If you're the sort of person who's still surprised when you hear that "film is still alive", wait until you hear that pinhole photography is still going strong!
In a show full of 100MP sensors, VR lenses and AI shenanigans, it was a breath of fresh air at CP+ 2026 to get my hands on the P-Sharan Ami-35 – a film camera made of paper card that only costs $18 / £13 / AU$25.
Packing a pinhole lens with an effective 20mm focal length and f/130 aperture value, the Ami-35 (the former short for "Amisango", the latter denoting the 35mm film format) is the latest camera from Sharan – and, amazingly, it boasts a crucial improvement over previous models.
No, the pinhole technology itself can't really be developed any further; rather, it's the camera's construction – or rather, the construction of the camera's construction – that has been refined.
Earlier P-Sharan cameras took as much as two hours to build (the initial model was two hours, which was improved to an hour with the next model and then forty minutes for the next). However, the Ami-35 can be assembled in less than half an hour.
Despite being a DIY camera, it has all the controls you need; Advance and Rewind dials on the top, and a tab that acts as a viewfinder and doubles as your shutter; simply pull the tab to open the shutter and start exposing light onto the film.
Unless you enjoy guesswork and underexposed film, you're going to need a clever light meter or an app to calculate your exposure times. With that f/130 aperture, it could take between minutes and hours depending on the conditions!
But this is part of the fun of pinhole photography. And the sample images from the camera are very pleasing – the Ami-35 produces better results than I've seen from some premium pinhole lenses being marketed for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.
The P-Sharan Ami-35 a brilliant bit of fun – and a bargain photography gift, which isn't something I get to say very often. At less than 30 notes in price and less than 30 minutes in assembly time, this would make a perfect present for everyone from kids to fellow camera lovers. Just don't think too much about the price of film!
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If you're wondering "what is a pinhole camera", check out our explainer article. And of course, you can always make your own pinhole camera from scratch!
