Reflex SLR Camera Project Appears To Have Come To An End

Anyone who follows projects that begin on Kickstarter knows that just because the project meets its funding goal doesn't mean the product will ever come to market. History is full of crowd-sourced funding projects that raise the money the developers say they need to build products only for the product never to surface. This appears to be the case with an SLR camera project that was first funded in late 2017.

At the time, the project raised £100,000 via Kickstarter with the promise of bringing the first new manual SLR camera system to market in 25 years. Note that this isn't a DSLR; it's an actual old-school film-based SLR camera. Unfortunately, reports indicate the people behind the project have shelved it indefinitely after burning through all of the money raised on Kickstarter without completing the project.

Besides being a new film camera, its big claim to fame was a design that allows the lens and the camera's back to be swapped, allowing for greater customization. The idea with the swappable back was that photographers could switch between different types of film, say color and black-and-white, without having to finish the entire roll of film.

The project had 464 backers who each pledged £350. The project had originally promised to deliver the Reflex SLR camera by August 2018. That means the project is now three years past due. Reports indicate one of the people behind the project, Von Thomas, recently held a public meeting with supporters of the project, letting them know the camera was 80 percent complete but couldn't be finished.

The key problem appears to be finding a shutter system for the camera. The team had hoped to use a Sony shutter, but it was discontinued, and they don't have the technical expertise to create one in-house. It's unclear if the investors will get their money back, but it's unlikely.