Author Topic: INSTAFRANKENROID - Hacking a Polaroid land camera for Instax.  (Read 3596 times)

Offline RotarySMP

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INSTAFRANKENROID - Hacking a Polaroid land camera for Instax.
« on: February 16, 2020, 04:14:04 AM »
Hello Madmodder,

I have been a member here for years, but with periods of inactivity as I tend to cycle through my hobbies (photography, guitar, machining).

My daughter bought an Fujifilm Instax 210 camera while traveling, and has been using it a lot. This bumped my enthusiasm for a project which has been on the back burner for a while. I hacked a 100 Automatic Land camera with a Mamiya 105 f3.5 from a TLR a few years ago, and then the last call for pack film followed shortly after. Having consumed all but one remaining box of FP-3000B, that camera has lurked in the deepest recess of the closet, till now.

There are plenty of bodged up Instax wides gaffer taped to Polaroid Land cameras and Pathfinders, but I hadn't seen much information on the net on optimising such modifications. The aim being to couple the excellent Zeiss combined range/viewfinder accurately to a fast and sharp lens with manual aperture and shutter control and a flash shoe.

Here is the first episode of my attempt to document such an Instafrankenroid.


In an idea world, hacking Instax wide to the original film gate of a Polaroid 180/190, while keeping the rangefinder system would be the holy grail. As you can see, the design features central to both Instax and Polaroid designs are unfortunately in direct conflict in the upper focus arm/development roller area.
Mark
« Last Edit: February 16, 2020, 08:20:32 AM by RotarySMP »
Best regards, Meilleures salutations, Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Cu salutari
Mark
https://www.youtube.com/c/RotarySMP

Offline RotarySMP

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Re: INSTAFRANKENROID - Hacking a Polaroid land camera for Instax.
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2020, 03:26:52 PM »
I have since uploaded the second

.. third episodes

of this camera hacking...

I have a included a bunch of different modding methods, from CNC mill, lathe turning, 3D printing, and just plain old hacking and gluing.
Mark
Best regards, Meilleures salutations, Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Cu salutari
Mark
https://www.youtube.com/c/RotarySMP

Offline RotarySMP

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Re: INSTAFRANKENROID - Hacking a Polaroid land camera for Instax.
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2020, 07:53:02 AM »
Since the film back part of this is working fine, it was time to make the new lens standard to compensate for the displaced film plane.  I am pretty happy with how that worked. It front focuses a bit, which it to be expected with the shorter focal length lens (Mamiya 105mm instead of the Polaroid 114mm) which the rangefinder is calibrated to.

Here is the latest video update of this project.


Do any of you also make, modify or hack photographic gear?
Mark
Best regards, Meilleures salutations, Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Cu salutari
Mark
https://www.youtube.com/c/RotarySMP

Offline S. Heslop

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Re: INSTAFRANKENROID - Hacking a Polaroid land camera for Instax.
« Reply #3 on: April 01, 2020, 09:56:59 AM »
Great videos!

I've been thinking about this topic lately and hadn't found much through searching, so it feels like a relief to just bump into something decent on it.

Thinking about trying for some kind of clunky SLR arrangement since I want to take macro photos. Problem is it'd also have to be 'cool' otherwise whats the point in instant photography!

Offline RotarySMP

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Re: INSTAFRANKENROID - Hacking a Polaroid land camera for Instax.
« Reply #4 on: April 01, 2020, 12:33:35 PM »
Good call. I like the Instax square mods people are doing to Mamiya RB67's. Being able to remove the back interface plate means you can get Instax onto the original film plane. There are not many cameras which you can achieve that with.
Mark
Best regards, Meilleures salutations, Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Cu salutari
Mark
https://www.youtube.com/c/RotarySMP