Reto, a Hong Kong-based camera maker that licenses the Kodak brand, has announced a new 35mm film camera called the Snapic A1 that ships next week. Although its design, with either a rhino gray or ivory white plastic housing, gives off disposable camera vibes, for $99 the Snapic A1 should be a capable shooter with an easy double exposure mode for those wanting to try their hand at film photography.
The camera uses a three-element 25mm glass lens with a fixed f/9.5 aspect ratio and a shutter speed locked to 1/100 second. It has a built-in flash with red-eye reduction that can be set to automatically fire when the camera detects it’s needed, which will probably be frequently in low-light situations, given that the relatively slow lens is paired with a high shutter speed, as PetaPixel points out.
There’s no autofocus, but the Snapic A1 gives you the choice between two focus zones: one for closeup and portrait photography when your subject is between 0.5 to 1.5 meters away, and one for everything else — including landscapes — using the camera’s extensive depth of field. If you’re feeling especially creative, a toggle switch next to the shutter button lets you capture two subsequent exposures on a single frame so you can creatively layer images without any post-processing.
Battery life is rated at up to 10 rolls of film with 24 exposures each on a fresh pair of AAAs. You can track it using a small OLED display atop the Snapic A1 that includes additional details about remaining shots and focus mode. And unlike Reto’s incredibly popular and cheap Kodak Charmera that debuted in September with multiple designs released in blind box packaging, you actually get to choose which color of the Snapic A1 you want to buy.
