[stevebrot]

Too bad the Elbaflex is not new in any sense of the word.

New, old stock; never used = new.

Well...perhaps in that sense of the word Yes, if one wants a film camera new in box the choices are relatively limited.


Steve

[dsmithhfx]

The boxes are new!

[ChrisPlatt]

It appears Leica left the exposure meter off the M-A (Type 127), which is a bit more expensive.
Must be an oversight.

Chris

[dsmithhfx]

It appears Leica left the exposure meter off the M-A (Type 127), which is a bit more expensive.
Must be an oversight.

Chris

If it's good enough for Leica...

[stevebrot]

It is anyone's guess whether they will deliver, but this competing project looks very interesting.

Reflex: Bringing back the analogue SLR camera by REFLEX ? Kickstarter


Steve

[Kunzite]

They don't seem capable of designing a camera (not that I know much more about it). Even if they get out something - which is... uncertain - a proper camera will be a much better solution.

[pathdoc]

this competing project

I thought we'd already covered that somewhere on this site. Essentially what they'll be dealing with there is an even more complicated system of exposure, stopping down, opening, focusing, etc. etc., to deal with the fact that they have to deal with different mounts that have different analogue aperture communication protocols. The shortcut IIRC was to operate them all manually as stopdowns, stopping OPEN for focus and offering aperture-priority exposure on the closedown.

The simple and brutal solution, of course, is to see if anyone in the deepest, remotest parts of China still has the K1000 assembly line in workable order and fire that up again. Yes, the K1000 has some obvious deficiencies (no self timer or DOF preview), but many here might argue that it is a well-proven compromise, and it is no less functional with M42 lenses on a decent adapter than almost anything the Kickstarters want to churn out.

And let's be honest; not all Kickstarters are frauds. Kickstarter has some total losers, true, but it depends very much on what they are trying to make. Lomography chose their lens designs well, either slip-out plates or stop-downs with very little to go wrong and no interface compromises required with anything it's intended to be mounted on. With their designs, it doesn't even matter if the blades are sticky; the stop-down nature of the lenses makes that irrelevant. Ask them to resurrect an Auto-Takumar or Super-Takumar design as originally built, though, and I suspect you would quickly find them having trouble. They know their limitations and they are sticking to them. I'm not sure that can be said about Ihagee or Reflex (on which note, google or do a twitter search for "Fyrefestival" for an example of what can happen when grandiose promises are translated insufficiently well to concrete reality).

[antipattern]

Sorry, old information

It appears that the Elbaflex people have introduced a cheaper base model ($299) which makes it almost reasonable in price (provided that the innards of the Kiev have been upgraded) and, more importantly on this Forum, now offer M42 and Pentax mount versions

[pathdoc]

The sad thing is, I'm willing to pit my MX, Spotmatic F and S1a which Eric overhauled earlier this year up against this thing for longevity of the mechanical bits.

[Mistral75]

The sad thing is, I'm willing to pit my MX, Spotmatic F and S1a which Eric overhauled earlier this year up against this thing for longevity of the mechanical bits.

There is nothing sad in this!

[monochrome]

If that's worth $1,500, then does anyone want to buy my K-X for $150,000? I'll even throw in two rolls of film.

If this kind of thing becomes a thing, I have an entire chest of drawers completely packed with carefully arranged ‘investments’. This could be a millionaire-next-door level windfall.


Rolls on floor

[monochrome]

I thought we'd already covered that somewhere on this site. Essentially what they'll be dealing with there is an even more complicated system of exposure, stopping down, opening, focusing, etc. etc., to deal with the fact that they have to deal with different mounts that have different analogue aperture communication protocols. The shortcut IIRC was to operate them all manually as stopdowns, stopping OPEN for focus and offering aperture-priority exposure on the closedown.

The simple and brutal solution, of course, is to see if anyone in the deepest, remotest parts of China still has the K1000 assembly line in workable order and fire that up again. Yes, the K1000 has some obvious deficiencies (no self timer or DOF preview), but many here might argue that it is a well-proven compromise, and it is no less functional with M42 lenses on a decent adapter than almost anything the Kickstarters want to churn out.

And let's be honest; not all Kickstarters are frauds. Kickstarter has some total losers, true, but it depends very much on what they are trying to make. Lomography chose their lens designs well, either slip-out plates or stop-downs with very little to go wrong and no interface compromises required with anything it's intended to be mounted on. With their designs, it doesn't even matter if the blades are sticky; the stop-down nature of the lenses makes that irrelevant. Ask them to resurrect an Auto-Takumar or Super-Takumar design as originally built, though, and I suspect you would quickly find them having trouble. They know their limitations and they are sticking to them. I'm not sure that can be said about Ihagee or Reflex (on which note, google or do a twitter search for "Fyrefestival" for an example of what can happen when grandiose promises are translated insufficiently well to concrete reality).

Raising money is comparatively easy. Just like Tesla, the real challenge will be large-scale production.

[pathdoc]

Just like Tesla, the real challenge will be large-scale production.

When the rubber - or in this case, the leatherette - hits the road.

There is nothing sad in this!

Not for the Pentaxes, no; for the buyers of the Ihagee and Reflex creations, it may be a different matter. To make matters worse, I only sent in the MX just in case, to ensure that it was mechanically as sound as it could be at the 40 year mark and therefore likely to see out the rest of my life. The S1a was having shutter curtain issues; the Spotmatic F may have been having meter issues. Both received a complete Eric overhaul, and provided the SPF's electronics hold out, it should also keep going as long as I do.

[Mistral75]

The Ihagee Elbaflex project failed on Kickstarter.

They gathered pledges amounting to $29,868, versus a goal set at $50,000, from 65 backers who ordered 49 cameras and 5 lenses.

Since it was an ‘all or nothing’ project, the funding is unsuccessful and it is over.

[stevebrot]

The Ihagee Elbaflex project failed on Kickstarter.

They gathered pledges amounting to $29,868, versus a goal set at $50,000, from 65 backers who ordered 49 cameras and 5 lenses.

Since it was an ‘all or nothing’ project, the funding is unsuccessful and it is over.

Cue "taps" playing softly in the distance and pan slowly to a mud-spattered Elbaflex face down and back open in the mire...


Steve