New Reflex camera

[farmersteve]

There has been some froth over on Facebook about a new fully manual SLR called "Reflex". Supposedly all manual 35mm SLR with no electronics. What have people heard? I guess there is enough gullible hipster film shooters out there to get suckered into buying one, just like the Lomo movement...

http://camera.reflex-s.com/
https://www.instagram.com/shotonreflex/

 

[removed account4]

hi farmersteve

not sure what it has to do with being a hipster, gullible or being a sucker
from what i remember fuji came out with a new camera a few years ago ( MF )
and there are a few ( 2 or 3? ) new large format cameras that just recently came into the market
and one is in the works by someone who is a photrio member .. i've made and sold cameras
( large format ) are the people who have bought them from me, gullible, sucker hipsters ?
people who use lomo or holga or probably this new reflex camera buy and use film
probably more film than a lot of people who might even be active on this website
not sure why one has to refer to them in a derogatory way ...

oh well ...

 

[adelorenzo]

I am so sick of these people who want to produce new products for film or encourage new people to shoot film. Who do they think they are?

 

[farmersteve]

OK, what's the point? I'm all for new cameras, but really is the point? If they can produce a camera like a Nikon FM2 for $300 then I'll happily jump in, but until the supply of used cameras dries up, who needs an SLR that contributes nothing new or fill a niche that that is underserved now.

 

[Richard Man]

See what incorporating digital and hybrid content wrought? People actively p*ssing on new FILM cameras ;-)

(It's a joke OK?)

 

[farmersteve]

Yawn... I'll just back to ebay and buy another Nikon FM2 for a couple hundred bucks...

 

[AgX]

I am so sick of these people who want to produce new products for film or encourage new people to shoot film. Who do they think they are?

They better buy a used camera and spend instead the saved money on film and paper..

 

[removed account4]

OK, what's the point? I'm all for new cameras, but really is the point? If they can produce a camera like a Nikon FM2 for $300 then I'll happily jump in, but until the supply of used cameras dries up, who needs an SLR that contributes nothing new or fill a niche that that is underserved now.

i still don't understand why someone making a new manual camera is a bad thing.
i hope they market it to students who traditionally buy up the k1000 ...

 

[Ektagraphic]

This looks fantastic! Perhaps used, functioning cameras are affordable and accessible now, but who can that truly be sustainable in the long term to keep film alive? It does seem to be a strange thought that so much infrastructure for film manufacture, processing, etc. all exists, still in a very large scale, mostly with very little new camera manufacture.

 

[AgX]

i still don't understand why someone making a new manual camera is a bad thing.

Making such camera would not be a bad thing. But buying it.

Of course there are always people who want the trendy thing, or the new thing. And we discussed things as the risk of buying a used camera that actually got issues.
But for places with a wide offer of cheap 35mm SLRs or with resp. camera dealers the risk even for a rather ignorant buyer is quite low.

 

[Lachlan Young]

It'll be interesting to see if they've found a solution to the lack of mechanical shutters since Copal got out of that market (Leica obviously still make their own, but I somewhat doubt they'd sell shutters to a third party?), or if they've decided to repackage a Zenit... If it's the former, it would be a really important step to ensuring a longer term future for film cameras.

 

[pdeeh]

"hipster" as an insult is like just sooooooooooooooooooooooo 2016 yeah?

 

[AgX]

It'll be interesting to see if they've found a solution to the lack of mechanical shutters since Copal got out of that market. ...., or if they've decided to repackage a Zenit...

The announced camera will not have a mechanical shutter.
And it will be completely new designed. (Both stated so on Facebook).

 

[faberryman]

I guess you would have to make a judgment about whether this new camera from a start-up or a used camera from an established manufacturer would be more reliable, and for which one there would be a source for parts and repairs over the time frame you intended to use the camera. I'd know I'd go for a used camera. By the way, when they say the new camera won't have any electronics, I assume the mean it will be meterless. Will they include Sunny 16 instructions?

 

[Lachlan Young]

The announced camera will not have a mechanical shutter.
And it will be completely new designed. (Both stated so on Facebook).

Interesting - an electronic shutter is a much simpler engineering job, so that makes an all new design much more likely. Whereabouts on Facebook is this information to be found? The 'official' FB page seems to be just a placeholder at the moment.

 

[farmersteve]

Wait didn't we already have Voightlander and we didn't buy enough of those cameras (I did and I loved it). What is different than Voightlander?

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Links don't work on my steam-powered phone.

Any mention of a lens mount? Pinnacle of all-mechanical no-battery 35mm SLRs was 1960's to 1970's in terms of reliability and features. Lots of Nikon, Canon, Minolta, Pentax lenses available for millions of 35mm SLR bodies still out there.

I salute anyone who makes new ones today, but the appeal may just be the novelty of it.

 

[Arklatexian]

I guess you would have to make a judgment about whether this new camera from a start-up or a used camera from an established manufacturer would be more reliable, and for which one there would be a source for parts and repairs over the time frame you intended to use the camera. I'd know I'd go for a used camera. By the way, when they say the new camera won't have any electronics, I assume the mean it will be meterless. Will they include Sunny 16 instructions?

Most of these concerns existed when Leitz first started making the very early Leicas. These cameras were considered minature toys by most photographers of that time who considered 4x5 as a small film. But a few brave people bought them, used them and liked them and a whole new photographic format was born.....Regards!

 

[ic-racer]

Perhaps my broswer is blocking content, but both links in the original post contain essentially no content. How do you even know this is a camera? For all I could tell it is a colgne bottle. Clicking on the picture does nothing. Is there some javascript I need to enable?

 

[Sirius Glass]

Perhaps my broswer is blocking content, but both links in the original post contain essentially no content. How do you even know this is a camera? For all I could tell it is a colgne bottle. Clicking on the picture does nothing. Is there some javascript I need to enable?

I too have had trouble with the links recently. I have to copy and paste them. This was never a problem in the past. The server may be adding slashes.

 

[Sean]

I too have had trouble with the links recently. I have to copy and paste them. This was never a problem in the past. The server may be adding slashes.

Is it better now?

 

[MattKing]

There are organizations (think schools) that have policies that prevent purchase of used goods. For them, the addition of new film camera options is very useful.

 

[AgX]

Whereabouts on Facebook is this information to be found? The 'official' FB page seems to be just a placeholder at the moment.

In the only post/reply there is on their Facebook page.

Links don't work on my steam-powered phone.

At the "Reflex" website itself are no working links, except to social media.

 

[BrianVS]

The Voigtlander Bessaflex was a limited-run 42mm screwmount camera, stop-down metering. For those that wanted a new M42 camera, the comments were quite positive. It now goes in the $600 range.

There are fewer and fewer people doing camera repair, and cost have gone up. CLA prices are now well above $150. KEH charges $330 for flat-rate repair of film SLR's.

Dead Link Removed

I've been working on a few different types of cameras lately, Barnack Leicas. Figure that if I want cameras to work, better learn how to keep them running myself. I have to tell my teen-age daughter that I am very stylish because I use film Leicas. Most people see them as silly, old cameras. I'll start letting people know I'm really Hip and then explain to them how to set shutter tension to prevent capping. Be sure to have nail polish remover handy, someone filled the worm-gear screw with cement. That was hard, but all I could think about was sporting around with my stylish camera...

I'm happy that film users will have an alternative.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

There are organizations (think schools) that have policies that prevent purchase of used goods. For them, the addition of new film camera options is very useful.

Feeling déjà vu on this subject...

What if the schools didn't buy the cameras but told the students beforehand, as a prerequisite, to "get a camera"? Isn't that why K1000's are in high demand?

Anyway, if this new camera becomes a reality I would certainly like to see its features and lenses.