Reto Project is adding a cheaper Kodak-branded 35mm camera to its lineup, pricing the Kodak EC35 at $34.99. For people buying into film without wanting to hunt eBay or repair a compact from the 1990s, the pitch is plain: a new point-and-shoot that costs less than many used cameras and asks almost nothing of the person holding it.
The company is following the $99 Kodak-branded Snapic A1 with a much more basic model. The EC35 has a 25mm acrylic lens, a fixed f/10 aperture and a fixed 1/100-second shutter speed, according to Reto Project’s product details reported by The Verge. That means the camera does not give the user much to adjust. Light hits the film through the same aperture, for the same amount of time, on every frame.
That design puts the EC35 closer to the disposable-camera end of the spectrum than to a vintage premium compact. The film still advances and rewinds manually, so the user has to wind to the next frame and rewind the roll when finished. The camera also includes an automatic flash, which is the one bit of electronic help for scenes where the fixed exposure setup would otherwise run out of luck.
What Reto left out
Compared with Reto Project’s Snapic A1, the EC35 drops several niceties. The Verge reports that it does not include the A1’s double-exposure mode. It also omits zone focusing, so there is no distance setting for near, midrange or far subjects. The camera is built around the old bargain-camera idea that fewer decisions mean fewer ways to mess up the shot, although film will still be film and bad light remains undefeated.
The most distinctive hardware feature is a sliding lens cover. The Verge compares the cover’s look to Olympus’s Stylus and Mju cameras, a family of compact film cameras whose used prices have not exactly been kind to casual buyers. On the EC35, the cover is protective and stylistic rather than evidence of hidden high-end optics.
Colors do some of the work
Reto Project is offering the EC35 in several colors: butter yellow, lavender, powder blue, blush pink and avocado green. The lens covers use a darker tone than the main body. Midnight black and vanilla white versions also get contrasting accents, according to The Verge.
The result is a camera with intentionally modest internals and a little more visual care than the one-time-use cameras still hanging near some checkout counters. Reto Project is not promising a technical showcase here. It is selling a cheap 35mm box with a Kodak logo, fixed exposure, flash and enough color options to make the limitations look deliberate.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
