Since 2016, the company I’m Back has been experimenting with its digital film roll concept, its way of “bringing historic cameras back to life” and bringing them into the digital world.
Their previous attempt, the soon-to-be-out-of-print 2023 I’m Back Film, featured a film canister equipped with a 20MP Micro Four Thirds sensor instead of actual film, which was inserted inside a 35mm film camera; You can see how it works in this post on the company’s Instagram.
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Well, the appropriately named company returned this week, with Samuel Mello Medeiros, the company’s founder, lifting the veil on plans for an updated version; this time with a larger APS-C format digital sensor that can be mounted inside a 35mm camera in seconds.
The idea, as with its (somewhat clunky) predecessors, is that photographers can continue using their analogue camera bodies, which have perhaps languished at the back of a closet in recent years, by equipping them with digital intelligence.
Beyond simply allowing photographers to capture digital images with 35mm film cameras they already own, some of them possibly even quite valuable, I’m Back hopes to bring some of the unique charm of film photography to the digital age.
“The goal of this project is simple: to allow photographers to return to the cameras they love while adopting a contemporary digital workflow. No external display. No visible modules connected to the camera,” says Medeiros, whose comments on the Kickstarter page dedicated to the product also highlight some awareness of past failures and the problems that many people had with the first prototypes.
“Everything is inside [the camera]. The only external element is a small Bluetooth remote control that is used to synchronize the shutter.”
Currently, there are few additional details other than the aforementioned sensor size, photo formats, and video cuts. However, we do know that the Roll will feature internal storage, along with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and a removable, rechargeable battery, rather than a built-in drive.
Interestingly, the Kickstarter page also references the inclusion of presets, which grant image styles of iconic movie types. In the post-Fujifilm era of film simulation, this makes sense, and there probably isn’t a more appropriate imaging device to present those picture styles.
Ten years in the making
I’m Back first tried its digital film concept about 10 years ago. The first model was anything but compact and featured a modest 16 MP resolution, housed in a small 1/2.33 sensor. Of course, ideas have to start somewhere, but they have sparked great interest and paved the way for further development.
In 2020, I’m Back Film was introduced, featuring a larger 20MP Micro Four Thirds sensor. While it was half the size of the full frame, it was a step in the right direction and Yashica showed interest in the project.
Then came 2023’s I’m Back Film, which sought to compress the system into a film canister-sized package, helping to preserve the main camera’s original handling properties. It was much smaller than previous models, but still required a base unit.
The arrival of the APS-C-sensor I’m Back ‘Roll’ marks the biggest change to date, removing the base unit from the image and potentially bringing the quality in line with some of today’s best entry-level and enthusiast digital cameras.
I’m curious to know which APS-C sensor is used, whether I’m Back played it safe with an 18MP to 20MP resolution or an increased resolution to 24MP or more. I hope the latter.
“I’m Back Roll is not intended to replace analog photography or compete with modern digital cameras. Its goal is to offer a new possibility: to revive historical cameras and allow them to continue telling new stories,” says Medeiros.
I’m keeping my eyes peeled to see if the final product can do either. The latest effort is still on the drawing board, and their crowdfunding page will be launching soon (note that the previous version was delivered to backers quite some time after their crowdfunding page went live).
It may not yet have a full-frame sensor that matches the size of a single frame on a roll of 35mm film, but with its truly compact configuration, the latest I’m Back product has me more convinced than ever to try digital film release, in the hope that I can resurrect my 35mm camera collection with convenient digital intelligence. What do you think of the project? Let me know in the comments below.
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