Cool: Light Lens Lab just announced the will develop new film

Light Lens Lab is a chinese company well known for their M-mount lenses. Well, today trey made this surprising announcement:

Press text:

We are excited to announce that, to celebrate this special occasion, we will begin researching, developing, and producing photographic and cinematic films.

Our initial research has yielded promising results. Our first emulsion test indicates that our black-and-white T-Grain silver halide structure research has succeeded. We conducted a test shot using our Seagull Upgrade Project TLR Camera. However, the antihalation layer was not applied to the film during this testing phase. A new antihalation layer will be utilized for future films.

Our goals for this project include researching, developing, and producing films through the following development processes:

  • Black and White film with T-Grain Structure, with speeds ranging from 100 to 1600
  • C-41
  • E-6
  • Instant Peel-Apart Film
  • ECN-2 for cinematography
  • And more in the future

We also aim to produce films in various photographic or cinematographic formats; please stay tuned for future releases.

The Film Project will utilize our newly developed proprietary machine and emulsion process, allowing us to be self-sufficient in our production.

This film project will be marketed under a different brand name, so please stay tuned for future updates!

Newly developed T-Grain Structure Emulsion:

Light Lens Lab, Light Lens Lab Film, Film, Leica, New Film,
Light Lens Lab, Light Lens Lab Film, Film, Leica, New Film,
Tested with Seagull Upgrade Project TLR Camera:
Light Lens Lab, Light Lens Lab Film, Film, Leica, New Film,
Emulsion Testing, Comparison to T-MAX 400:
Light Lens Lab, Light Lens Lab Film, Film, Leica, New Film,
First film emulsion test shot, without antihalation layer applied.
Light Lens Lab, Light Lens Lab Film, Film, Leica, New Film,
Light Lens Lab, Light Lens Lab Film, Film, Leica, New Film,
Thank you everyone! Happy Lunar New Year!

Panasonic is gearing up for major announcements: Two new cameras and new Capture One collaboration!

As reported by L-rumors:

1) Panasonic Lumix S1rII is coming in February
Same Leica SL3 specs but WITH decent quality video

2) Panasonic and Capture One will make a special joint press release at the S1rII launch
Probably this means that Capture One worked closely with Lumix to get you the best possible RAW editing quality.

3) One more Panasonic Lumix L-mount Full Frame camera will be announced in April
I have been told this is unlikely to be the S1HII…but still something very interesting! I don’t know if this will be the successor of this camera or a full frame version of this epic fixed lens camera or a Lumix S9 with integrated EVF.

Finally Panasonic launching some proper BIG guns!

Lexar presents ARMOR GOLD SD Card with a stainless-steel construction that is 37x stronger than typical SD cards

Lexar announced the launch of an ‘indestructible’ SD card made entirely of stainless steel. Something like the Cybertruck of SD cards :)

The ARMOR GOLD SD Card with a stainless-steel construction that is 37x stronger than typical SD cards, it is designed to withstand grueling usage out in the wild while offering up to 210MB/s[1] write speed and Video Speed Class 60 (V60) to seamlessly capture 6K footage.

There is yet no info about when those cards will be available to market.

Additional note: Lots of Lexar gear has big discounts on their Amazon page (Click here) and at BHphoto.

New Ricoh GR3 successor rumors

There are rumors circulating on Weibo about the Ricoh GR3 successor coming in 2025. Please keep in mind those are NOT rumors from my trusted sources so take it with a grain of salt:

  • Ricoh GR3 will be released in 2025 but timing is unclear (might not be in Q1)
  • Might not be named GR4
  • Autofocus will be improved
  • battery life will be improved

I hope my sources will come back soon to share more details ;)

These were the ten best-selling cameras in Japan in 2024

2024 is over and BCN finally shared the accurate data showing the top 10 best selling cameras of this year:

  1. Sony VLOGCAM ZV-E10 – 16.0% market share
  2. Canon EOS R50 – 11.6% market share
  3. Canon EOS R10 – 6.7% market share
  4. Sony α6400 – 5.8% market share
  5. Sony α7C II – 4.9% market share
  6. Nikon Z50  – 4.3% market share
  7. OM Digital Solutions OLYMPUS PEN E-P7 – 3.9% market share
  8. Nikon Zf 40mm f/2 (SE) Lens Kit – 3.4% market share
  9. Sony VLOGCAM ZV-E10 II – 3.2% market share
  10. Panasonic LUMIX G1000 – 3.1% market share

Reminder: BCN collected the real sale data of nearly half the Japanese Store.