film since May to a random winner every month — and you can be the next recipient if you get the membership.

So far, I’ve given away 12 rolls of hand-rolled Kodak Vision 3 film in plastic-free boxes made with 100% upcycled materials. Starting this month, I’ve set aside 12 more rolls of black-and-white film: Cinema Shorts BW 3200 and Cinema Shorts 200.

Details.

The slimmest, smallest full-frame cameras are film point-and-shoots made in the 1990s.

In 2025, we can fit a tiny 100-megapixel sensor into a slim mobile device. Unfortunately, the quality of mobile photos does not hold up to full-frame sensors when it comes to noise, bokeh, or any lens-based properties that make photos optically interesting.

The sharp, smooth photos that come from those devices are often heavily processed, distorted, and prone to strong flaring. This is not to say that these images can’t be great; they can, yet they remain technically inferior compared to those taken with large “sensors.”

Digital image sensors can pack incredible resolution (though not as much as film) into very small spaces, but they aren’t as practical as the analogue medium when it comes to larger formats. The largest digital camera sensor used in a telescope is actually a tethered array of multiple sensors, as building a monolithic sensor of this size is not practical (but achievable with photochemistry). For consumers, medium format digital sensors are incredibly expensive and aren’t as large as the area you may get out of much more affordable 6x7 cameras like the Mamiya RZ67.

And it so happens that today’s smallest and slimmest full-frame cameras were designed in the 1990s:

The Minolta TC-1 and the Ricoh GR1.