MiNT is Developing a Brand-New Premium Compact 35mm Film Camera

[Henning Serger]

Detailed interview with Gary Ho, founder of Mint and "master-mind" of the Rollei 35 AF project:

The Mint Rollei 35 AF - Exclusive Interview with Gary Ho of Mint Camera | Analog Forever Magazine

In an exclusive and inaugural discussion with Gary Ho of Mint Camera, we uncover the passion and ingenuity fueling their latest creation, the Rollei 35AF.

www.analogforevermagazine.com

Best regards,
Henning

 

[Henning Serger]

Just FYI, more reviews are coming in:





Best regards,
Henning

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Pretty cool that it's back. A bit bigger than my T...Hefty price tag, too. I'll keep my old T...

 

[mshchem]

I really hope this is a success. Mint made a big investment, hopefully it's very profitable and leads to more great things.

 

[Chan Tran]

$800 price tag is hefty but I think it's better buy than the $500 Pentax 17. It's full frame, focus well, has good exposure controls. Chris did fine some defects but I hope they will correct them.

 

[Agulliver]

It does look like a product that is more likely to appeal to people here than the Pentax 17. The price is too steep for me but is also entirely reasonable.

 

[WeiW]

I read somewhere else a comparison between this and the original 35S. The size of the new ones are noticeably larger than the 35S.

 

[brbo]

For those in Europe, Maco has a limited number of Rollei 35AF cameras in stock.

 

[Disconnekt]

For those here in the US, Freestyle Photo has it on their site for preorder, they have the silver version for $799 & the all black version for $828:

Cameras and Accessories > Film Cameras

Shop Freestyle for our great selection of 35mm film cameras, 120 medium format film cameras and pinhole cameras.

www.freestylephoto.com

 

[Disconnekt]

For anyone in the US interested/looking to buy one, Freestyle photo has the silver version in stock right now on therir site:

Rollei 35AF Silver 35mm Autofocus Film Camera

Unlock the world of analogue photography with the Rollei 35AF - AUTO and manual exposure meter systems and an autofocus 35mm F/2.8 lens.

www.freestylephoto.com

 

[JParker]

It looks like the availability of the Mint Rollei 35 AF is improving. More camera stores can offer them now.
And also more reviews are coming:

1. In Japanese (I like listening to that language), but with very good English subtitles:



2. English:



3. Senglish :

 

[Film-Niko]

It looks like the availability of the Mint Rollei 35 AF is improving. More camera stores can offer them now.
And also more reviews are coming:

Thanks for the updates.

Several photrio members have meanwhile bought the new Pentax 17, and have reported here on photrio about their results.
Has anyone here bought the new Rollei 35 AF, or have had the possibility to use it / test it?

 

[munz6869]

I've run two rolls through my Rollei 35AF so far. It's very pretty in black, I like the autofocus (I don't mind the loudness!), and it feels nice to hold - the teeny display is a nice feature that works well. Auto exposure AND manual exposure are so great to have on a small camera. The flash is powerful and useful.

Compared to the original Rollei 35, the build quality will absolutely disappoint everyone, I think. The shutter button is awful (soft, but not in a good way, and locks down after an exposure until the film is wound on, which turns out to be just annoying), rewinding film is awful (you feel like you're breaking the camera). The camera doesn't sit flat because the rewinder can't sit flush. On mine, the self timer isn't working (I'll email them shortly!!). The camera back flexes too much closing the camera after loading film, because the metal is very thin and the tolerances very narrow. Not having a filter thread seems a really odd omission for no great reason.

I haven't developed the two rolls of Ferrania P33 I've exposed in it, so I can't comment about actual picture quality yet... but overall I can't say I'm 'loving' it. I hope Mint responds to all the feedback for future builds...

Marc!!

 

[BHuij]

I looked really, really hard at the 35AF to be my "backpacking" camera when I didn't want to bring anything bulkier, but still wanted to be able to produce solid negatives for the darkroom.

Ultimately the lack of filter threads is what killed it for me. I went with the Olympus XA (which I realize also doesn't have filter threads, but it was 1/5 the price).

 

[pentaxuser]

Yes it seems like an oversight to omit a filter thread. The all auto mju II was the same It's as if its targeted market is colour film users rather than b&w users

The "new breed" may only want colour or on the odd occasion there is the desire to shoot b&w it is of scenes such as "street" and/or people where a filter is unimportant

pentaxuser

 

[Film-Niko]

I've run two rolls through my Rollei 35AF so far.

Thank you very much for your very quick reply to my question!

It's very pretty in black, I like the autofocus (I don't mind the loudness!), and it feels nice to hold - the teeny display is a nice feature that works well. Auto exposure AND manual exposure are so great to have on a small camera. The flash is powerful and useful.

Sounds all very good.

Compared to the original Rollei 35, the build quality will absolutely disappoint everyone, I think.

Understandable. But to be fair to Mint, we should not forget that the original Rollei 35 was built by one of the leading camera manufacturers in its time with decades of experience.
Whereas Mint is a very young company which was founded (in 2009?) as a camera shop. They then at first started also repairing cameras, then updating / improving Polaroid SX-70 cameras, then started producing camera accessoires and finally the production of instant film cameras.
That in such a very short time span they have been able to design and produce a camera like this Rollei 35 AF, is very impressive in my opinion.
And therefore I would not expect that the build quality is on par with the original Rollei 35. There was a short video published by them showing the assembly line of the Rollei 35 AF. About 15 people working there. It is a very small workshop-like operation. About 50 cameras per day are currently produced.

The shutter button is awful (soft, but not in a good way, and locks down after an exposure until the film is wound on, which turns out to be just annoying),

But that the shutter button stays down until the film is wound on serves also as an indicator for film winding.

rewinding film is awful (you feel like you're breaking the camera).

That should certainly be improved.

The camera doesn't sit flat because the rewinder can't sit flush. On mine, the self timer isn't working (I'll email them shortly!!). The camera back flexes too much closing the camera after loading film, because the metal is very thin and the tolerances very narrow.

Definitely more points for improvements.

Not having a filter thread seems a really odd omission for no great reason.

Agreed. Especially with this camera which offers the user much more creative control than most other compact AF cameras.

I haven't developed the two rolls of Ferrania P33 I've exposed in it, so I can't comment about actual picture quality yet...

An update with your results would be highly appreciated. Thanks again!

 

[Disconnekt]

Juho Leppänen (of KameraStore) did a interview with Gary of MiNT talking about the 35AF (among other stuff) incase anybody's interested: