I made a plan with a friend to tour the UK in 2024 on motorcycles. I was short on annual leave, so we only had one trip to put in the calendar. Being a film photography enthusiast, my mind immediately went to how I might record this journey in a creative way.

This is my Nikon F3 35mm film SLR (left) and my Agfa Pocket 2000 110 film camera (right).

The Nikon will do anything I need it do. I keep it with a zoom lens that lets me frame how I want, and use 400 iso or higher. Unfortunately it’s very large, heavy, and awkwardly shaped, as most traditional SLRs.

I bought the Agfa for when I was backpacking through Europe, and it’s about as point-and-shoot as you can get. Unfortunately the stock size is tiny - a quarter the resolution of the Nikon’s 35mm stock. It can also pack only 24 frames in a canister.

I’d learned a lot from previous adventures with cameras, during which I spent a lot of time fussing about the equipment, and not enough enjoying the moment. This time I wanted my equipment to quietly work in the background of the adventure. My requirements were as follows:

• One camera
• Compact, pocketable
• No accessories
• Cheap to run
• Low maintenance/setup

Unfortunately, nothing I had at hand would achieve this. So I went to market.

Obviously, the final option was the best choice.

This post is a work in progress. More will be added in future.

TODO

• Draw up Design Criteria
• Explain/draw up future state camera
  • SLR
  • Zoom lens for flexible framing
  • liquid lens
• Explain/draw up what I selected for MVP
  • mechanical vs electric shutter
  • zoom vs fixed lens
• GIF of change history of CAD
• Explain lateral film transport design
• Volume comparison with Agfa
• Explain half-frame
• Explain shutter selection
• Explain lightproofing
• Explain indexing mechanism