Retro-style digital camera promises vintage-style photos
Echolens is a new compact camera that will be financed via Kickstarter from mid-2025. The camera's distinctive feature is its retro look, which is quite clearly modeled on an analog Leica M. Even the Echolens logo with its white lettering in a reddish circle could hardly be a more obvious allusion to the Leica logo.
The leather texture and the strongly rounded shape of the body without a curvature for a handgrip are also reminiscent of the Leica M, while the flash is positioned in the same way as the window for the rangefinder on older Leica cameras. Echolens does without with a rear display and instead installs a relatively large optical viewfinder, while a tiny segment screen is available for displaying individual settings.
At first glance, the camera has three dials, but appearances can be deceiving, as one of them is the shutter release and the second is the control that turns the flash on and off. Settings can apparently only be adjusted using the thumb wheel on the back. The camera is thus likely designed primarily for fully automatic operation, an approach that doesn't quite fit with the retro look.
The camera supports Wi-Fi and a range of filters intended to give photos an analog film look. While no details about the sensor or lens have been confirmed, the tiny front lens suggests that a small smartphone-sized sensor is installed. The image quality is described by the manufacturer as "vintage", with the sample photos looking as though they were taken with a 20-year-old digital camera.
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