Shooting Instax Wide Film with a 4x5

Looks like fun!

If I could get an adapter for a 4x5 Graflok back to fit my Mamiya Press 23 Super, I'd give it a shot!

G
 
I’m excited about this product, but it’s 50mm thick - does the typical Speed Graphic have that much movement to its spring back? Or, say, an Intrepid 4x5 or another typical Graflex style back? Hmm...
 
JoeV said:
I’m excited about this product, but it’s 50mm thick - does the typical Speed Graphic have that much movement to its spring back? Or, say, an Intrepid 4x5 or another typical Graflex style back? Hmm...
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It's not intended to be used as a slide-in back - you need a camera with removable ground glass panel and Graflok-type sliders. Which means not an early Graphic that has only a spring back.

That's why it's called "LomoGraflok". :)

EDIT: For those who are not familiar with the confusing terminology associated with Graphic and Graflex cameras: "Graphic", "Graflok" and "Graflex" backs are three different things. "Graphic back" refers to the spring backs that were standard on Graphic press cameras pretty much through the 1940s. The only way to use a roll holder (or anything other than a cut-sheet holder) with a Graphic back is with a slide-in model that's thin enough. "Graflok backs" became standard on later-model Graphic press cameras, and feature a removable ground glass panel and sliding retainer bars to accept roll holders and other accessories. Most (but definitely not all!) modern 4x5 cameras from other manufacturers also feature a Graflok back; sometimes it's referred to as an "International back". "Graflex back" refers to yet another back type that was standard on Graflex reflex cameras, which used special film holders with slotted edges.

The new Lomo Instax holder is designed to fit Graflok-type backs.
 
raid said:
My Linhof Color Kardan 45S would work well with such a back, I think.
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The new holder should be fine with any 4x5 camera with a Graflok back and which allows the front standard to be moved back to compensate for the ~19mm extension introduced by the holder. Virtually all bellows cameras should be OK, but rigid-body 4x5 cameras built around helical focus mounts and short focal length lenses - Cambo Wide, for example - won't be usable.
 
Doggone clever to offer preorders. Gives them an indication of the real interest in the product. No use making eight thousand units if you can only sell two thousand, or, conversely, not making enough for initial demand and getting customers ticked off waiting for the next batch.
 
Is this meant for proofing only? It does not make much sense to use such a back for the main image, does it? A 4x5 camera is usually quite heavy. My Linhof weighs a ton or two ...
 
raid said:
Is this meant for proofing only? It does not make much sense to use such a back for the main image, does it? A 4x5 camera is usually quite heavy. My Linhof weighs a ton or two ...
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The practical path would be to build a front for the thing that uses a lens in shutter, with front element focusing, from a 6X9 camera. the diagonal of 56mm X 84mm is about 100mm where this Instax Wide has a diagonal of 116mm. So, the lens of a 6x9 should be able to just cover with a bit more falloff than a lens designed for 4X5. That's if you want to use it as a carry around camera.
 
I like it. It's good to see new things being made for film photography and also for instant film.

It's fairly low cost - I'd use it on my Speed Graphic or Sinar, sometimes as a final image, sometimes as a proof.
 
raid said:
Is this meant for proofing only? It does not make much sense to use such a back for the main image, does it? A 4x5 camera is usually quite heavy. My Linhof weighs a ton or two ...
Click to expand...

I'm sure it's meant for people who have a 4x5 view camera that would like to be able to get a bit more use out of it with instant film in another format. Lomo isn't really in the business of making proofing tools, although of course it could be used as a proofing tool. Many photographers, in the past, used 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10 view cameras to handle a variety of film formats from 6x9 up to their camera's format limit.

I don't think that low weight and convenience rank highly on the priority list of people wanting to play with something different like this. ;)

zuiko85 said:
The practical path would be to build a front for the thing that uses a lens in shutter, with front element focusing, from a 6X9 camera. the diagonal of 56mm X 84mm is about 100mm where this Instax Wide has a diagonal of 116mm. So, the lens of a 6x9 should be able to just cover with a bit more falloff than a lens designed for 4X5. That's if you want to use it as a carry around camera.
Click to expand...

This is why I would like to find a 4x5 Graflok back that could fit on my Mamiya Press 23 Super. The Press 23 Super has interchangeable backs and back movements, a breechlock lens mount, and lenses with a focusing mount, shutter, and aperture mechanism, all self contained and independent. The only issue is that, unlike a*bellows view or field camera, you can't move the lens standard back far enough to accommodate the depth of the Instax film processor and cartridge unit to achieve infinity focus.

For that, perhaps a light 6x9 field camera could be fitted with a*4x5 Graflok back. The mind boggles at all the entertaining ways to configure a system around this back...

Actually, one of my long term projects has been to build a light, hand-holdable camera out of an Instax Square film processing unit and the Mamiya Press 23 Super lens assembly. I made some progress on the concept this weekend ... I've determined that the correct flange registration distance is 61mm and continued dismantling of a second parts body to obtain the lens mount, and struggling with that. But a little light bulb lit up as I considered that the front panel of the Mamiya Press 25, separated from the rest of the body and with the viewfinder cut off, is just about the right dimensions to build a box*onto*it that will hold the processing unit on the rear nicely. I'm going to pursue that path ... I could have a working camera in a couple of weeks that way. :D

G
 
You can see in the video, that a spacer is inserted to shift the ground glass back to match the Lomograflok. That is inherent to the Instax design, with a developing roller directly in front of the kick out slot.

Very cool that they are doing this.
Mark
 
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