The Kodak 35 was introduced in 1938 as the first US manufactured 35mm camera from Eastman Kodak Company. It was developed in Rochester, New York when it became likely that imports from the Kodak AG factory in Germany could be disrupted by war. The Oppo Find X3 Pro is a smartphone introduced in March 2021, the first with a true billion color display, “two billion color flagship cameras to take your breath away” as the Chinese company said during the introduction, and a camera kit that is designed with photographers and videographers in mind: a 50MP ultra wide-angle, a 50MP wide-angle, a 13MP telephoto and a 3MP micro–lens camera, besides a 32MP camera for selfies.
Oppo says that professional photographers change lenses, not camera sensors, and that’s exactly what Find X3 Pro does. Inspired by DSLRs, Find X3 Pro doesn’t force you to settle for a smaller sensor when you want to switch between your two most-used lenses – wide and ultra-wide; it gives you the best, every time. Shooting modes for the rear cameras include everything photographers and videographers expect to find in a smartphone that costs around $1000: Photo, Night, Video, Portrait, Dual-view video, Slo-motion, Time lapse, Movie, Expert, Panorama, Text scanner, Microscope, Sticker, and Google Lens. The front camera does Photo, Video, Portrait, Night, Dual-view video, Time lapse, Panorama, and Sticker.
As for image sizes, the rear camera, with a maximum size of 6144 x 8192 (50 MP) also offers photo sizes in different aspect ratios: 3072 x 4096 (4:3), 3072 x 3072 (1:1), 1834 x 4096 (full screen) and 2304 x 4096 (16:9). The front camera has a maximum size of 6560 x 4928 (32 MP) and also offers 4928 x 6560 (4:3), 4928 x 4928 (1:1), 2940 x 6560 (full screen) and 3696 x 6560 (16:9).
Video in the Oppo Find X3 Pro offers 4K (60fps/30fps), 1080P (60fps/30fps), and 720P (60fps/30fps) with video slo-mo: 1080P (240fps), and 720P (480fps) in the rear camera. Video stabilization is available in 4K (30fps/60fps), EIS, 1080P, 720P, while video zoom can be used in 4K (30fps), 1080P (60fps/30fps) and 720P (60fps/30fps). The front camera supports 1080P/720P (30fps) and it also supports video stabilization at 1080P/720P (30fps). It does not support zoom or slow motion.
Find X3 Pro’s AI Scene Enhancement intelligently identifies the scene and adjusts color tones accordingly. Scientific color theory matches the tone and atmospherics of the scene — so you can revisit the feeling whenever the mood takes you. Oppo says that the Cinematic Mode present in the Oppo Find X3 Pro transforms movies shot on your phone with best-ever artificial color reproduction — putting the power of pro filmmaking directly into your hands.
The company says that the Find X3 Pro is an invitation for users to “discover the limitless potential of color-rich photography and video. Shoot, save and view in maximum color vibrancy, and dive into an incredible spectrum of 1.07 billion colors — all right there in the palm of your hand.”
This is the smartphone that now is relaunched with a special edition, the Oppo Find X3 Pro Photographer Edition, with, apparently, Kodak partnering with the Chinese company. I write apparently, because there is no information from Kodak confirming the partnership, although this Photographer Edition does look like a viable path for Kodak to have its name associated with smartphones in more ways than the accessories the company sells.
Even if there isn’t a partnership, two things are true: the Oppo Find X3 Pro Photographer Edition leather cover and silver casing do remind us of the Kodak 35 camera – and in fact, many cameras from the same period – while the protective case for the smartphone has a shape similar to the body of the Kodak 35, both the original model and the rangefinder version. In fact, the protective case for the smartphone is also similar to the Kodak Film cases sold by the company.
According to FoneArena, the OPPO Find X3 Pro Photographer Edition with 16GB RAM, 512GB storage was introduced in China, where it will be available on sale on September 22, for a price around $1000. This Android 11 smartphone is powered by a 2.84GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 888 5nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 660 GPU, is water resistant (IP68) and shares the same specifications as the Oppo Find X3 Pro launched last March. No word, yet, if this version, which mimics the dual tone of the original Kodak 35 will be available in North America.