Film’s fortunes have massively improved in the past decade or so, with new stocks appearing and old ones being brought back from retirement, and labs springing up to cater for a new generation of shooters.
However, aside from the likes of Leica and Lomography, new cameras – apart from those made with 3D printers in small operations – new cameras have been less forthcoming.
In the years to come, 2024 may go down as one of the most significant years for film photography. It marked the point one of the major camera manufacturers threw its hat into the ring and produced an entirely new film camera, and the year a much smaller player unveiled a camera it had designed and produced itself.
And when it comes to film, encouraging news from both Eastman Kodak and the UK’s Harman Technology points to continued colour film production
The following are some of the bigger news stories Kosmo Foto has covered in this momentous year – including some of the more notable film releases and news from the industry. It’s by no means exhaustive, so please take a peek at sites like Analog Café, 35mmc, Japan Camera Hunter and Photo Rumors as well to see what else happened this year.
January
Leica sells 10 times more film cameras in 2023 than 2015
In October 2022, Leica brought back one of its most popular film rangefinder cameras – the M6 – back into production amid rebounding interest in film. It turned out to have been a canny move; the German camera maker reported it had sold 10 times the number of film models in 2023 than it had only eight years before.
MiNT Camera unveils Rollei 35AF
One of two compact film cameras previously rumoured for release, Hong Kong camera maker MiNT Camera’s much-anticipated Rollei 35-alike camera finally got a name – the Rollei 35AF.
Adox launches Color Mission Helios film
German film producer Adox released its first colour film emulsion – the excellent Color Mission – back in 2022. Their follow up was announced in January: an ultra-slow colour negative emulsion with an Iso of only 3.
February
China Lucky Film relaunches SHD400 black-and-white film
China’s legacy film manufacturers have been relatively quiet over the last few years, but 2024 seems to be the start of renewed activity. China Lucky Film announced that SHD400 – a black-and-white film that had originally been produced in the early 2000s – was returning to production. (The Chinese film maker had already brought the lower-ISO SHD100 back to life.)
FILM Ferrania launches P33 black-and-white film
FILM Ferrania’s roster of black-and-white films got a boost with the release of P33, a high-contrast 160-ISO film based on the P30 cinema film the original Ferrania made back in the 1960s and which had been brought back from retirement in 2019.
March
Ricoh imaging confirms new Pentax film compact will be half-frame and zone focus
There were strong rumours Ricoh-owned Pentax would be announcing a new 35mm film camera, their first in some 20 years, during 2024. In March, they confirmed – after several tantalising clues – that the new camera would be both a half-frame model and feature zone focusing.
‘Dune Part Two’ partly shot on Soviet camera lenses
The second part of Canadian director Denis Villenueve’s big-screen adaptation of the famous sci-fi novels, ‘dune Part Two’ was one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year. The film’s cinematographer Greig Fraser told ARRI Rental that much of the film was shot on Soviet photographic lenses – yes, including the famous Helios-44 – made by the Ukrainian lens converting company IronGlass Adaptors.
Lomography announces the Lomomatic 110 camera
Lomography is the last name standing when it comes to 110 film and its line-up of cameras features several 110 models. The most advanced of these was unveiled in March – the Lomomatic 110, a model looking like one of the classic pocketable models of the 1970s and featuring a similar auto-exposure and zone-focusing system as the famous LC-A.
(You can also read Kosmo Foto’s review here.)
Intrepid Camera unveils new 150mm lens and electronic shutter
In the last decade or so, intrepid Camera on the south coast of England has developed a much-loved range of large-format cameras – but as all ultra-large shooters know, it’s the lenses and shutters that are getting harder to find. Intrepid Camera unveiled their first lens – a 150mm model – and an electronic shutter that could be operated via a smartphone app. The lens and shutter later launched on Kickstarter.
April
Fujifilm axes Superia X-Tra 400 film
Fujifilm’s Superia X-Tra 400 was a much-loved colour negative film, offering a cooler colour tone than Kodak’s equivalanet film. Amid a wider slowdown in Fujifilm’s production (though no announcements yet they have completely left the field) the once-enormous Japanese film producer announced the film, which had already been withdrawn outside Japan, would be completely discontinued.
CineStill releases 400D film in 4×5
CineStill’s 400D is a reworked version of Eastman Kodaks Vision 250D cinema film, with ramjet removed and other alterations to create a new emulsion. Launched in 2022, the film has been available in. both 35mm and 120 but a large-format version, promised at the time of fundraising, too until this year to emerge.
May
Shanghai releases Shenguang 400 film
China’s film production industry seems to be waking up from a long nap: Shanghai, best known for their GP100 and 400 black-and-white films, announced a “new” colour film – Shenguang 400. It’s thought this film might actually be a rebadged version of Original Wolfen’s NC400 or NC500.
Chroma Camera releases Cube FF pinhole camera
Chroma Camera, run by one-man band Steve Lloyd from Liverpool, has produced an incredible range of 3D-printed cameras since the mid-2010s, mostly large-format and medium-format models. The Cube FF was something different – a 35mm pinhole camera, featuring a pinhole aperture equivalent to a 30mm f/150 lens.
Foma Bohemia releases Ortho 400 35mm film
Czech film producer Foma Bohemia’s small range of excellent black-and-white films includes a 400-ISO orthomatic film, released in 120 format in 2023. It released a 35mm version this year.
June
Ricoh releases the Pentax 17 35mm half-frame camera
After nearly two years of rumours and intriguing updates, Ricoh Imaging finally unveiled the film camera it had been working on: the Pentax 17. The camera was the first Pentax film model in nearly 20 years and was the first half-frame camera to sport the Pentax name. With a 25mm lens (equivalent to 37mm on. 35mm camera) and a range of focusing distances including one for those all-important social media food shots, the Pentax 17 resembled nothing else in the camera maker’s long history, and created quite a splash.
(Read Kosmo Foto’s first impressions review of the camera here.)
Fujifilm brings back film production – in China
More proof that Fujifilm wasn’t quite finished with analogue film production: it announced it will started producing C200 and C400 films from a production line in the Chinese city of Nanning. Whether these are the same films produced by Eastman Kodak for them under the names “Fujiifilm 200” and “Fujifilm 400” remains to be seen…
July
Lomography launches Sun-Kissed version of Color ’92 film
Lomography’s Color’92 film was a surprise release of 2023, featuring a muted colour palate similar to the Original Wolfen films which appeared in appeared in the past few years. This new “Sun-Kissed” version of the film features a more saturated, golden tone.
Film Washi releases new E film
Film Washi’s Lomig Perrotin operates the world’s smallest film factory, coating some of his films himself and offering some decidedly esoteric emulsions on the side. E certainly fits into this category: it’s a film originally produced to create masks for circuit board production. The film, available only in 120 format, has an ISO of just 1. Perrotin told Kosmo Foto that the film’s producers didn’t believe an image could be captured on the film, but that he’d proved them wrong.
August
New LEGO camera that shoots 35mm film
The LEGO Ideas website has launched a slew of film-related projects in recent years, but this was one of the most intriguing: a model of a 35mm camera that actually shoots 35mm film. The ZH1 was created by Canadian photographer and inventor Zung Hoang, the camera shoots pinhole-style images through the included lens. Made of 595 different piece, the ZH1 reached the 10,000 public votes needed to make it into production.
September
Dua Lipa releases ‘Radical Optimism’ underwater camera
British pop star Dua Lipa is a dedicated film photographer, regularly sharing shots she’s taken on film on her Instagram. She added a simple reusable underwater camera – linked to her most recent album ‘Radical Optimism’ – to her merch store.
Harman Technology releases 120 version of Phoenix 200 film
British film producer Harman Technology (the makers of Ilford black-and-white film) released the first colour film entirely researched and produced in their own factory in December 2023. Harman Phoenix 200, very much an emulsion in testing, was at first only available in 35mm. Little more than nine months after its release, however, Harman announced a medium-format version, a film that will no doubt have been a hit with the Lomography crowd in its early incarnation.
(Read Kosmo Foto’s first rolls report here.)
Rollei 35AF camera launches with all-black model confirmed
Nine months after it was unveiled, MiNT Camera’s Rollei 35AF finally launched, with the Hong Kong camera maker finally confirming an all-black model alongside the already-unveiled silver-and-black version.
Jeff Bridges’ new panoramic camera is called the Wideluxx
In 2023, US actor Jeff Bridges – alongside member of the team behind the analogue photography magazine SilvergrainClassics – announced he would be bringing the Widelux panoramic 35mm camera back into production. Bridges has used the original versions of the camera, originally made in Japan, to take photographs on set in the movies he’s appeared in. The new version of the camera will now be made in Germany and has a new name – the Wideluxx.
TTArtisan to launch 75/1.5 lens based on classic Biotar
The Zeiss Biotar 75mm f/1.5 portrait lens is one of modern photography’s classic designs, originally released in 1938. Improved versions of the lens appeared after World War II, but the Biotar remains a rare and expensive beast. Chinese lens maker TTArtisan announced its own version of the lens in the ubiquitous M42 mount, bringing the Biotar’s bokeh-drenched look to a new generation of photographers.
October
Lomography releases the Lomourette half-frame camera
Months after Lomography announced it had withdrawn the Diana Mini 35mm camera, it revealed it’s replacement – the Lomourette. Another camera styled after the famous Diana, the Lomourette has one major difference – it shoots half frame.
Lomography launches Lomo’Instant Glass, ‘world’s sharpest instant camera’
Lomography originally released the Lomo’Instant camera back in 2014, but perhaps spurred by the Polaroid I-2 last year – billed as the most advanced instant camera on the market – it brought out this glass version of the Lomo’Instant, which it claimed took the sharpest pictures of any current instant camera.
Ilford Photo launches survey to gauge health of film market
Ilford Photo (part of Harman Technology) has been very proactive in gauging the health of the film photography market, launching several photographer surveys, the most recent of which was in 2022. Two years later, they produced another, intending to see how the hobby has changed as the world has emerged from the coronavirus pandemic. Kosmo Foto will follow up on its findings in 2025, when they’re made public.
November
China Lucky Film’s proposed colour films ‘could be cheapest on the market’
China Lucky Film, a former giant of Asian film production that has returned to the scene in recent years, didn’t just make black-and-white film; in the 2000s it produced a range of colour negative films to cater to China’s burgeoning photography market. It has hinted that it is close to returning to colour film production, and the details released so far – though obviously unconfirmed because film hasn’t yet appeared – hint that the forthcoming films could be the cheapest on the market.
Eastman Kodak pauses all film production to invest in plant
Eastman Kodak’s latest earnings call for investors had in it some good news for film photographers: the company was pausing its film production in November so that it could invest in its manufacturing plant for the years ahead. No shortages are expected as Eastman Kodak overproduced in the months before to ensure all films stayed in stock.
Chroma Camera to release glass-lens full-frame 35mm Click camera in 2025
Chroma Camera released its DoubleGlass lens in 2022, an L39 Leica screw mount 24mm lens with an aperture of f/11. Now, the UK camera maker has married it to a 35mm body that can shoot both half-frame and full-frame pictures, in a 3D-printed body with an integrated viewfinder. Expect to see this camera hitting Kickstarter in 2025.
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.
