Things are starting to take shape towards a dream I have worked on besides my daywork for over two years now. 

First thing to mention, our team has expanded. Eva is our marketing intern who is also quite a good photographer and is now discovering analog photography. Always nice to see the first reflections of what analog photography has to offer for people who just started. 

Second thing to mention is that we are starting with a beta sales campaign on 8.05.2023 . So far feedback form users has given us confidence that more or less everything should be as they should. The idea is to sell around 30 units to people who are open to share their experience with AGO and be ready for the possibility that something will break down, so we can develop it together further. All the beta units will come with money back warranty if it doesn’t meet users expectations. Also if something breaks or doesn’t work as expected we will send new parts or ask you to send it back for us to rebuild it and send it back to you. So far AGO seems quite stable but who knows what can come up. 

At the moment some parts are still arriving but I hope that in the middle of May at least 10 units are on their way to happy customers. You can still pre-order units but it takes some time to assemble them. 

On the software side, with the latest firmware modifications we have included over the air update(OTA) functionality. This is done so people can easily update their AGO-s with the latest firmware. One just has to connect their computer through Wi-Fi with AGO and then go to the browser and type in a specific url.

Also to mention we will do beta units with MJF printing technology, this gives much better surface quality and I’m more confident that parts will be water tight. FDM is good for prototyping but I wouldn’t buy myself AGO if it were FDM. Only small concern is that MJF is using Nylon PA12 material which has limited resistance to acetic acid, 5%. In my knowledge it is sometimes used as a stop path in the C-41 process. Tetenal instructs to use 3% acetic acid. Overall it shouldn’t be a problem as it will be in lower temperatures(less than 40 degrees Celsius) and acetic acid concentration isn’t usually high in photochemistry (over 10% where nylon has limited resistance against acetic acid).

Look also these YouTube videos: Project introduction , AGO in action

Thanks and don’t forget to order your first beta units, few are already booked.

Arno

info@vintagevisual.eu