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Comment by nicolashahn | Hacker News Reader

First, this is a cool project and I'm glad they're doing it, for the people who want this thing.

However, I see it as combining the main downsides of film and digital. The reason most people shoot film these days is the look that film gives the image which digital just can't seem to reproduce. People shoot modern digital cameras primarily because of the huge amount of features and improvements over film cameras. This gives you neither.

The main reason I can see for someone to want one of these is that you really want to shoot using a film body but you don't want to pay for or deal with the hassle of film. I wonder how many people that's actually going to end up being when this ships.

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I don't shoot film anymore because there's gelatin in the film and I don't care for that one bit.

At a certain level of hobby, the aesthetics are personal preference and it more becomes ergonomics and - very important - lenses! A lot of old glass is on mounts that are a pain (or impossible) to mount on most cameras.

So this can let you use cameras and lenses you assumed were done for good, if you got off the film train.

PS: I'm also not sure why the image would be that bad? M4/3 is a wonderful sensor that caught gorgeous images. With old glass that has character, it could be real neat!

I have several old lenses that are much easier to shoot on digital because they have a flange distance too short for an SLR (e.g. industar 69).

So this is just me, I don’t speak for all film shooters.

I actually really prefer the interface of a film camera. It’s hard to explain, but I feel like there’s an additional layer of abstraction between me and the final image. I spend less time thinking about the camera and more time thinking about the photograph.

But I don’t see myself spending $650 on a m4/3 sensor to digitize that process. If I wanted a new digital camera with a similar experience I’d rather put that money towards a film-like digital, e.g. a Fuji XPro3.

Sony user here, but my understanding is that Fujifilm cameras have a much more analog look & feel. I had someone ask me to take a photo for them in the spring on one, and there were the typical film knobs and a feeling of solidity I'd quite forgotten in cameras. It sounds silly, but pressing the button felt like such a clear solid action, had such great feel.

Yup! I have an X-E1 and I love it to death, but it’s quite long in the tooth these days. I’d love to get a modern X100 or Xpro but Fuji is still recovering from supply chain issues and prices are through the roof.

No shade re Sony’s mirrorless cameras, btw. Great cameras.

I’m pragmatic about what I shoot and, honestly, the number one reason why I pick up a mirrorless instead of my rangefinder is because I often don’t want to spend my weekend processing and scanning 10+ rolls of film. :-)

Got a second-hand X100T, it was fairly cheap and it’s a great camera (https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0v55Z2WMHbI4K), can recommend.

I shoot an X-Pro3 for similar reasons. I still have my previous camera, an X-E2.

The “older” Fujifilm bodies can be had for quite little money, relatively speaking.

check out the new nikon zf, unlike the fijifilm retros, The zf has a full frame sensor and can hold its own with any of nikon's other professional cameras.

Why do people still play around with C64, Amiga500, Apple IIe, '69 Mustangs, or anything retro? Just because they want to and can.

Some people have plenty of time and money and do things they find interesting even if you don't.

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