A new(?) point and shoot autofocus camera

[Agulliver]

Yashica Lynx series in the early 60s had 1/1000s leaf shutters

 

[rhmimac]

I would love to buy a HQ, high priced even, compact cam in confidence from a "new" company which doesnt relate to the big 3 or 4 which lead the market now
But,
so far only a smaller one of the "old" companies has promised and delivered, Ricoh/Pentax.
The 17 was a disappointment for me: I could have lived with "always" portraitmode but not with zone focussing. My Oly Mju's all have AF. My XA2 doesn't. I use the Mju's far more often than the XA2. So ZF is a no-go.
I'll stick around untill Pentax/Ricoh brings the GR back to market in the film version. All my hopes on that. They just have to pull out the old design from the drawers and improve and change some parts which the service department marked as not fit for the job or pure failure ( gears? motors?).

They wouldn't eat the GR3 digital market share as people have a mixed workflow nowadays. Unless you have deep pockets or a direct supply line at Kodak or Harman, shooting film with compacts is only for the precious moments, not for snapping around like in the old days imho.

 

[Chan Tran]

Yashica Lynx series in the early 60s had 1/1000s leaf shutters

I have a couple of Lynx 14 one is the E the other is the older one. I guess they can't make fast shutter with large aperture. However, both of my Lynx's shutter speed is very slow.

 

[charlotteRF]

Analogue aF-1 release pushed back to ‘late 2025’

The camera has been delayed partly due to issues with the shutter and lens design, Analogue has told Kosmo Foto (Pic: Analogue) The team behind the proposed Analogue AF-1 35mm compact camera unveil…

kosmofoto.com

The camera is delayed until at least November or December due to issues sourcing a shutter and designing the lens

 

[brbo]

This thing might actually happen.

 

[flavio81]

But the shutter speed of 1/1000 seems not a leaf shutter. I don't know of any leaf shutter with 1/1000 speed.

There are many fast shutters:

For example the Flash Kodamatic that got 1/800, this for the very old Kodak Chevron camera (1953)
there was another on a Fujica camera that got 1/1000 at ANY aperture, year 1959 or 1960.
the Werra cameras achieve 1/750

if the diameter is small, 1/1000 is certainly doable, even more so in 2025.

 

[flavio81]

"Image quality is the main top priority. "

I applaud this. Finally a manufacturer that will NOT target the lomographers that don't care about image quality.

 

[wiltw]

But the shutter speed of 1/1000 seems not a leaf shutter. I don't know of any leaf shutter with 1/1000 speed.

The in-lens shutter of Rollei PQS lenses...PQS lenses have a top shutter speed of 1/1000 sec due to lighter shutter blades. Built-in, high-precision electronic leaf shutters, driven by linear motors, which offer flash sync at all speeds and a maximum of 1/1000s (PQS). The second generation linear motors of the PQS lenses draw a stronger current and cameras like Rolleiflex SLX and Rolleiflex 6006 cannot handle this.

 

[4season]

Impressive, that appears to be at least a partially functioning prototype

 

[Eric Klingberg]

It looks like this doesn't have DX Override, which is a major drawback for me. It may get incorporated in the app somehow. I messaged the company to ask about this, and will follow up when they get back to me.

 

[brbo]

It looks like this doesn't have DX Override, which is a major drawback for me. It may get incorporated in the app somehow.

Maybe I missed it, but I don't think aF-1 has a bluetooth so there won't a an app where you can easily change camera settings that don't have dedicated physical controls. And to be fair, which p&s camera does allow ISO override? AFAIK, not even Contax T3.

It’s either back to the drawing board or some features some people can't live without will not be implemented in a p&s with just three physical buttons and one switch. I'm actually surprised they addressed probably the most common complaint in such cameras - flash setting that doesn't reset with power down. Well done.

Anyway, I think that most people will have a problem with the size of this camera (probably a thing that can't be helped when you need to work with off-the-shelf components) and AF noise. Both problems basically present in Mint/Rollei 35AF which is also pretty boxy and loud.

 

[cptrios]

The lack of DX override bothers me too. Maybe adding the extra physical control is just too much.

Also, following on brbo’s point - I can’t actually watch the video at the moment. Is there any indication that the final camera will be slimmer, or does it look like it’s going to stay brickish like that?

 

[brbo]

No, there is no indication that it will get any smaller in the final version.

 

[4season]

The video addresses more advanced features, stating that they might be possible via future firmware update via the USB-C port, but aside from flash controls, it'll initially be fully automatic.

 

[Eric Klingberg]

Maybe I missed it, but I don't think aF-1 has a bluetooth so there won't a an app where you can easily change camera settings that don't have dedicated physical controls. And to be fair, which p&s camera does allow ISO override? AFAIK, not even Contax T3.

Anyway, I think that most people will have a problem with the size of this camera (probably a thing that can't be helped when you need to work with off-the-shelf components) and AF noise. Both problems basically present in Mint/Rollei 35AF which is also pretty boxy and loud.

It has a USB-C port, so that opens up some possibilities with custom button configurations. It depends what's controllable on the board though.

Ricoh GR1V and Olympus XA4 have both DX coding and DX Override. Earlier P&S like the L35AF have manual ISO setting without DX coding. Leica Minilux and Pentax IQZoom 928 retain the EV compensation after power cycling which is cool. Some premium P&S have EV compensation, but no memory so it's a hassle. The AF-1 may get EV compensation, but I'm not sure if it's a set value or if it'll be adjustable. If I'd have to set that every time I turn on the camera or after each shot, that would be annoying.

Good point on the noise. Quiet AF technology exists in digital P&S, but it may be a cost issue and/or integration challenge to put it in a compact film camera.