It’s somewhat of a novelty to be able to write a yearly review about a technology that, to all intents and purposes, is defunct. However, this year has been an exciting one for users of point and shoot film cameras. Indeed, more than ever, this year has challenged the notion that film photography and even point and shoot film cameras themselves, are over.
New 35mm camera films
Kodak’s 100 ISO version of Ektachrome slide film is due to be re-released, hopefully during 2018.
The year got off to a good start with Kodak’s announcement that it was re-releasing its legendary Ektachrome transparency slide film. For users of 35mm camera film, this was very encouraging news. We look forward to testing this film out upon it’s hopeful release in 2018.
Just a couple of months later, we were spoiled with the announcement of yet another camera film, this time a brand new black and white negative film, from Bergger. Called Pancro400, the new film is made using two emulsions, silver bromide and silver iodide. With an ISO box speed of 400 and DX coded, it is ideal for use with more modern point and shoot film cameras.
New instant film camera
Polaroid released a new instant film camera, as well as brand new instant films in colour and black and white formats.
But perhaps the most exciting point and shoot film camera news of the year belongs to the instant film camera market. In September, The Impossible Project announced that they had revived the Polaroid brand of instant cameras and that all their products would now be sold under that name.
Most interesting was their announcement that they would be releasing a brand new film camera, the OneStep 2 i-Type Camera. Inspired by the original Polaroid OneStep camera, from the 1970s, the new Polaroid OneStep 2 i-Type has been redesigned with a USB rechargeable lithium-ion battery and a built-in strobe flash. Alongside the new camera, Polaroid also announced the release of new black & white, as well as colour, instant camera films, called i-Type. We will follow the development of Polaroid products closely.
The rest of the year saw the review of a few more point and shoot film cameras. This included a couple of classic vintage compacts, the stylish Zeiss Ikon Contina 1b and an interesting Kodak Retinette. More up to date (relatively), the Kodak S100 EF, the Agfa FunCam Motor and others were given the ‘once over’, as well as carrying out an overview of disposable cameras from various manufacturers, including Ilford, Kodak and Fujifilm. There was also an article on the emergence of hybrid digital and film cameras, which may become a trend in the future. Something worth keeping an eye on during 2018, along with any other compact film camera news.
Happy holidays and have a great analogue 2018.
