With its decision to develop the shutter in-house, Reflex assures Kickstarter backers that its 35mm SLR camera will be on its way to production.
In their latest Kickstarter update, Reflex announced that they’re now on track to finalize the Reflex I 35mm SLR camera with the decision to make the shutters in-house. This follows their previous announcement on not being able to secure a suitable shutter unit at an affordable price.
“On paper it’s quite simple; Either we throw the towel, or we ramp up initial production — but this will need extra investment — or we start making our own shutter units,” said founder Laurence Von Thomas in the project’s December 2018 update.
“The first is of course not an option, and while we are in talks with investors about the second, we have decided to take fate into our own hands and will be designing the shutter unit in-house. In fact, we have already started work on a prototype unit and have been testing some of the casing materials and electronics design.”
While the company has found the initial tests for the the XH1 Shutter Prototype promising, they will continue testing in the coming weeks before publishing their results. The company is now eyeing production for spring/early summer 2019, and will start taking pre-orders upon general request once tests confirm a solid shutter unit.
The update also comes with a number of other announcements which may interest Kickstarter backers. First, they continue field testing their 40mm lens due to be out by spring. They’re also slated to beta test the Reflex app and continue developing the other items on their product roadmap.
“We have found a strong strategic partner in our optics manufacturer and they stand beside us to fully support the Reflex line-up of 3 primes starting with the 40mm introduced at Photokina. We will be production ready by mid March. Meanwhile we continue to field test the Reflex 40mm lens (due to be released this spring — most likely May). ”
Can’t wait for the camera? The company is also willing to provide the Reflex 40mm lens post-launch to backers who fear that there will be no camera in the end due to production setbacks.
Keep tabs on their Kickstarter page for the latest updates on the Reflex I production.