A-minima 100ft magazine by ALCS

[Aapo Lettinen]

My A-Minima magazine project is moving forward now. Working on a newly made magazine which allows using standard aluminium 100ft daylight spools with the camera. Should have some kind of prototype in September and the final mags shipping before Christmas. I may post some 3d printed examples in August already when tuning the design.

Price depends on how many ordered and when they are paid for. Preordered ones are considerably cheaper and preorders will help improving the finishing quality so highly recommended to contact me early on if interested in ordering these magazines. Approx target price for preordered ones is 2.5k or something like that.

I will probably make one batch of preordered ones and maybe later on next year one extra batch which is more expensive, about 30% more expensive probably. Will try to keep the price under 3k in any case.

They will be cnc machined in any case, made mostly out of aluminium and aiming for very good price-quality ratio. 

I should have possibility to make 400ft core load mags too if preordered very early on but they would be much more expensive than the 100ft. I would estimate from 4k to 5k price for the 400ft as it needs advanced electronics and more cnc parts and film testing.

Dm here or on instagram (aaplet14). Facebook messages don't work

[Luis Hartmann]

Curious how it will turn out, thank you for continuing to innovate and improve!

[Robin Phillips]

will the film still need to be re wound with this solution? 

[Aapo Lettinen]

2 minutes ago, Robin Phillips said:

will the film still need to be re wound with this solution? 

the new magazine uses normal Kodak aluminium daylight spools for both feed and takeup so there is no need to rewind film. just load a factory 100ft roll and takeup is on similar 100ft daylight spool.

people were worried about the availability of original 200ft A-minima spools so I will skip that original plastic spool system entirely and make the magazine use the boring common 100ft aluminium spools everyone else uses including the Bolex and K3 people 🙂 

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if needing the 400ft magazine version there is very limited time window for ordering, need to know in July2025 if it is needed and partially paid for in early August so that I can start making it at the same time than the 100ft version. If missing this time window the possibility to make 400ft is lost or even in the very best case someone would need to send their own camera to me for 3 or 4 months for additional testing and design work if losing this possibility to develop the two mag versions side by side

[Robin Phillips]

21 hours ago, Aapo Lettinen said:

the new magazine uses normal Kodak aluminium daylight spools for both feed and takeup so there is no need to rewind film. just load a factory 100ft roll and takeup is on similar 100ft daylight spool.

people were worried about the availability of original 200ft A-minima spools so I will skip that original plastic spool system entirely and make the magazine use the boring common 100ft aluminium spools everyone else uses including the Bolex and K3 people 🙂 

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if needing the 400ft magazine version there is very limited time window for ordering, need to know in July2025 if it is needed and partially paid for in early August so that I can start making it at the same time than the 100ft version. If missing this time window the possibility to make 400ft is lost or even in the very best case someone would need to send their own camera to me for 3 or 4 months for additional testing and design work if losing this possibility to develop the two mag versions side by side

thats great. will make the a minima much more usable

[John Rizzo]

Just so you know Kodak is now switching to plastic spools on the 100 ft loads.

[Aapo Lettinen]

I have some paid orders now and the project advancing now. Hoping to have a working prototype of the film transport parts in mid August and first version of the outer shell of the magazine in late September. Final ones will ship in November-December.

The current customers are rental houses so I am targeting very sturdy construction and easily serviceable parts. 

Details of the film transport are only shared with paying customers because the project is not finished yet and don't want to publish all my design ideas at this stage. When the final ones are shipped can post some video of the final design.

Will post photos of the outer appearance of the magazine and film tests etc when having them available in September

[Aapo Lettinen]

Ordering deadline for 100ft A-minima magazines is 10th February 2026.

If wanting fully assembled full quality mags the deadline is strict as I need to test them individually with the camera. Later orders missing the deadline would get unfinished magazine which needs manual maching and adjustment before can be used. 

Prices apply to orders paid for before the deadline. Higher pricing for later orders and as mentioned manual finishing needed if missing the deadline and ordering too late.

Should get first cnc parts soon to continue with the prototype. The goal is to have usable prototype in January so that I can order all the parts for the whole batch in early February