Analog.Cafe

Yesterday, I reviewed Optik Oldschool’s ISO 800 colour-negative film — SantaColor, a Finnish brand they had recently acquired — and today I’ve learned that Optik Oldschool had also bought two German film coating plants that make all the ORWO black-and-white films, and Germany’s only colour-negative film maker, responsible for films like OptiColor 200 and (likely) vario...

Optik Oldschool SantaColor 800 is a new high-speed colour-negative film, sold in delightful packaging. In this review, I present my version of why the name, share lots of samples and technical data, compare SantaColor 800 with other films in its range, and briefly discuss its origins.

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RETO, the company that builds Kodak-branded cameras, is on a mission to get more people shooting film. This little plastic gadget may be the first camera of its type to have a slide lens cover (à la Olympus Mju I, https://www.analog.cafe/r/olympus-mju-infinity-stylus-35mm-compact-review-w394), which seems quite fun and is significantly cheaper than the original.

Polaroid says don’t — many people do. Yet until now, no one has run an experiment to show exactly what happens when you “shake a Polaroid picture.”In this article, I’m correcting this record: I sacrificed a pack of Polaroid integrated film, Polaroid Go, and Instax Mini to show you what would happen to the same picture — shaken vs. not shaken. I’ll also talk about why w...

This new camera may be one of the cheapest ways to shoot film in 2026. Priced at $29 (b&w) and $35 (colour) — with film & battery included — these half-frame cameras will expose 72+ frames with standard 36exp. cartridges, lowering the cost of film and development per frame. The starter pack includes 40 frames — which you should know how to develop and scan prop...