Sean Murray, the founder of Hello Games, was once one of the most derided figures in video gaming. In 2016, he and his studio released No Man’s Sky, a game that was so disappointing at launch that it was jokingly called “One Man’s Lie.” Nine years later, and Murray has earned that respect back by delivering the game he originally promised — and more.
No Man’s Sky is a game built on the idea of infinite possibilities. Murray originally pitched the game as a procedurally generated virtual universe that could be explored with and without friends. It was heavily hyped for years, with incredible graphics and promises. It sounded like a dream, a game that had never been attempted before due to its complexity. But Murray built confidence with gameplay trailers like the one below:
To say that No Man’s Sky failed to meet the expectations promised by that trailer would be an understatement. When it launched in 2016, most players were extremely disappointed with the result. Reviews were largely negative, calling it “dull,” filled with “dead space,” and a huge disappointment. The video below is probably the most emblematic of how gamers felt: deceived.
But Murray and Hello Games never gave up on the game. For the next nine years, he and his team would continuously make updates to No Man’s Sky — most of them free — in order to reach the point where they felt they had delivered on that 2014 promise. Today, No Man’s Sky has completely turned the narrative around, and the game is now rated Mostly Positive on Steam (a point it reached in 2024).
While I don’t think that Mint ever reached the lowest lows that Hello Games did, I do believe that the company is in the midst of a similar redemption arc.
When the Rollei 35AF launched last year, it certainly worked, but there were major problems. The build quality felt inconsistent and even shoddy in places, the shutter button felt mushy and wouldn’t always fire correctly, the exposure meter wasn’t accurate enough, the film loader felt sticky, the pressure plate that holds the film flush wasn’t doing a great job, and — perhaps most irritatingly — the camera couldn’t accept filters.
“What has to be said is that the camera feels unfinished or, at the very least, lacking in refinement,” Chris Niccolls said in the conclusion of his review last year. “It’s not an inexpensive camera either at $800, and for the cost I would want to know that any issues are resolved before laying down my hard-earned cash.”
Just like with No Man’s Sky, the launch of the Rollei 35AF could be summarized with one word: disappointing.
It would have been easy enough for Mint to continue to sell the camera as-is. There were likely enough interested buyers who were willing to ignore the problems in order to get a brand-new film camera in this day and age — there aren’t many options on the market like it (arguably, there are none). But Mint wasn’t satisfied with the state of the camera and decided to commit to delivering the product that it promised.
Over the last year, the company has specifically addressed multiple issues that were pointed out by reviewers and users. It added a magnet to the rewind crank so that it sticks to the body and lies flush, preventing it from catching on pockets or anything else. The company updated the shutter speed dial to improve stability and also improved the shutter button itself to be more precise and react akin to how a photographer would expect.
Mint improved the mode dial with better mechanics so that it provided users with a more confident-feeling click while also improving its durability. It also recalibrated the entire shutter mechanism to give better exposure accuracy. The film spool was updated to provide a better grip on a wider variety of film canisters, and the strap lugs were changed to give them wider compatibility with more strap options.
The company updated the film pressure plate to provide a flatter film plane, which improved edge-to-edge sharpness of images. Mint also tightened its production quality overall, but specifically with its viewfinder manufacturing, so that each model would be more consistent.
“The odds are truly against us. Developing a premium film camera in 2022 is either the stupidest idea, or an endeavor that nobody’s dared to try. The only reason that this might work is the supportive community. That’s the only reason,” Mint’s Gary Ho said back in 2022 when it first embarked on this project.
This past summer, the Rollei 35AF completed its fifth full production run.
“The last nine months have been a whirlwind of sleepless nights, relentless production challenges, and countless small victories. Building a camera from the ground up — every part, every detail — is no small feat. But the Rollei 35AF team pushed hard to make it happen without cutting corners,” Ho wrote in June. “We’re now on our 5th production batch, and the improvements have been significant. This is a luxury for many companies, but for us – a small, dedicated, passionate team that knows what we’re doing — it’s what we choose to do. It’s what we can afford to do.”
Yesterday, Mint addressed one of the biggest and most glaring issues with the original camera: the lack of filter support.
“The original Rollei 35 was perfected over time, evolving through a celebrated series of models from the 35 T to the 35 S. That spirit of continuous refinement is in our DNA,” Mint said as part of the release for filter support. “After listening to feedback from the community of Rollei 35AF users, we have identified one of the main features users desire was the ability to attach lens filters in order to allow for greater creative flexibility.”
While there are obvious limitations with outfitting every existing camera with every change Mint has made since the launch last year, the company still did its best to support those users when it came to filters.
“The main challenge for developing such a kit is for it to be backwards compatible to already-shipped units, and the solution is a Filter Adaptor that magnetically attaches to the lens ring portion of the lens. More recent production batches of cameras are equipped with a magnetically-sensitive lens ring and lens cap (this was an update we made in production to improve an often-reported user encounter of loose lens caps). Users only need to screw-on the selected filter onto the Filter Adaptor, before magnetically attaching onto the front of the lens.”
The kit that will allow existing users to attach filters is being delivered for free, too. That is very Sean Murray-esque.
The amount of work Mint has done in the last year-plus to update the Rollei 35AF to be the camera that everyone originally wanted it to be is commendable. Would it have been better to get it right the first time? Of course, and I think Hello Games would agree. But sometimes that doesn’t work out, and what happens next is what really shows the measure of a company’s dedication to its product and its customers.
Like I said, Mint did not have to make these changes: it chose to. It is also choosing to do its best to make things right for those who already have the camera, something that is monumentally more difficult with a physical product than it is for a digital release like a video game.
Mint is doing right by the Rollei 35AF and its supporters, and that deserves praise.
Image credits: Header photo via Mint with elements licensed via Depositphotos.
