Measuring The Light: with Donald and KEKS

I love the KEKS lightmeters: clever little computers that sit on your camera and give you accurate readings of the settings required for perfect exposure. It is one of those ideas and brands that spans the gap between modern technology and analogue methods, to make today's film photographer's lives easier. I wanted to learn more about keks so I sat down with Donald - the founder - to ask him about his light-meter journey!

Hello Donald! Welcome to the blog. Let's start with the big questions: who are you, where are you from, and how did you get into film photography?

I’m Donald, the founder of KEKS camera. I originated in Hong Kong, but I grew up in Taiwan, and I’m currently living in Bristol UK.

I started learning photography with a film camera that I bought in a flea market. It's a tiny Yashica 35mc, the most compact camera in their whole 35 lineup. I’m glad that I have chosen it as my first camera, it makes me fall in love with mechanical cameras. It’s like the first car you learned to drive, it always has a special place in your heart.

I still remember the first roll of film I used is a Kodak Colorplus, surprisingly I didn’t screw up my first roll of film, and I love the results it produced. That’s pretty much how everything started!

What is your personal film photography set-up these days?

My favourite camera is a leica m6. I know it’s a boring answer, but the leica m6 is always the best of its class, it just ticks all the boxes, I’m so used to it that I don’t want to switch to other cameras.

I used a 50mm 2.0 lens on the m6, to be honest I don’t have a favourite camera film, I just used what I have on the shelf.

Iconic 🥰

That's not boring - I'm just very jealous! What gave you the idea for KEKS light meters?

During the time we started our brand KEKS, there were not many choices of hot shoe lightmeter in the market. Voigtlander has discontinued their vc meter, people can only buy handheld meter or vintage hot shoe lightmeter. We saw the needs of an accurate, easy to use, well built lightmeter in the market, so we have built the first gen EM01 lightmeter, which has been a hit. 

Sometimes in the exhibition, I still see people using our first gen meter, and they are still working great after 4 years, which makes me feel very proud and happy.

How did that first idea and product develop into the business that it is today?

It all happened in a summer holiday. When I dropped out from my university, life was getting a bit miserable. I felt like I needed to do something, something I wanted to do. I saw an interesting product online, a DIY biscuit lens for the Leica M. I thought it's something that the market has been looking for: a truly cheap and fun lens that everyone could afford, so I have the idea to start selling them. Which also explains why our brand name is called KEKS, it means biscuit in German.

Not very long after I had the idea of making a modern light meter, and we put it into action. We released the first model EM01, which has become very popular.

I really want to thank all the people from the film community. We have received immense support and opportunities when we first started the business. Which has helped us a lot to grow and get more people to know about us.

It's one of our AW Ambassadors: Tom Warland!

Small businesses are manic - particularly at the beginning! How did you balance the different challenges of manufacturing, marketing, sales, design, customer service?

When we first start the business, everything is a bit of a challenge. I was the only person in charge of everything, marketing, manufacturing, design, even shipping. I replied to most of the emails by myself. Everything starts getting better when the business is on track, I’m happy to have all the lovely people work together with me.

KEKS light meters being programmed and tested

One of the biggest challenges is manufacturing, manufacturing is a headache, manufacturers may get things wrong and it’s a very long process, it takes a lot of trial and error to improve the product to a perfect state. There are also many delays, the estimated time told by them is never the one.

Ha - sounds like running a factory is like running a photo lab. What was the first moment you thought ‘this is definitely a big idea’?

I think when we start making the light meter, we see the potential of the product. We can foresee that people are gonna love this product, and we are not wrong.

Excited new owners of KEKS light meters!

Is there anything that has surprised you about the film photography industry and community since you started KEKS?

Yes! The support and love from the people, I was a nobody in the film photography industry when I first started the business. I didn’t have friends doing photography at all.

But people are willing to lend their helping hands, influencers are willing to promote our products for no returns, shops are willing to put their trust in our products from such a small company, we were given the opportunity to showcase our products in one of the biggest photography exhibitions, more and more.

Donald with the Camera Rescue / KameraStore team

I even made a lot of friends and business partners after entering the industry, that’s the best decision I have ever made in my life.

That's so lovely, and a glowing endorsement of our film photography community. Now this might be like asking you to pick a favourite child, but which is your personal favourite KEKS light meter and why?

My personal favourite model is the KM02 light meter, it’s the second model of our lightmeter. I was in charge of the whole project, we have used two years time to find out what we can improve in our next model. We contacted many photographers to ask for opinions on our new model. The whole development process took us 1 year, it’s a long process, but it’s definitely worthwhile.

The results are also very good, we have received many positive feedback from our customers. Two years later, the KM02 is still our best selling model.

What has been your proudest moment of KEKS so far?

I think my proudest moment is when we have our first exhibition, people coming up to us, showing their keks lightmeter. I remember a guy showed me his very well used keks meter (it was one of the smaller ones, like the KMQ in today's range).

He told me he bought it two years ago and he even accidentally put it in the washing machine! The meter is still working fine and fully accurate. I have never done that before, but this kind of moment make me very proud of our product.

What has been the worst day in your KEKS journey so far?

I think the worst moment was during the COVID pandemic. International delivery had halted, shipping costs were going sky high. Our manufacturer had to delay all their production for two months and the cost increased a lot - all at the same time. Business was very hard during that period, but thankfully things bounced back quickly when it was over.

What is in your future plans for KEKS? What’s next?

We will continue focus on film camera accessories, we are currently developing on a couple of new products (Flashes, new lightmeter etc) . I can’t tell too much here, but I'm sure it will be an exciting product.

My ultimate goal is to build a camera! It’s one of my dreams.

Maybe a camera like this?! 😂

What is the most important thing you want film photographers to know about KEKS?

We want them to know they can rely on our products, we listen to our user feedback and we will act! We will continue to provide film camera accessories and modern light meters at the best possible quality to make the lives of analogue photographers easier than ever before.

Please please continue to support us, it will give us more strength to develop more new products.