Two decades after film hit its commercial high-water mark, you could be forgiven for thinking there’s not much new to report on in the analogue photography world.
Well, this past year begs to differ.
2023 saw a surprising amount of new activity in film photography, including the arrival of a completely new colour film by a major producer (who had never made colour film before) and gathering steam behind not one but two 35mm compact camera projects (one of which is by a major camera producer). Along with this was a hive of activity from a growing number of small cottage industries.
Here’s Kosmo Foto’s end-of-year recap of some of the biggest news stories of the year.
FEBRUARY
AgfaPhoto launches half-frame reusable
Agfa film is long gone, but the AgfaPhoto name lives on, and can still be seen on some licensed analogue photography products. The latest of these was a half-frame reusable simple camera – very similar to the Kodak-branded H35.
Hedeco Lime Two meter released
German brand Hedeco released their first Lime hot shoe meter during the pandemic, and wasted no time in coming up with an improved model; similar in size and shape but with much-improved operation.
MARCH
Kodak Alaris price increases – again
Kodak Alaris has had to raise prices several times in the last few years, and in March those prices went up again – by around 17% across the board, though popular consumer films such as Gold 200 and ColorPlus 200 saw smaller rises. (Note: The prices rises were initially announced in late 2022.)
Reveni Labs announces Dunkbot home processor
Among the small businesses which have popped up in the last decade, Reveni Labs is one of the busiest. Founder Matt Bechberger unveiled his latest product – an automated film processor for those wanting to process their films at home.
MiNT Camera 35mm compact is unveiled
Hong Kong’s MiNT Camera, which announced plans for a new 35mm film compact camera in 2022, unveiled the first teaser images of the proposed camera – which looked a lot like a cult compact of yesteryear.
Valoi announces Easy35 film scanning attachment
Finnish film brand Valoi launched an Indiegogo campaign for their Easy35 home-scanning attachment, which clips onto the end of a macro lens to allow quick scanning of film using a digital SLR. The campaign raised more than 150% of its target goal.
Pentax making ‘manual wind’ 35mm compact
Ricoh announced their project to potentially bring back film camera production under the Pentax brand would start with a manual wind 35mm film compact camera; Ricoh’s CEO said it would bring modern photographers a “joy of photography totally different from what they experience in the digital format”.
APRIL
FILM Ferrania releases Orto film
FILM Ferrania, the film-maker bringing back some of the emulsions once made by Italy’s Ferrania, announced Orto: an orthochromatic 35mm black-and-white film. The 50-ISO film was the company’s first release since its P30, which was launched in 2017.
MAY
Foma 400 120 Ortho sees the light
Not to be outdone on the orthochromatic front, Czech film producer Foma Bohemia also announced an ortho film – this time 400-ISO, and in 120. The film, with its increased sensitivity to green tones, can be pushed up to ISO 1600.
Analogue Wonderland’s limited-edition WonderPan 400
UK film retailer Analogue Wonderland got into the boutique film branding game with WonderPan 400, a film rated at ISO 400 and produced in a batch of just 1,000 rolls to mark the retailer’s fifth birthday.
Zone Imaging releases EcoFix developing fixer
UK photochemical producer Zone Imaging has championed Jay De Fehr’s 510 Pyro and produced its own version – this year it followed it up with EcoFix, an eco-friendly rapid fixer for both film and photographic paper.
JUNE
Chroma Cameras releases Six:17 panoramic
UK camera maker Chroma Camera unveiled its latest 120-format design – a 6×17 panoramic camera called the Six:17. The 3D-printed camera has magnetic lens cones and an integrated darkslide which means lenses can be changed mid-roll.
CatLABS releases X 120 colour film
US photography brand CatLABS unveiled something a little different – 120 film derived from Kodak Aerocolor aviation film. Like the 35mm films cut from this aviation film, the film can be developed in E6 chemicals as well as C-41.
Ondu launches Eikan module large format camera
Ondu, a pinhole-camera maker based in Slovenia, launched a Kickstarter for its most ambitious product yet: a modular large-format camera called the Eikan. The Eikan can be configured as a 4×5 standard camera, a 4×5 range camera with extended bellows and a 4×10 panoramic camera. The Kickstarter was a huge success, raised more than twice the target amount.
JULY
New Widelux camera project announced
Surprise of the year? Well, one of them. SilvergrainClassics, the German analogue photography magazine, announced it was entering into a project with well-known panoramic photography fan Jeff Bridges. The project intends to bring the famous German-made Widelux 35mm panoramic camera back into production.
Lomography releases Color ’92 film
Lomography had been quiet in new colour film announcements since the unveiling of Metropolis in 2019. It lifted the lid this year on a new colour emulsion marking the company’s founding in 1992. The 400-ISO film – featuring a desaturated palette – was released in 35mm, 120 and 110 format.
Eastman Kodak produced Double-XX film for ‘Oppenheimer’
The cinematographer of Christopher Nolan’s epic film ‘Oppenheimer’, revealed in an interview with the Eastman Kodak blog that the film producer had made its Double-X black-and-white film in a new 65mm format for Nolan’s film. The black-and-white film was used in scenes later in the timeline to make the storylines more distinctive.
AUGUST
TTArtisan launches 100m M42 lens
Chinese lens maker TTArtisan announced a new portrait lens for 35mm photography’s most enduring lens mount – M42. The aluminium lens has 13 aperture blades and produces soap-bubble bokeh similar to the classic Trioplan lens.
Kodak Eastman’s film production promise
Eastman Kodak remains the world’s leading producer of colour film. In August, the company’s CEO Jim Continenza said it had renewed its agreement with Kodak Alaris until 2028 and remained committed to producing film as long as there was demand.
Kodak-branded Ektar H35N half-frame camera released
Reto Project announced an updated version of the Ektar H35 simple camera – the H35N, a half-frame model featuring a partial glass lens for extra sharpness. The camera also came with an in-built star filter for special effects.
SEPTEMBER
Polaroid launches I-2 instant camera
Polaroid made a surprise announcement in September – the release of the highest-specified instant camera in decades – the I-2. The I-film-format camera cost £599 but Polaroid touted a number of improved features, including a sharper lens, manual controls and Lidar-based autofocus.
Pierro Pozella becomes latest repair expert on ‘The Repair Shop’
Pierro pozella is a talented young camera repairer behind the UK-based PPP Cameras and its spin-off film processing outfit PPP Lab. He can add another string to his bow – as the resident camera repair expert on the BBC’s primetime show ‘The Repair Shop’.
OCTOBER
Pentax compact camera in 2024?
There were two updates to the proposed Pentax compact camera in October: first, a French Ricoh representative said there would be not one but two compacts, possibly released as early as 2024. Ricoh’s Japanese HQ then poured water on this, saying that it’s still too early to confirm any compact camera will be released.
Leica Sofort 2 hybrid instant camera
Instant photography might not be the first thing you think of when you hear the name Leica, but the company’s Sofort camera was the German camera maker’s first Instax Mini-shooting camera. In October, they announced a follow-up – the hybrid Sofort 2, which print on to paper instead of Instax Mini film.
Aura 35 lab scanning outfit announced
Processing labs have been forced to use legacy tech for scanning but perhaps no longer: a new French minilab scanner called Aura 35 claims to be tens of times faster than current minilab scanners but still capable of scanning at 4000DPI.
CineStill row over 800T trademark
US film brand CineStill denied it was suing sellers of Reflx-branded colour films in a row over CineStill’s trademark of designation “800T”, which it uses for ones of its most popular tungsten-balanced films. CineStill won the right to trademark the designation (on appeal) and sought to protect the trademark amid Reflx’s marketing of its own 800T film. The row sparked weeks of online debate.
Lomography announces reduction in price of 120 films
Amid consistent film price rises over the past few years, Lomography bucked the trend by announcing a reduction in the price of its three-roll packs of 120 film, including the popular colour negative films.
FilmNeverDie announces Nana camera
Many brands released their own version of the ubiquitous Chinese-made simple camera this year, including the likes of Moment. But Australian brand FilmNeverDie announced one with a difference – the Nana will include motorised film advance, lever-style focusing and a bod inspired by the iconic Contax T2.
Introducing the AGO film processor
No minilab near your home? You could soon buy your own minilab-style film processor, thanks to the Estonian start-up Vintage Visual, which launched the AGO via Indiegogo. The processor automatically agitates the film and also updates the processing time as the temperature of the developing solution changes. The successful Indiegogo campaign raised more than twice the target amount.
NOVEMBER
MiNT Camera unveils compact camera design
MiNT Camera updated followers on the progress of their 35mm camera project several times in 2023, but November’s post included possibly the most keenly awaited: it finally unveiled the camera’s outer body, which looks heavily influenced by the classic Rollei 35 camera produced from the end of the 1960s.
Kodak Alaris reduces prices on 120 film
In a welcome reversal of Kodak Alaris’s recent trend, most of the Kodak’s branded range of 120 films fell in price saw a drastic price fall in November; though trailed ahead of the traditional shopping period, it seems this wasn’t just a seasonal price drop either.
The return of Kodak-branded development chemicals
The collapse of SinoPromise’s chemical division earlier in 2023, which had bought Kodak’s photo chemicals during the pandemic, threatened the end of Kodak’s photochemicals and photo paper. Thankfully, US chemicals producer Photo Systems Inc stepped in, securing a worldwide licensing agreement and ensuring Kodak’s photo chemical recipes will survive.
DECEMBER
Harman launches its first colour film – Phoenix
In the last gasp of 2023, Harman Technology – the makers of Ilford and Kentmere black-and-white films – unveiled the biggest film news of the year: their first colour film. Launched under a new film brand, Harman Photo, Phoenix is a 200-ISO film with a contrasty look more like cross-processed slide film than traditional colour negative. Very much an experimental first edition, Harman Photo promised improved versions of the film would follow through 2024 and beyond.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
[…] Recall the biggest film photography news of 2023 with this recap. […]