Digital Bolex  (1 of 3)

The Digital Bolex d16 finally has a release date after more than a year of waiting, but are they backpedaling on one of their promises to backers? In the stretch goal on the Digital Bolex kickstarter page it says:

If we reach $250,000 we’ll include an additional mount of your choice to anyone who buys a camera.

On April 11 2012 they met that stretch goal with a final backing of $262,661. Now Digital Bolex is telling backers that they will have to pay an additional amount for anyone that requested a PL mount for their camera. In a statement from Joe Rubinstein of Digital Bolex he writes:

What we were implying was a mount of your choice from the ones we make. At the time we didn’t anticipate other companies making our mounts for us.

Ironically the Digital Bolex camera is being made by another company (Ienso), as are most of the other parts going into the camera’s production. It seems to me it’s simply another case of kickstarter campaigns over promising and under delivering.

Digital Bolex  (2 of 3)

On the bright side, at least the camera actually materialized and didn’t end up as vaporware. Still, if you’re a backer I could see this being a big disappointment, a C-mount lens adapter isn’t horrible, but I could see many people wanting to use super 16 lenses with PL adapters on this camera.

In the end i’m glad to see cameras like the Digital Bolex being released into the world. More competition and selection leads to more innovation and better pricing. Maybe other kickstarter campaigns will take note, people are always happier when you under promise and over deliver instead of the other way around.

Tags: