It is news in recent weeks that the Ricoh-Pentax group has announced the development of a new film camera. There are not many details at the moment, except for the videos posted on the company's YouTube channel.
But why is this announcement so important?
However appreciable Leica's commitment (it has recently put the M6 model back into production), it should be noted that the German brand's products are still to be considered luxury products and the price at which they are offered to the public reflects this.
What about the other manufacturers?
All of them have stopped producing film cameras (and either concentrated on digital or left the photographic sector, taking advantage of know-how in other sectors, such as medical or precision mechanics), and many are also discontinuing service for the 'top of the range' models released in past years (last of all Nikon, which discontinued service programmes for its SLRs recently).
The news of the announcement of the development of new film cameras, by one of the main brands in the sector (Pentax has a 100-year history in the production of photographic lenses), is an important signal: although analogue photography is in fact a niche sector and no longer the industry standard, knowing that there is a new player on the market, now that spare parts are beginning to be lacking from 'donor machines' is a hopeful sign, both for photography as an art form in itself, and for the entire sector.
This news comes on the heels of a particularly interesting year for analogue photography:
Kodak has announced a price increase because on the one hand it can no longer cope with demand and on the other hand it needs resources to hire more staff and develop new machinery as well as launch the 120-format Kodak Gold colour film;
Ilford has launched one of its own low-budget 120-format films;
Adox is releasing Color Mission film (a well-preserved old batch) to finance the scale production of a new colour film;
ORWO (another German film manufacturer) announced the release of new colour films;
CineStill announced the release of a colour film (probably derived from Kodak film, but as a matter of economies of scale, even these large orders between companies help to lower plant running costs and thus help to keep profitable an industry that no longer enjoys the market size it had at its peak);
-camera enthusiast Bellamy Hunt, known to most by the name of his online shop 'Japan Camera Hunter' has announced, following the success of his b&w Streetpan film, has announced the release of a positive film, Fugufilm 400 (although little is yet known about the release date to the general public);
The return to production of new analogue cameras is an important signal for the market.
It is now up to us to see if Fujifilm will continue its retreat from the analogue world (I hope not, although it must be admitted that for years it was the only true large-scale producer of film, it kept instant photography alive on its own and now I understand it wants to devote itself to the sector that continues to give it a useful profit margin).
In all this, then, the Ricoh-Pentax announcement is very positive. No particular type of camera has been promised and it is only the announcement of the development, however, if they are able to capitalise on the hype that the announcement has created and bring something to market quickly, we could witness a double miracle: the return of Pentax and the ultimate salvation of the analogue photography industry!