I'm Back Roll APS-C — Tracking Record (Unscored)

As of July 27, 2026, BackerGuardian has not scored the I'm Back Roll APS-C — this is an unscored tracking record, not a review. The verified facts: the Kickstarter campaign closed May 15, 2026 with CHF 879,491 (roughly US$1.05M) pledged against a CHF 35,000 goal, and shipping is promised for August 2027.

Last verified: 2026-07-27. No trust score appears on this page because none has been computed. We do not publish scores we cannot back with checked evidence; until this record passes a full scoring pass, treat everything below as verified reporting, not a rating.

What this campaign is

The I'm Back Roll APS-C is a digital capture module shaped like a 35mm film roll: it drops into the film compartment of most vintage 35mm cameras and replaces film with a 26.1MP Sony IMX571 APS-C sensor, internal battery, and internal SSD storage (64/128/256 GB options), with RAW/JPEG capture and claimed 4K video (The Phoblographer, 2026-04-14). There is no screen; shooting requires arming the host camera's shutter and triggering via a Bluetooth remote (PetaPixel, 2026-04-27). The creator is Samuel Mello Medeiros of I'm Back (Lugano, Switzerland), with co-founder Filippo Nishino.

Press-reported pledge levels during the campaign: early-bird pack $499, master kit $599, Leica M Edition creator kit $549, twin-roll pack $999 (The Phoblographer). We could not load the Kickstarter page directly to confirm the official tier structure, so the record's structured tier list is intentionally empty.

Campaign outcome (verified)

Note on the numbers: Kickstarter blocks our fetcher (HTTP 403), so figures above come from the Kicktraq tracker and press coverage, in the campaign's native currency (CHF). USD equivalents vary with the exchange rate used by each outlet.

Who this is for — and who should pass

Plausibly for: owners of mechanically sound 35mm bodies (Canon AE-1, Nikon FM, Pentax K1000 and similar) who want digital output from vintage glass and handling, understand this is a crowdfunded first-generation device, and can tolerate a promised wait into late 2027 — with real risk of further slip.

Should pass: anyone who needs a working product on a known date; anyone uncomfortable backing hardware that had no working final-spec prototype during the campaign (demonstrated prototypes used a smaller Micro Four Thirds sensor, per PetaPixel); and anyone expecting modern-camera ergonomics — capture requires a remote trigger and the module has no screen unless the add-on LCD materializes.

Evidence timeline

• 2026-03-12 — PetaPixel reports the tease of an APS-C digital "film roll" that fits entirely inside a 35mm camera.
• 2026-04-03 — Campaign launches; goal reached within the first 12 minutes (Kicktraq).
• 2026-04-13 — Launch coverage from Nikon Rumors and Photo Rumors.
• 2026-04-14 — The Phoblographer: 985 backers, over $550K raised; pledge tiers $499–$999.
• 2026-04-27 — PetaPixel's detailed report: $846,629 from 1,416 backers with 17 days left. Flags: no working APS-C prototype yet; many campaign images computer- or AI-generated; functional prototype promised ~6 months after close; production shipping from August 2027.
• 2026-05-08 — Digital Camera World: funding approaches US$1M; stretch-goal accessories announced — a mechanical shutter-sync button (removing the Bluetooth-remote requirement) and an LCD screen add-on.
• 2026-05-15 — Campaign closes funded. Final per Kicktraq: CHF 879,491 from 1,845 backers (2,512% of goal). Press at close reported US$1,049,283 from 1,721 backers; the backer-count gap is unresolved.
• 2026-07-27 — BackerGuardian verification pass (this record). The creator's own site, imback.eu, still presents the Roll as a prototype with sample photos and lists no APS-C pre-order or ship date.

Delivery status

Funded; not yet due; unproven. As of July 27, 2026 nothing is late by the campaign's own calendar: a fully functional APS-C prototype was promised roughly six months after close (~November 2026) and production shipping from August 2027 (PetaPixel). But the promise rests on a sensor configuration the company had not yet built at campaign time. BackerGuardian has not been able to read post-campaign backer updates (Kickstarter blocks our fetcher), and imback.eu shows no APS-C availability. This record's delivery state will be re-checked; the November 2026 prototype milestone is the first checkpoint that will either de-risk or confirm concerns about this project.

Creator track record (partially verified)

I'm Back has run crowdfunding campaigns for roughly a decade: I'm Back Pro (2018), I'm Back 35 (2020), and I'm Back Film, a 20MP partnership with Yashica (early 2025), per PetaPixel. The company's site at imback.eu currently sells I'm Back Film and the MiMi camera, lists I'm Back 35 at final stock and I'm Back MF as sold out — evidence that prior campaigns produced real, shipped products. What we have not verified: whether those prior campaigns delivered on time, or how backers rated what arrived. Until a scoring pass checks fulfillment history, treat the track record as "shipped before, punctuality unverified." Worth noting: DPReview's coverage of this campaign ran under the headline "The digital film that's always just around the corner, now promised in 2027" — the skeptical framing exists in mainstream photo press, not just here.

Risk flags observed (not scored)

These are observations from the sources above, recorded for the future scoring pass — they are not a score:

• No working APS-C prototype existed during the campaign; demonstrations used a smaller Micro Four Thirds sensor (PetaPixel).
• Many campaign visuals were computer- or AI-generated rather than photographs of the product (PetaPixel).
• ~15-month gap between campaign close and promised shipping, with a prototype milestone in between — long even by crowdfunded-hardware norms.
• Power constraints may require an optional external module, and capture depends on a remote trigger (PetaPixel).
• Final backer/pledge figures differ between Kicktraq and press reports (documented above).

What happens next

When this record enters a scoring pass, every dimension will be computed from a sourced evidence ledger — creator fulfillment history, funding snapshots, prototype verification, and independent coverage — through the same machinery as our fully scored reviews. No score will appear here until that happens.