After multiple comments online questioning the specs and validity of the Yashica digiFilm project (currently at $1,079,761 raised), a new update was posted on Kickstarter together with some sample photos and videos showing a prototype camera:
We have just uploaded 4 videos of our team taking pictures with the Y35 working prototype and those sample pictures taken from it. Please rest assured we do have a prototype that is working!
For the last couple of days, the whole YASHICA team has been spending all extra effort during the weekends to make sure we work out the best solution in delivering our first stretch goal: F2. As well as exploring the possibility of adding a larger sensor or metal body which most backers are excited about. This may result in oversight and delayed in responding your comments, we are really sorry about this and will commit being as responsive as we can in the future, but we kindly ask for your patience if sometime we can’t answer your question immediately.
Here are some of the comments that raised questions about this project:
"I have also reported this project to Kickstarter, which has a rule stating that "Projects can’t mislead people or misrepresent facts." This project does both.
The creator location is misrepresented as "Tokyo, Japan." I find no record of any Tokyo, Japan offices of the Hong Kong based MF Jebson Group, which has owned the Yashica brand name since 2008.
The video, at 0:52, displays text that reads "YASHICA...Japanese Camera Brand...Since 1949" and shows a lens trim ring imprinted with "JAPAN." The voiceover is also in Japanese. Again, the creator is a Hong Kong based company.
At 0:30 in the main promo video, the model is shown pretending to focus a lens. A diagram on the campaign page reads "light...is auto-focused by the lens." These are (successful) attempts to mislead people into believing that this camera has a focus mechanism.
The sample photos that were not taken by this camera, and could not have been for reasons that Cyrus clearly explained below. They are a blatant attempt to misrepresent what this camera would be capable of.
The creators have not shown a prototype of the project as required by Kickstarter. Yet, two days ago, they claimed to have a "working prototype [based] on the specification we shown in the campaign page." Repeated requests for photos of that prototype, or sample images taken with that prototype, have been ignored.
People have been patient, polite, and reasonable, but the sponsors have not brought their project into compliance with Kickstarter rules."
