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.

Polaroid Super Shooter to Pinhole Conversion

I converted a vintage Polaroid Super Shooter to a pinhole camera - giving me an instant pinhole camera. I mostly followed the steps in this video on youtube. There are 3 videos in this series. It is good background for making the pinhole camera.

I picked up a Super Shooter at a local fleamarket for $10. You want to be sure to get one with steel rollers and not the spreader thingy. Make sure the rollers are in good shape. It doesn't matter what shape the shutter/lenses/battery contacts are in - these are not used anyway.

The guy in the video trims down the camera to decrease the focal length. I did not.

I removed all the battery stuff. This exposed 3 screws which I removed allowing the front part of the camera including the shutter and lenses to come off. I also removed the flashbulb attachment. My camera didn't have a timer, but if yours does - decide whether or not to keep it or remove it.You can also remove the hinged film pack holder. After that you are ready to build the camera. I masked off the insides of my camera and painted the outside with spray paint made for plastic. I painted it a bright red. I like the look.

I made up the front piece of the camera and shutter from black Canson conservation board. This board is black all the way through and nice and stiff. I got a 16"x20" piece from Hobby Lobby. I purchased my pinhole assembly from fireseller66 on Ebay. I bought a 0.4mm Laser drilled pinhole. In hindsight, I wish I had got a smaller diameter - more on that later. This assembly has a small piece of copper with a pinhole glued onto a 19mm diameter washer. I cut a piece of board the size of the front of the camera and punched a 12.25mm hole in the center. I centered the pinhole assembly on this hole and glued with instant glue. Then, I layered another board on top with a 16mm hole. I glued this on with white PVA glue. I built up the shutter as in the video and attached with white PVA glue. Here is the end result.

I epoxied a 1/4"x20 threaded insert into the plastic box area that was the viewfinder. Again, this was similar to what the guy did on the video. I used the 6 min JB weld. Worked great.

The problem with such a large pinhole is that outside in sunshine a 3 sec exposure is all that is needed. It's nearly impossible to manipulate the shutter without moving the camera, so getting sharp images will not be easy. I am used to using photo paper in a pinhole camera and this paper is so slow that it is very forgiving for movement. I used 100 speed Fuji Instant B&W film which is no longer being produced. I started with 20 sec exposure which was washed out. Reduced to 10 secs and the image was better. Reduced to 5 secs and just about right. Somewhere between 3 and 5 sec exposure in sunlight gives the right exposure.

Here are some images made on the camera.

Polaroid 660 and Impossible Film

A friend recently gave me a Polaroid 660 instant film camera. The camera is in very good shape. I purchased some Impossible Project film to try it out. I bought the Instant Color Film for Polaroid™ 600-Type Cameras - Triple Pack. It ends up being about $3 a photo. Wow. This should cause one (me) to slow down and think about the photo before pressing the shutter.

Well, I was anxious to try the camera and film. The first shot I took was a handheld selfie. I had read where the film needs to be immediately placed in the dark when it pops out of the camera. In this instance I put it face down on a dark closet shelf for 45 mins. The photo turned out ok for me.

Although the film is expensive, it gives another method of making unique images. 

Lomography - Lomo' Instant

 
I signed up for one of these. Looks like it going to be a neat camera. Waiting not so patiently.

The Lomo’Instant is the world’s most creative instant camera sporting a built-in Wide Angle and Portrait and Fisheye lens attachments, 3 shooting modes plus a tripod mount and cable release for advanced shooting. Go light painting with infinite long exposures, have fun with the four color gels and experiment with the unlimited multiple exposures. Back the Lomo’Instant on Kickstarter today to make big savings and head to the microsite for more information!