Kodak Snapic A1 review – a stylish 35mm film camera that’s a bit of a lightweight

We see a lot more new film cameras now than we did five years ago. Analog photography’s ongoing resurgence has seen a raft of new arrivals to supplement the aging stock of film SLRs floating on the second-hand market. One of the more recent efforts is the Kodak Snapic A1.

It’s Kodak by name – but not entirely by nature. In Kodak’s more financially desperate years (things are reportedly looking up these days), the venerable firm freely licensed out its name for other manufacturers to slap on their products. One manufacturer who took up the offer was Reto, who went on to create the analogue Kodak Ektar H35N, and the recent viral keychain camera, the (digital) Kodak Charmera.

I own and like the Kodak Ektar H35N, an unsophisticated but charming little plastic box whose half-frame capabilities give me 72 shots from a 36-frame roll of film. So, I was interested to try the Snapic A1 – a full-frame compact film camera, a bit more chic-looking, purporting to offer improved image quality.

Kodak Snapic A1 at a glance:

• $99 / £99
• Compact point-and-shoot 35mm film camera
• Auto wind-on and rewind functions
• Fixed shutter speed and aperture settings
• Flash with auto modes including red-eye reduction
• Multiple exposure mode

Kodak Snapic A1: features

At first glance, and also at most subsequent glances, the Kodak Snapic A1 is a fairly standard point-and-shoot film camera. Its settings are fixed, with the aperture set to F9.5, the shutter speed to1/100sec. With those tools, you point, and dare I say it, you shoot. 

I’m being glib. Reto has added a few premium features to the Kodak Snapic A1 to justify the asking price of $99 / £99 – a significant bump over similar analog point-and-shoots like the Lomography Simple Use ($19.90) or its own Kodak Ektar H35N ($64.99). These include a two-zone focusing system for near and far subjects, a top LCD screen with a shot counter, an automatic film winding/rewinding system, a multiple-exposure function for creative shot-blending, and a flash with auto modes including red-eye removal. All this is powered by a pair of AAA batteries.

Probably the standout feature is the lens, which as a three-element glass type, is billed as being a cut above the usual fare for cameras of this type. I would note that at a fixed focal length of 25mm, this lens is a little wider than you’d see in comparable point-and-shoots; the Lomography Simple Use camera, for instance, has a focal length of 31mm, while the premium Lomography MC-A has a focal length of 32mm. This means you can fit a little more in the frame than you would with those other cameras, and also means you might want to be a bit closer to your subjects. This lens is, of course, surrounded by a body that is plastic and nothing but plastic.

Even so, the Kodak Snapic A1 is a nice-looking camera. It’s a smooth, slim, sleek object, with a textured grip on the right hand side that sits nicely in the hand. I can tell you from experience that if you whip this camera out at a gathering, it’ll attract attention (complimentary). People will ask what it is and where you got it. It’s styled, quite overtly, after the Ricoh R1, a similarly sleek and stylish film compact from the early 1990s.

The Snapic A1 comes in two colour flavours – Rhino Gray and Ivory White. There’s no accounting for taste, of course, but I feel the Rhino Gray version (pictured here) is much better-looking. 

Kodak Snapic A1: in use

So, that’s the skinny. What’s the Kodak Snapic A1 actually like to use?

Coming with a good-sized strap and slipping easily into a jacket pocket or small bag, the Snapic A1 is the sort of camera you can slot into your life very easily. Once you’re up and running, the only button you really need to worry about is that big, unmistakable orange one that takes a picture. The camera has a small but bright viewfinder with framing guidelines (not that these correspond to what the lens is going to capture, but still). 

The whole experience is super-streamlined. I rattled through my shots without even having to worry about winding on, as the camera was doing it for me, and when the roll was done, it rewound for me too. This is nice, though I’d hardly call it essential. Manually winding on film was not some kind of burdensome yoke I was desperate to free myself from (if anything, the latent hipster in me actually quite likes it).

And here for me is the rub with the Kodak Snapic A1 – it’s a somewhat premium compact film camera, but its premium features are mostly cosmetic. The top-plate LCD shows you your flash mode and gives you a running shot-counter. Is this nice? Sure! Is it essential? Hardly. But you don’t get any settings control, and you don’t get any focusing ability more precise than ‘near or far’.

In terms of image quality, the Kodak Snapic A1 is absolutely fine for a camera of its type, bordering on pretty good. Load it with film around the 200-400 ISO range and shoot in sensible light and you’ll come back with decent-looking images. I do think the glass lens makes a bit of a difference compared to the scuzzier point-and-shoots I’ve used, and while it’s not a miracle worker, images do offer a solid level of detail and clarity. It can suffer from some slightly gnarly flare when shooting directly into the light, so that is, in my view, best avoided. Ultimately, there is just a limit to what you can do with fixed settings and no autofocus.

I did play around with the multiple-exposure mode, the controls for which are quite confusing – there are for some reason two separate buttons labelled ‘M.E.’, which you have to operate in a specific order to produce a multiple-exposure image. I can’t see myself using it a lot, but it’s fun enough, and adds a little intrigue to the camera’s feature-set.

Kodak Snapic A1: verdict

There’s a lot to like about the Kodak Snapic A1. It looks gorgeous for a plastic camera, it produces solid-looking images thanks to its glass-element lens, and it’s very easy to use. You’ll likely have fun with it; I certainly did.

Honestly, I think Reto is in the interesting position where this camera’s biggest competition is another model in the Reto line: the Kodak Ektar H35N. Yes, it’s half-frame, but its images are still pretty good, and you get twice as many of them out of a roll of film – from a camera that’s a little over half the price of the Snapic A1. If I were speaking to someone who was looking for a fun, no-frills analogue point-and-shoot, I would probably send them to the Ektar before recommending the Snapic A1. They’d save money up front, and in perpetuity.

In terms of other film compacts on the market, the Lomography MC-A is undoubtedly superior to the Snapic A1, with zone focusing, a sharper lens, manual settings control, and an all-metal body. It’s also four times the price. 

So, the Snapic A1 sits in the middle. Not quite cheap, a long way from premium. But I can see plenty of photographers dipping their toes into the world of analog film being charmed by its stylish looks and simple operation.

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