Links

Link: First impressions: Lomography LOMO MC-A

I mentioned the Lomography LOMO MC-A recently. Kosmo Foto has had the privilege to shoot with one for a while and now have their first impressions of the Lomography LOMO MC-A.

Lomography is know for cheap plastic cameras that define the style of what people call “Lomography”, a sort of lo-fi photography.

Lomography’s new 35mm compact camera is a world away from simpler cameras like the LomoApparat or the Fisheye No. 2.

As it stands the LOMO MC-A is already on a different trajectory of more premium, with a build quality that feel solid with metal parts, exposure system, autofocus with manual options.

The test rolls seems to show good results. At ₤450 (CA$699) it’s definitely not cheap, but the result seems to be on par. This show the commitment of Lomography to film photography in general, as they also release a new film. Kosmo Foto expects to publish a more thorough review in 2026.

Esquisse, Sketch of a camera

DPReview has an interview with the people at Esquisse. Esquisse is the French word for sketch, and a French startup company whose goal is to design a new pocketable camera with interchangeable lenses, trying to fill a void left by Panasonic and Olympus. Why these two? Because Esquisse are designing a micro 4/3 camera which make sense given the range of high-quality and reasonably priced lenses.

Currently in the early stages, the design seems to focus on having control accessible at your fingertips. The four person team is trying to strike the right balance with the features. And their goal is to build it in “public” i.e. to have update and get feedback from outside. At the moment the design feature an EVF, a built-in 256GB memory (a trend I do not like), words of a built-in battery (WAT?), a touchscreen and a few knobs. Nothing ground breaking but you don’t need to, to make a better tool — albeit a few bad trends. No words on what they envision for the software, since it is a digital camera this is not even a question, but I just hope they go the Leica M9 route rather than the Pixii-you-need-a-phone-app route.

Physical size is always a concern to me. The Fujifilm X-M5 feels a bit small in my hands and I did try the Panasonic GM-1 that felt too small, but the esquisse having an EVF looks promising.

Esquisse also state they don’t want to crowdfund it until they have something physical, if they even fund this way.

We’ll see, it could just end like it started.

Another French designed camera is Pixii which now exist as a full-frame M compatible camera. So why not a second French camera.

August 2025 links

Insider: Fujifilm X-T5 Disassembly and Teardown — Don’t try this at home. IRRecams do modify cameras for IR photography, and this is them looking at the X-T5. But useful if you need a guide to repair.

Kolari Canon EOS R50V Teardown and Disassembly — Another teardown by IR conversion specialists. This time the EOS R 50V.

DPReview Fujifilm X-E5 in-depth review.

Kosmofoto reports that 10Art.CC announces reimagined version of the Polaroid SX-70 — Another interesting take on reviving vintage camera with specific format.

July 2025 Links

Michael Nguyen from Japan Camera Hunter writes about the Plaubel Makina 67, an uncommon medium format 6×7 rangefinder of Japanese-German design from the late 70s, with its specially designed Nikkor lens.

From the colour-film-dept

Kosmofoto reports KONO! announces KONO Color 200 colour negative film, a made-in-Germany colour negative, rumoured to be ORWO NC200.

Also as a follow-up from a previous post, Kosmofoto tells us that China Lucky Film’s new colour film ‘launched in July at Chinese trade show’. Price will be around US$7 and a first batch of 10000 rolls will be produced initially.

Black and white slide

Kosmofoto tell Euston 400 is a black-and-white slide film from London film lab Aperture Printing. If you are in London this is a higher sensitivity film than the Adox Scala with the corresponding chemistry, and they develop it for you. It’s in limited quantity.

Sony RX1R III

Imaging resource: Sony RX1R III Review: A $5,000 Letdown in a Familiar Shell. Lack of IBIS, still the older lens, the lack of tilting screen that the previous iteration had, and the battery life. Because the camera is US$5000.

June 2025 links

Fujifilm

Some Fujifilm reviews around.

DPReview on the GFX100 RF: their comprehensive review of the camera we talked about previously.

Photographyblog got their hands on the Fujifilm X-E5 and the 23mm pancake: Fujifilm X-E5 Review, Fujifilm XF 23mm F2.8 R WR Review, and then they compare the X-E5 with the X-E4.

Misc

WIRED on How Apple Created a Custom iPhone Camera for F1. The short version is that the on board camera for F1 car are not suited for a movie, while they are great for broadcast. So Apple who produce the movie did modify iPhone cameras. They don’t broadcast but the footage they record is much more suited for editing into the rest of the film. The technical achievement at the service of the art. Not the first time, nor the last.

Kosmophoto gives a First look at China Lucky Film’s forthcoming new colour film. I’ll follow-up on this later, but it’s promising to see the development of a new colour film.