THIS DIGITAL CAMERA MAKES YOU WIND AND INSERT FAKE FILM

After years of silence, the classic camera company Yashica has returned with a new product. The new product is a digital camera called the Y35 that looks like Yashica's old Electro 35 film camera. The Y35 has a distinctly modern twist to it; instead of using film, it uses "digiFilm", which are essentially physical plugins that add different photo filters to the camera. 

The goal of the camera is that it should evoke the feeling of shooting film – you have to wind it between each shot – without some of the drawbacks, like having to find (and pay) a place to develop the film in 2017. 

The Yashica Y35 has a 35mm lens and an aperture that opens up to f/2.8. You cannot select shutter speed (it is done automatically) and ISO choice, like on a film camera, is locked into the digiFilm cartridge that you insert in the back. 

Yashica is offering four film options to start: ISO 200 colour, ISO 1600 colour, ISO 400 black and white, and 120 films (aka square). Despite the fact that you’re inserting fake film, the film doesn’t actually store your photos; you’ll still have to insert an SD card.

The product is launching on Kickstarter and selling for $140, and today Yashica is not at all related to the Yashica that made cameras decades ago. The company was sold several times and most recently seemed to end up in the hands of an investment firm named MF Jebsen. It is not clear who is behind the Kickstarter campaign at the moment, but it is likely that the company licenced the Yashica name out to whatever party ended up making the Y35. 

You can see the full campaign here!