Again not my project. :)
BUT This is hilarious. From Ukraine, a way cool cardboard camera and Instax Film.
Cheapest camera fix ever.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...ef=hero_thanks
Thanks Eric Bergstrom!
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Again not my project. :)
BUT This is hilarious. From Ukraine, a way cool cardboard camera and Instax Film.
Cheapest camera fix ever.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...ef=hero_thanks
Thanks Eric Bergstrom!
I now see a problem perhaps.
They initially needed $15K USD, they now have $85K USD in 3 days.
Hope they can scale up manufacturing, as the have 28 more days to collect cash.
Let's speculate on how much they collect.
At this rate, they could score $1 Million USD.
Why didn't I think of this!
I wonder how many are seeing this not as a cardboard camera but as the cheapest way to get an Instax Mini back that's readily hackable for other projects.
That metal roller and crank could perhaps be hacked into a back built out of more sturdy material. The cardboard back could serve as a dimensional guide for construction. The lens focal length, 110mm, is too long (narrow angle) corresponding to the angle of view of a 60mm lens on 35mm. Fine for portraits but too long for confined spaces. Note that the focal length of the Fuji and Leica cameras that take the Instax Mini film are 60mm. The diagonal of the mini image is 77mm. That said, my immediate reaction was 'I want one', especially at the backer price.
I know, I know, Kickstarter projects are not 'stores' and the backer dollar amounts are not the 'price' for the product. Still, I will probably take a chance and back it.
Yep, this is going to the Moon.
Just passed $110K inside 3 days, 28 days to go.
They have now opened stretch goals with backer only voting at $100K, $250K and $500K.
Study this phenomenon. I am.
Well, although I said I wanted it......I still fought with myself.
Until I was gone for a few hours and the missus started to nose around on my computer (mine is a PC, hers is Macbook)
Usually, with any photographic purchase it's 'why do you want that?' 'watcha gonna do with it?' and 'don't you already have three of those?'
This time, 'It's cute, get it!'
So now I'm #2811
I'm going to ask them if, after they fill all the backer requirements they will consider also selling just the metal bracket with rollers and crank. For the DIY crowd. Which am me and a bunch of other folks on this forum.
It would be more exiting if they offer an Instax Wide option. I hope the gears are made of metal rather than plastic. No onboard flash is fine but I hope they offer a sync port.
I'm pretty interested. Particularly for finding out what they made the bellows out of! If I could figure out some cheap cardboard bellows that actually were light tight...
This is still going nuts. Added 600+ more backers in 48 hours. Responding to a question by a backer they said the cameras will be made in China. I would imagine they will be shipped to backers from there but don't know for sure. For those undecided they are rapidly running out of the $38 option, next price will be $41 for 1 camera and 1 film pack.
As an aside, when I backed it the shipping charge shows up, it is $10 to the US, just FYI.
Don't think it will reach $1mil but $500K, yeah, that could happen. That would be about 13K cameras, they are at almost 5K now.
Edit: 2/8/17 Well sometime over the last 24 hours they added a $39 reward option, that should take care of the singles for the rest of the campaign.
Down to the wire, less than two days.
Just found out the bracket with the developing rollers has a removable crank and can be lifted right out of the camera without damage and reinstalled later.
Intend to make a camera that will use a 75mm f6.3 Novar from a 6X6 Nettar. Lens in shutter with front element focusing to 1 meter, built out of 1/8in hobby plywood.
Will resemble a 'box camera.
Well, that's my plan anyway.
Good update today.
It's moving along and they have done a lot.
But they got 20,000 wrong lenses, so a bit of a delay.
My third 'affordable' camera...
Pesky Fresnel... :)
Looking forward to it!
Except for a few crabby folks most backers seem to on board and very understanding of the delay. I just hope I can extract that film holder/development module cleanly so I can make my own instant picture camera. I think they could sell a goodly number of just that module to DIY types, of which I am one.
Today's update with video of the factory.
Let's see if the embed works.
Nope! Go to the KS
Just ordered on the preorder. And yes, curious about extracting that Instax back once I've had my fun with the cardboard one. Now which will I receive first, my Jollylook or my Intrepid....?
I think a lot of DIY folks backed this thing hoping to adapt to a better lens/shutter setup. I wish that after they fill backer and pre-orders they offer just the developing/film holder module. I would imagine they could sell a few hundred world wide.
I think it is shipping. No notification on KS or by email.
But some kind of 'Shutter' is in transit from China to me.
I didn't order any shutters.
UPS says, 'Shipper: SHANGHAI SHUTTER TECHNOLOGY LIMITED'.
Delayed until next day, whatever that means.
Well that would be a surprise. Guess I should order some Instax Mini film from B&H before the price goes up again. I notice it is going up and up these last two months.
KS update that just arrived in my email says that manufacturing is progressing OK except that the bodies will have to wait unfinished for a bit as they have to redo all of the bellows. So whatever is coming to you, Randy, is probably something else. :)
After a 2 year wait for the Travelwide (and even then with a helical that locked up tight) this newest delay is no big deal.
New update just posted. Proposed ship date of March 25th (must be start of shipping as I cannot see shipping 10K cameras in one day). So, if nothing else goes wrong we may start to see cameras in April.
For those still interested check out the comments section on the Jollylook KS site.
Mine just arrived.
OK, just did the ceremonial opening...
Imagine a little hunk of cardboard and vinyl that's simultaneously seriously overengineered and irredeemably chintzy. I think it will take great patience and finesse to use without destroying it pretty quickly.
At the "super early bird" price I paid on KS, and taking into account that a cartridge of film was included, I'll get my money's worth in entertainment value from it, so I'm OK with the "investment". OTOH, if I bought it at the retail prices that have been quoted - there's a website "vintagecamera.online" that's offering it at €59.00 - I would feel ripped off.
The film holder/development hardware is not separable from the camera body as a self-contained unit - on a first glance, either you extract the frame/crank/rollers from the camera body and put into some other light-tight box, or else you can rip the bellows out of the camera and build a new front on to the cardboard box that constitutes the camera body. Not clear how durable the crank and roller parts will be.
Exactly as expected. If it works long enough to consume the one pack of B&W I will not complain.
Then it will be put on a shelf as object of discussion.
Fin
Got mine just now.
Got distracted with the straws for snorting dope.
Kidding!
It's way nicer than I imagined. Wish I had bought 2, one for a time capsule...
Watched the video. Nicely packaged.
We need an image thread to post in.
Oren?
Not so Jolly now
It may have been ok and I did not turn the crank backward as they warn against that, but the reset gears have slipped their axel holes.
Maybe repairable, maybe a fatal flaw. This processing back is the fanciest piece of the Not So Jolly. Perhaps too thin of plastic used to hold the gears in place.
The gears rewind the 'kicker' as I call it, that pushes the cover off the film pack and onto the rollers. Never happened for me.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1761/...6bcd988c_c.jpgNOT SO JOLLY by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr
Well, that's as far as I can go until I get new glasses. So I packed up the bits until then.
The film processor part is easily removable after taking off the winder, which has a very tiny screw. Then you just carefully pry it out. It is not glued or fastened in any way. There are 2 locating pins for it at the top. Lift from the bottom and spread the case a bit to clear the winder shaft.
Cheap but not very cheerful.
Well, for the last 6-8 months they, Jollylook, have been going on about how they don't want to ship the camera until it's "prefect". After reading all the comments on the KS site and here, I figure they have given up on that idea and I might as well have tossed my $48 in the trash. Even the pack of film is worthless since I have nothing else to shoot it in. (Unless I spend another $56 for a Fuji camera from B&H.)
I'd also give it a 50/50 chance that we will never hear from Oleg and the gang again.
I might save the lens, stick it on a 4x5 focused at infinity, and stop it down to f64 to use as a tripod only 4x5 box camera. Focus should extend from about 4ft. to infinity.
Well finally update #22, after stone cold silence for 40 days or so. Not much hope to get a working camera within the next 3-4 months, if what Jollylook says is correct and they can build reliable units maybe Nov-Dec 2018. This is a wild guess because there is no projected timeline is this update.
Wonder of wonders, they actually responded to one of my questions in the 'comments' section. And a couple of days ago they answered several backer questions in the comments section. Perhaps they are realizing that radio silence is bad policy, for any Kickstarter creator. (especially if they intend to run additional KS campaigns)
It looked like a good project for me. Sad to read what happened to you. And it's definitely not so good to keep silent completely as you said, plywood. Hope you guys get a working replacement soon.
Anyone ever receive theirs? Thought they were shipping soon?
Nothing yet.
Last update on 12/10/2018 says they'll start shipping in December and finish in March 2019.
So, apparently shipping had not started when that was posted on the 10th and they couldn't even give a date certain ... even though they were estimating it would start within the next 3 weeks ... I'm not holding my breath.
And, it sounds like they will need to sell some of the first batches to pay some shipping costs ... and since their shipping from the Ukraine, I'm thinking us Western Hemisphere pledgers, with our higher shipping costs will be last on the list.
About time for them to post a new update.
What's not clear is if Jollylook is sending every one that already has a broken from day 1 replacement
Which I believe is 100% of entire first run
Or are they only replacing the ones that have complained
Jolly is not clear on replacement policy
I started this thread, so it's all my fault...
Yes, they did say they were going send some to distributors first. But they haven't mentioned that since and that was a long time ago (or did I stop reading every update carefully?) so I wasn't sure. I'm not holding my breath either. I wrote that camera off like a year ago. lol.
But then again, I did end up receiving a Wanderlust Travelwide eventually. Hahahaha.
This is my 4th time backing a KS campaign, I cannot see backing another. Seems like an almost universal trait of project creators is little to no communication with backers.
I too backed the Travelwide. The focusing on mine never worked right and after 6 months or so, not at all.
For what it is worth, I don't think most of the folks who do these projects are crooks, they just get in over their heads.
After seeing the photo posted by Randy Mo I also have a bad feeling that the film development unit (the only part I really wanted) is just a poor design.
After this last campaign the only 'donation' I'll make is to the homeless guy holding a sign that reads; "I won't lie, I want beer"
For anyone here interested or who backed this:
I e-mailed Jollylook directly on 1/30/19 about the lack of updates and they finally replied. In part this was their reply;
"Since we moved the production to Ukraine, we have been working on improving the quality of the cameras.
We are working very hard to complete them as soon as possible and start delivering the rewards to all backers by the end of March 2019.
We will post a new update as soon as we start the deliveries."
So, it appears they are still having problems with defective units and the update of December 10th where they stated "...we will start shipping in December and plan to ship all cameras to backers by March 2019..." has now slipped (yet again) by at least two months.
I thanked them and replied that my e-mail was not about the delay but about the lack of updates. I also told them they could not wait until they start deliveries to post an update and need to post and update every week (even if there is no news) out of respect for backers.
The design was correct, the materials and manufacture were not.
I will back more KS as it is fun to watch something happen, even if it is failure.
Albert Einstein had many failures, read his thoughts on trying, https://motivationgrid.com/21-inspir...bert-einstein/
Or join the crowd, "We've gotta protect our phony baloney jobs!" from Blazing Saddles the movie
"After seeing the photo posted by Randy Mo I also have a bad feeling that the film development unit (the only part I really wanted) is just a poor design. "
I'd like to "watch something happen" also. Trouble is, when things go wrong and there are unforeseen delays most creators clam up, go dark, stop communicating with backers. How can the backers be part of the journey if they are shut out and ignored?
I'd rather see crowdfunding structured something like this for hardware related projects;
*No large donations. Limit backer amounts from $5~$20.
*No product rewards. Instead you receive a 'voucher' for a discount on the final product, when and if the campaign is successful and the product is sold commercially.
*Full disclosure and a standard accounting for how the money is spent. Donations are held by third party in escrow and dispersed only for confirmed project expenses.
*Updates on the project are not at the creators discretion but are required to be regular, otherwise funds are not released.
*25% of the funds collected are withheld and not released until the product is brought to completion and any backer issues with final product are resolved.
This is considerably more controlled than the current Kickstarter business model of, "well folks, after we collect our 5%, we don't know you." Yeah, you can fill in that little "report this project to Kickstarter" template if it makes you feel better. We won't/cannot take any meaningful action when projects go south.
Finally, Kickstarter's more direct hand in project oversight would cost more and require a higher commission, probably doubling from the current 5% to 10%.
However, if project creators, after demonstrating competence and voluntary compliance with these more restrictive guidelines could for future projects receive discounts on KS commissions by singing a legal agreement to exercise these guidelines themselves, without direct KS oversight.
Create a Startup with those ideas!
Perhaps, Plywood Starter?
Not kidding!