Gary Ho

One last project before my retirement from MiNT. It starts and ends with this camera. Teammates, supporters, partners - THANK YOU for everything over the years. On the never-ending quest to improve the SX-70. I think we’ve found the final piece of the puzzle...

To a 15-year-old, MINT is a venerable, ancient institution, founded in the distant, mythical era of... 2010. (Angry Birds? Anyone?) Meanwhile, I built a whole career and a company around this camera. Crazy bet, but it worked. The question is: What’s next?

I don’t know where to begin… This project is the craziest thing I’ve done in my career so far. The project itself is expensive, challenging, and downright stupid. I can’t recall how many all-nighters we pulled, how many lines of code we scrapped, how many rolls of film we developed to test the camera… I hope it’s worth it. And once again, thank you 🙏🏻

Ever since I got out of college, people kept asking me what I actually do for a living. It’s kind of difficult to explain, but all I can tell you is - it’s a hell of a lot of work. Thanks @casual.grains for the wonderful behind-the-scenes!

Latest deal: Buy 4 stickers, get a camera for free! 🥳🤣 Thanks for waiting patiently. I’m pleased to announce that pre-order starts on September 10. Because of the ridiculously long waitlist, orders will be fulfilled first-come-first-served according to the waitlist. So now’s the time to sign up, and please watch your inbox! Production is already in full swing. For more information, you can also follow @rollei35af   Thanks again!

One of the greatest beauties of humanity - Teamwork Everybody working towards a common goal. Each member playing their part. This is the team behind #rollei35af

Slide film (Kodak E100) by the very talented @ll_long_ll taken with #rollei35af in auto mode. This is the first time I’ve handled slides. They are gorgeous in real life. Such a shame that it’s slipping away.

Congratulations Pentax on the new film camera! Many people are asking me what I think about the new #pentax17 First of all, Pentax is an incredible company with a remarkable history. Pentax is 100 years old and has served the community tremendously over the years. If Pentax is a centenarian, Mint is just a teenager learning the rules of the adult world. I think Pentax has done an amazing job. Although I haven’t tested the camera yet, I can tell that immense effort was poured into the project. Developing film cameras is an exhausting job, at least for Mint. To us, it is like climbing Mount Everest. To Pentax, with all the experience, capital, and infrastructure, I guess it is more like hopping over a hurdle on one leg. That being said, it is still a daunting task and I admire Pentax for their efforts to push analog film photography for the coming decade. There is another thing about Pentax that I haven’t told anyone, which makes me particularly sentimental. The reason the Rollei 35AF lens is so fine, thanks to a couple of retired Pentax engineers. I swear I didn’t know about the Pentax project when I approached them, and neither did they. It was about 3 years ago. But nonetheless I learnt a lot from these retired Pentax engineers, and I’m very impressed by their professionalism. Lastly, please go easy on us too! P.S I just want to settle the debate of whether there is manual control in the #rollei35af - I can confirm that there is.

Quick day stroll around the city with my friend @casual.grains I ❤️ HK Film: Kodak Camera: #rollei35af The lens on this camera is a-m-a-z-i-n-g

Quick night stroll last night, by my friend @casual.grains Film: #candido800 Camera: #rollei35af

[How cameras are made] TLDR: u don’t have to worry just because i asked how to tune the light meter... that part really is a simple piece of cake compared to all the heavy lifting that has already been done. ==== I just want to address the recent discussions about the brightness of the test photos in my last two posts. First of all, I want to thank all of you for the comments and input, it was very helpful. I’ve always enjoyed community engagement in the product development process. It not only helps the potential user understand the product better, it also helps me see the blind spots, and it’s just a good relief from the arduous lab work. But there is something I need to make clear: A lot of stuff is simply too technical to bother explaining. OK... brace yourself: Step 1: Designing the camera so that no matter the ambient light, orientation of the camera, battery level, etc... The shutter opening time (in milliseconds), the shutter opening area, the light meter reading, have to be consistent every single time, for every single unit. Step 2: Use standard grayscale charts and slides. Change one line of code. Test that line of code. Formula1 mechanics don’t need to be race drivers. Henry Steinway wasn’t the best pianist. Leo Fender did not play the guitar. (I’m not sure if Thomas Wilson played tennis) I don’t know why people tend to assume that camera makers are good photographers 😅 Anyways, have a nice weekend

[UPDATE] Thanks for the constructive input in the last post, all the comments were very helpful! I went back to the workshop and calibrated the camera about +1.5 stops brighter, then asked my friend to take it for a quick spin around the city. The brightness looks good now. All test shots taken with the #Rollei35AF Very encouraging.