Alfie Cameras Tych+: one-minute review
The Aflie Cameras TYCH is a new and exciting half-frame analogue camera from Alfie Cameras. It is amazingly compact, beautifully designed and offers an incredible range of optics and creative options on a rotating lens plate, from an f/156 pinhole to a 33.3mm (50mm equivalent) f/8 rapid recipline lens. This offers a lot of cool, creative options in a camera that is so cleverly conceived, designed and engineered that it is small enough to more or less fit in a pocket.
“Half-frame” means you can get twice as many shots with one film: a 36-exposure 35mm film effectively doubles the number of frames you can take, giving you over 70 exposures. With the ever-increasing cost of film, this is an attractive consideration for anyone looking to dip their toes in the analogue sea.
As with all things analogue, there are other factors to consider and you’ll have to put in a little more effort to see the results. In fact, you’ll have to develop the film yourself or get a lab to do it for you. Either way, this will take time; you won’t get the instant gratification of an LCD screen or even an instant print. But that’s the point – slowing down is one of the joys of analogue photography and something Alfie Cameras set out to achieve, so kudos to the company for doing it so well.
Alfie Cameras Tych+: Price and Availability
There are two versions of Tych: Tych+ “Premium” and Tych. Our review is of the Premium version, which costs £499 (about $600 / AU$1,000) on the Alfie Cameras website, while the regular version of Tych costs £299 (about $390 / AU$590). At the time of writing, Alfie Cameras’ UK-made products are only available in the UK, but ship worldwide with a few exceptions.
Like all half-frame cameras, both of Alfie Cameras’ Tych cameras accept standard 35mm film, and you’ll get twice the number of (half-size) photos per roll of film compared to a 35mm film camera.
Alfie Cameras Tych+: Design
- Unique and compact design
- Four lenses for four different looks
- Double the number of shots per roll of film compared to 35mm cameras
Alfie Cameras is on a mission to reinvent film photography for photographers old and new. The Alfie TYCH does just that; its cool, modern design is unique and its ultra-compact size is impressive. This camera is likely to appeal to old film photographers looking to reconnect with their analogue past; new photographers seduced by the magical allure of film photography; as well as anyone looking for a creative break from the digital overload of screens, screens and more screens.
The Alfie TYCH is a half-frame film camera designed to take a roll of 35mm film. Most cameras that take 35mm film are full-frame cameras that allow you to take 36 photos. Half-frame means that even though the Alfie TYCH is half the size, you can take about twice as many pictures. With the cost of film and development rising so much today, this is a huge win for anyone looking to get into the analogue world.
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It’s not just the half-frame design of the Alfie TYCH that makes it an attractive option; it also manages to fit four lenses on a rotating lens plate, including a 33.3mm (50mm equivalent) f/8 Rapid Reciplinear lens, a 30mm f/8 single-element meniscus lens, a 25mm f/56 zone plate and a 25mm f/125 pinhole. These offer a variety of focal lengths and, more importantly, four very different aesthetic appeals. All are fixed focus, with the pinhole and 25mm going from 0m to infinity and the 33.3mm and 30mm going from 2m to infinity and 1.5m to infinity respectively, so there’s not too much to worry about when focusing.
Most surprisingly, all of this is effortlessly packed into an ultra-compact, well-built camera body that weighs just 120g and measures 90mm x 79mm x 45mm, in a unit that fits comfortably in one hand.
Alfie Cameras Tych+: Performance
- The correct mode is selected independently for each lens
- Reliable exposure metering
- Manual film transport
- The 33.3mm f/8 lens offers the best performance of the four lenses offered
Loading 35mm film into the Alfie TYCH was easy, but if you’ve never done it before, you might want to watch a video – there are some useful videos available on the Alfie Camera YouTube channel.
Once the film is loaded, all you have to do is turn the TYCH on, select the lens and take a shot. Well, almost; each of the four lenses has its own pre-programmed automatic mode (aperture priority) that uses information from the small light meter located above the lens board. You have to select the correct mode for the lens you’re using. This was a bit of a hassle at first; sometimes it was a bit tricky to find the right mode, set the ISO, etc. Also, forgetting to change modes after switching to a different lens option cost me a few bad shots, but I soon got the hang of it.
The little meter above the lens measures the light and outputs an appropriate shutter speed for the configured lens and aperture. In my testing, this was pretty accurate. Note, however, that the USB-C charger is for this as well – it’s not for transferring images to a computer!
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The Alfie TYCH allows exposure times from 30 seconds to 1/500 second in any of the automatic modes, although you can switch to manual mode and use the bulb setting for exposures over 30 seconds. For additional exposure control, there is +/-2 stops of exposure compensation in ½ stop increments and ISO settings from 12 to 6400, electronic shutter counting and even shutter delay. If you use the pinhole, which has an aperture of f/156, you will probably need to use a tripod as exposures will likely be slower. I used a Manfrotto pocket tripod to keep the Alfie steady – it fits easily in a small bag, for example.
The high-quality optical viewfinder made composition a little easier. Of course, it’s not as precise as an electronic viewfinder (EVF), but it translated about well to my final images.
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The film advance is a small wheel on the top right of the back of the Tych. My first instinct was to press the select button on the top where film advance cranks are traditionally located on film cameras.
In fact, it took me a while before I even remembered to advance the film. Unlike traditional 35mm cameras, there is no shutter to re-cock, so it’s easy to accidentally shoot one frame over another. This has resulted in one or two lucky accidents, but overall it’s just produced bad exposures. Still, multiple exposure is a fun creative technique that the Alfie lends itself well to. A small image indicator window on the back of the camera shows when the film has advanced far enough to take the next shot. I’ve had fun experimenting with this, creating images where the frames overlap slightly. If I had more time and film, I’d experiment with it even more.
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Unsurprisingly, the best looking 33.3mm (50mm equivalent) f/8 lens with fast rectilinear lenses and four elements in two groups produced the best images. While the others had some appealing features, I feel that if I were to stick with the Alfie TYCH long-term, I probably wouldn’t stray from this lens very often.
I was delighted with the images I took with my first film with an Alfie TYCH. Of course there were many mistakes, but the small selection of images you can see here has delighted me and inspired me to go back to my analogue roots, put the screens aside for a while and enjoy the magic of photography.
Should I buy the Alfie Cameras Tych+?
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
This is how I tested the Alfie Cameras Tych+
- I used a roll of 35mm film (about 70 to 80 frames).
- I tried all four lenses in different lighting situations and locations
- I experimented with techniques such as multiple exposure
Packing the ultra-compact Alfie TYCH when travelling was easy as it is so small and light. I loaded a roll of Ilford FP4 35mm film which allowed me to shoot around 70 frames (half frames). At home I developed the film in the kitchen sink using Fotospeed FD10 developer, standard stop bath and fixer. A selection of images were photographed using a copy stand and light box, a Sigma FPL mirrorless camera with a 70mm macro lens. The files were edited in Adobe Camera Raw to invert the tonality (create a positive image) and tweak the tones.
First reviewed in July 2024
