Peeling the back off Fuji Instax Wide Instant Film

I recently purchased an Fuji Instax 210 camera. I really am having fun with it and think it take great pictures. However there is one thing about the prints that I dislike - or let's just say I find annoying. That is the back black plasticy cover. I wondered if there was some way to get rid of it. I decided to take apart the print and find out.

First of all I cut about 1/2 inch off the print on the side with the bigger white area. Then I pried the clear plastic up with a knife. The print is encase is a folded clear plastic sheet which keeps all the chemical inside and protects the print. I cut the back half of the plastic off. At this point you have a black gooey mess. I dampened a paper towel in citrisolve and wiped the back of the photo. Some of the goo comes off but it doesn't affect the image. I went away to let this dry.

When I came back the print had dried. And curled up. Apparently the plastic back is essential to keeping the print flat. At this point I had to glue the print to some card stock to get it to lay flat - and it still wants to curl.

So..You can remove the back and remaining chemicals without destroying the print. Is it worth it? In general I would say not.

By the way, when the plastic is off the back side, you can scratch up the print from the back if you so desire. Only problem is you can't see on the image what you are doing while you are doing it. Not very useful.