Film: 35mm format
Format/Frame: 72 x 33 mm

From Matt Loves Cameras page:

Specifications for the Sprocket Rocket

  • The Sprocket Rocket has two apertures to choose from: Cloudy f/10.8 and Sunny f/16.
  • It has two shutter speeds: a fixed 1/100 second (the N setting on the camera), and a very handy bulb setting (the B setting on the camera.)
  • The focal length of the lens is 30mm, making it a wide angle camera.
  • The minimum focus distance is quite short at just 60cm (2 feet).
  • The camera zone focuses via two settings on the lens barrel: 0.6m to 1m, and 1m to infinity.
  • The Sprocket Rocket takes 35mm film. It doesn’t matter if your film has DX coding or not, as it doesn’t read DX coding, and has no capability to change settings based on film speed.
  • Recommended film speed is IS0 400, though I’ve successfully used ISO 200 film here in sunny Queensland.
  • Exposure area of each frame is double the width of a normal 35mm exposure: 72 x 33mm (with mask taken out to expose sprockets) or 72 x 24mm (with mask in).
  • No battery is required.
  • Weight: it’s quite light, weight just 227g / 8oz.
  • Tripod mount on the bottom for long exposure shots.
  • Film advance and rewind knobs – when used in conjunction with the white dot window, this rewind knob is a very handy feature.
  • Flash hot shoe on top of the camera.

My Insights on the Sprocket Rocket

If you’ve ever visited the online Lomography store and and the various cameras they offer, you’ll likely notice that some of the cameras offered are a bit gimmicky. They have cameras that you spin in the air to get a 360° pano shot, cameras with multiple lens that give you multiple images on one frame, and cameras with liquid-filled lenses… just to name a few.

I typically don’t find myself very interested in such “specialized” cameras, but the Sprocket Rocket is certainly my one exception.

I ended up purchasing the Sprocket Rocket because it exposed the entire film area (sprockets included—hence the camera’s name) and it was a pseudo-panoramic camera in that it shot two conventional 35mm frames as one image. As a result, instead of a typical 24 x 36 mm image area on the film, you get a an image that is 35 x 72 mm.

Although there is considerable fall-off/vignetting at the corners of an image, it still makes for a unique photo that sends the message, “This image is totally analog.”