New Reflex camera

[CMoore]

see him here:
http://www.laurencevonthomas.com

If you scroll down the Campaign page you will see a short description for all the team members.

OK.....that first one is an "Artsy-Fartsy" nightmare to even look at, and there does not seem to be any info about Him.

The second link just sounds like the usual "I am a photographer and this is what i have done"...kind of a thing.

I clicked on their .....Back It Now.! ...links for several of their cameras, and it took me to a picture of a Chef/Restaurant.?
Who knows.?
They Have/Had contact with an Engineer from McLaren Racing, but sometimes that stuff gets exaggerated. They might have paid his company a fee to get info on an alloy, and never even talked to the guy, or he might be a Close Friend that is with them all the way.
If they have nothing, and were planning on running, they are going about it in an odd way.......

 

[AgX]

OK.....that first one is an "Artsy-Fartsy" nightmare to even look at, and there does not seem to be any info about Him.

You did not look further:
http://www.laurencevonthomas.com/About.html
And he also is on LinkedIn. But whether that all makes us wiser...

Back to the topic:
instead of showing their working prototype, they tell us they got no manufacturer.

 

[farmersteve]

You did not look further:
http://www.laurencevonthomas.com/About.html
And he also is on LinkedIn. But whether that all makes us wiser...

Back to the topic:
instead of showing their working prototype, they tell us they got no manufacturer.

Oh goody! He's a photographer and knows nothing about engineering. I looked him up on Linkedin. I give them 1% chance of delivering something...

 

[faberryman]

Where was this level of scrutiny during the KS campaign?

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Looking at the specs, I felt the project was too ambitious and also introduced complexity. Specifically, they have a meter with spot metering and apparently aperture-preferred exposure controlled by a microprocessor. But who makes the shutter?

Not that my preferences should have more weight than anyone else's, but had they excluded the meter and designed a simple focal plane shutter (yea, even in the manner of a Speed Graphic and adding a "capping feature"), that would've been far more achievable (albeit quirky).

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Where was this level of scrutiny during the KS campaign?

Go back and read my posts.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Oh goody! He's a photographer and knows nothing about engineering. I looked him up on Linkedin. I give them 1% chance of delivering something...

In earlier ks posts he was head of design or some such nonsense.

 

[Richard Man]

Where was this level of scrutiny during the KS campaign?

A bunch of us said "no way this can be done by these people or for that price", but you know, we are just a bunch of curmudgeons...

 

[CMoore]

Anymore "news" from these guys.? They were saying that production would hit in May/June of 2018.......

 

[AgX]

March 30th

At December 7th this thread ended. And since that day [when they cashed-in the money] we did not hear anything from the Reflex firm(?) either. They sheduled their start of manufacturing for May, and stated to keep us informed about every step.

April 3rd

They must be reading this forum. They posted an update today called "Overdue" and it's a bunch of mumbling about how expensive and hard it is to manufacture a camera. Well duh! Dead Link Removed

 

[aleckurgan]

There was another update from May, 28, which basically only tells that production will not start before mid June at the earliest. They didn't mention the year though.
Dead Link Removed

 

[AgX]

Sorry! I overlooked that "next update"link.

But the further link given there, does not show more than the old mock-up.
Where is the photo of the camera they actually used?

They have to obtain complex assemblies as the shutter. (Or does anyone believe they will make the shutter with 1/4000th, 1/125sync themselves?) And the finder assembly. And now they state that the kink is with the firm specialized in economizing their design.

 

[Arthurwg]

I'm more worried about a lack of film, camera parts and repair people. We will not run out of used film cameras anytime soon.

 

[aleckurgan]

And here's another update: Dead Link Removed
Much more information this time, seems like they finally became more communicative. Their current estimation is that the camera will not ship before the end of this year and they are introducing three supporting products: film processor, lens-based scanner and a prime lens.

 

[twelvetone12]

As one product is not difficult enough to engineer, they are throwing in three more! Seems the right strategy to me. Good luck making a working, reliable, automatic film processor.

 

[removedacct3]

A lens-based scanner that can do 110 up to 5x7 for about 200 GBP .... that sounds to good to be true!

 

[Richard Man]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha....

 

[AgX]

Yes, three further products at this stage seems strange... they are strange anyway...

But yes, a small scale full automatic film processor seems interesting. We had such in the past. Though I consider a dry-to-dry one more interesting.

Scanning is beyond my and this forum limit. But I am not sure that there is really a need for another full frame capture device for 35mm. In any case there there would be the option of using a macro-lens, bellows and slide/film-holder. High quality for less money.

 

[Sean]

The team seems pretty good.

 

[CMoore]

Yes, three further products at this stage seems strange... they are strange anyway...

But yes, a small scale full automatic film processor seems interesting. We had such in the past. Though I consider a dry-to-dry one more interesting.

Scanning is beyond my and this forum limit. But I am not sure that there is really a need for another full frame capture device for 35mm. In any case there there would be the option of using a macro-lens, bellows and slide/film-holder. High quality for less money.

Not sure how they keep the trust of the people that donated money.......
Seems like they just keep moving the "ship date" as the need dictates.
Makes you wonder if they really have a viable camera at all.....

 

[aleckurgan]

For me the most significant part of the update was that for cost saving reasons they decided to hire manufacturers with no experience in building photo equipment.
"Design For Manufacturing is where we had our biggest learning curve as a hardware startup. What makes this specific case more challenging is that there are not many specialist manufacturers around... Additionally because of the relatively small production run, parts sourcing is more difficult because of minimum quantity orders. As a solution, we have decided to find long term partners who are willing to learn and invest."

 

[Sirius Glass]

For me the most significant part of the update was that for cost saving reasons they decided to hire manufacturers with no experience in building photo equipment.
"Design For Manufacturing is where we had our biggest learning curve as a hardware startup. What makes this specific case more challenging is that there are not many specialist manufacturers around... Additionally because of the relatively small production run, parts sourcing is more difficult because of minimum quantity orders. As a solution, we have decided to find long term partners who are willing to learn and invest."

Using a company without experience building photo equipment sounds like cost savings, but is guaranteed to cost more because now someone has to pay the cost of learning how to design photographic equipment. I know because is designed and build many remote sensing optical instruments.

 

[CMoore]

A friend sent me this latest info about the new camera.......

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ng-back-the-analogue-slr-camera/posts/2371961

 

[AgX]

To some it up:
They cannot acquire economically a shutter for their projected camera.
But they decided to design and manufactur themselves the shutter.
Release of the camera thus will be no sooner than spring/summer 2019.

But, why do they need a 1/4000sec shutter speed ??
(Not that a slower shutter would be that much easier to acquire/make.)

By March their 3 lenses will be in production.

 

[oreston]

But, why do they need a 1/4000sec shutter speed ?

Presumably because that's what the fools promised when they announced the spec for this increasingly mythological camera on Kickstarter.