Issue 4 · Tuesday 20 October 2026 · 4 min read

Flashback's $179 half-frame digicam, two 35mm f/1.4s incoming, $1,000 off a Nikon Z8

In this issue: What's hot · New gear (3) · What people are saying · Industry news (6) · One takeaway

What's hot

Flashback One75 — Flashback, the company behind the disposable-style One35, has opened pre-orders for the One75, a $179 half-frame digital camera shooting 13MP vertical frames. It copies film rituals: a mechanical winder, a 27-frame counter on a top OLED panel, and no rear screen for reviewing shots — you pull images off by app, Wi-Fi or USB-C, and that transfer resets the roll. Unlike Fujifilm's X half, it can write raw files in DNG.

Retro compacts keep selling out faster than anyone can review them, and this is the first of the breed with a build and a file format a spec-minded shooter might actually tolerate: metal plates, brass controls, raw instead of baked-in JPEG looks. Film Camera Mode makes you wait 24 hours before viewing; there is a 25mm threaded lens mount for filters, a xenon flash and eight film types on-camera. Pre-orders are said to arrive before Christmas. DPReview

New gear

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro — a full-frame fast prime that Photo Rumors says is close to an official announcement, with a teaser circulating but no confirmed specs, price or mount list. Viltrox keeps setting the price floor under first-party 35mm f/1.4s, so this is the number you will end up judging Sigma's and Nikon's versions against. The Pro badge marks the company's higher-end line; as of the October 19 post, nothing beyond the teaser is confirmed. Photo Rumors
ZY Optics AF 35mm f/1.4 — a 35mm f/1.4 that Photo Rumors reports as the first autofocus lens from ZY Optics (Zhongyi), after 18 months of development, with sample frames published but no specs or price. Zhongyi has lived on cheap manual-focus oddities, so a working AF motor from them widens the budget prime field — assuming focus speed holds up in use. The samples went up on October 19; no mount list has been announced and the lens is not yet official. Photo Rumors
Fujifilm NP-W255 — the higher-capacity battery expected alongside the X-T6, which Fuji Rumors' sources say will work in every Fujifilm camera that currently takes the NP-W235. If it holds, X-T5 and other W235 owners can buy extra runtime now rather than waiting for a new body — the cheapest upgrade of the autumn. Fuji Rumors lists 2,550mAh against the old pack's 2,200mAh, a roughly 10% gain. Fujifilm has confirmed none of this. Fuji Rumors

What people are saying

Bokeh Face — Digital Camera World's podcast, whose new episode leads on Kodak overtaking Fujifilm in film sales in Japan — Fujifilm's own back yard — alongside a segment on Samsung's long-buried mirrorless system apparently stirring again, and when the electronic shutter is the right choice. Both arguments have gear consequences: film supply decides what you can actually load, and a Samsung return would be the first new mount story in years. Episodes land every other Monday; the next is November 2. Digital Camera World

Industry news

Micro Four Thirds standards group — A notice now sits in the site's menu bar saying the Four Thirds Office cannot guarantee non-member products meet the standard or work with any given camera.
2026 SIGMA Special Event — Sigma China will stream a product event on October 23 at 15:30 Tokyo time, with the teaser showing an aperture ring; talk of a sub-f/1.2 65mm prime is unconfirmed.
Nikon Fall Savings — US and Canada discounts run to November 1: $1,000 off a Z8 body, $1,100 off a Z9, $2,000 off the Z 400mm f/2.8 TC.
GoPro and Starman Optical — GoPro lodged its preliminary proxy with the SEC on October 19; refiled accounts corrected debt-related errors, improving the first-quarter and 2025 losses but worsening the second quarter.
2026 Good Design Award — Nikon's ZR and Kodak's $35 Charmera made the Top 100, while Fujifilm took 35 awards, leading the field for an eighth straight year.
Yodobashi Top 10 — Every seller in the second half of September was a zoom; Sony's FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II led and Tamron's $899 25-200mm placed fifth.

One takeaway

Nikon Fall Savings — Nikon's US and Canada rebate knocks $1,000 off a Z8 body, $1,150 with the FTZ II adapter, and $700 off a Z6 III body.

For a weekend shooter still on a DSLR or an early Z body, this is about as cheap as the current generation gets before the holiday rush, and adapter money off is the part that matters if you are keeping F-mount glass. Offers end November 1; a separate eBay sale through authorised dealer BuyDig takes up to 30% off selected gear. Nikon Rumors

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How this issue was made. Researched and written by an agent, produced on 20 October 2026, 04:10. 26 sources read, 0 unreachable. Every link above goes to the primary source. A person sets the brief and steers it; no person edited this text before it was sent.

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