MiNT Camera’s new 35mm compact film camera is to be called the Rollei 35AF, the company has revealed.
A new website for the camera has been launched announcing a launch date of summer 2024. Customers aren’t yet able to order the camera yet but can register to join a waitlist.
The name of the new camera was unveiled in the latest blog update on the new camera, published on Friday (12 January).
“We are thrilled to announce that Rollei has graciously granted us permission to use their logo,” MiNT Camera’s Gary Ho wrote in the blog update. “This collaboration marks an exciting step forward for all parties involved. The Rollei brand will undoubtedly increase awareness for this camera. After pouring our hearts and souls into this project, I really hope the Rollei 35AF becomes accessible to a broader audience.”
Ho also said: “The original Rollei 35 is renowned for its compactness and unique design, earning it a special place in the camera hall of fame.
But he added: “Not everyone can master the manual zone focus system as the focus can only be guessed.
“The flash can only be added as a separate accessory at the bottom of the camera, resulting in an ergonomically strange and aesthetically displeasing set-up.
“Repairing these cameras is becoming increasingly challenging due to the scarcity of skilled technicians and parts.”
Ho said: “I know many analogue friends had high hopes when purchasing the original Rollei 35, attracted by its appearance, only to discover that the developed pictures weren’t exactly what they expected.”
“We are about to change that.”
The image of the camera on the new website is indeed very similar to the original Rollei 35S. MiNT Camera had earlier posted images of the camera’s Rollei-like body in an earlier blog update.
The new camera will feature Lidar-based autofocus and have an integral flash.
MiNT Camera, which is based in Hong Kong and has released a number of cameras shooting instant film, announced the 35mm camera project in March 2023.
In November, Ho said the camera would retail for between $650 and $800 (£530-£650 or €610 and €750) and would most likely be released in 2024 unless there were major setbacks.
MiNT Camera’s announcement came some months after Ricoh Imaging announced it was exploring the possibility of releasing a 35mm compact camera.
That project now seems to be at the prototype stage, though there has been no updates on when the camera is likely to make it into production.
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.
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Is the Rollei 35 AF come with the HFT lens coating?
IMO the price will sink the project. Insisting on stuffing LIDAR to focus is technically like transplanting a human heart into an analog clock. A simple, time-proven rangefinder as found in a high-end medium format camera is a more than adequate and much more elegant solution than LIDAR. LIDAR has its place in magnificently mapping ancient artifacts and locations, etc- NOT to focus a film camera.
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