Instant back for 35mm SLR cameras

[ptpdprinter]

I can see how on paper this sounds like a good idea, but practically speaking, instead of using a bulky Rube Goldberg contraption, why not just get a SQ6?

 

[Godfrey]

I'm still on the fence on supporting this. Wouldn't mind giving this a try but I've had 50% success rate on Kickstarter (2 Kickstarters, still havent received my Ferrania film) and feel like I'm not losing much by paying full price later on once succesfull.
Plus I have the Mint RF70 on its way already later this year to keep me Instax happy.

Also I still can't make up my mind between a back for my M3 or Pentax MX

I've supported about 20 Kickstarters since they began operations. Fifteen completed and produced product so far, of which about 12 were very satisfying and the other three didn't do much for me once completed. The remaining 5 are still in active development, including this one, and I'm getting regular messages and activity from them.

The benefit of subscribing early (and I decided right off the bat that the Leica M was the right camera for this endeavor... 🙂) was that I get the lowest price ($99 plus some for shipping). That's a little more than half price, if they make it. At this point, I'm fully expecting they're going to make their funding...

G

 

[Godfrey]

I can see how on paper this sounds like a good idea, but practically speaking, instead of using a bulky Rube Goldberg contraption, why not just get a SQ6?

An SQ6 is never going to have a lens the quality of any Leica, Nikon, Olympus, or whatever lens, and has no lens options to play with.

It is a photo toy, for sure, but a lot of photo toys can make some amazing photographs. If you already have a compatible camera, fer gosh sake, why not spend a hundred bucks to make it do more rather than spend $130 for something which does a lot less? 🙂

G

 

[taemo]

I've supported about 20 Kickstarters since they began operations. Fifteen completed and produced product so far, of which about 12 were very satisfying and the other three didn't do much for me once completed. The remaining 5 are still in active development, including this one, and I'm getting regular messages and activity from them.

The benefit of subscribing early (and I decided right off the bat that the Leica M was the right camera for this endeavor... 🙂) was that I get the lowest price ($99 plus some for shipping). That's a little more than half price, if they make it. At this point, I'm fully expecting they're going to make their funding...

G

99$ is not going to break the bank, decided to back the Leica version.
looking forward on giving it a try on my M3.
Might persuade me on getting a 12mm or 15mm lens later😛

 

[Godfrey]

Woo Hoo!

I received a campaign message this morning that the Instant Magny 35 campaign has already achieved their funding goal, and they're going ahead with the finish development to production.

There are still a few Nikon Kick-Off Deal pledges available, as well as a good number of Leica Kick-Off Deal pledges available, so if you were waiting to see if they'd reach their funding goal, time to go for it and get the best price!

I love this kind of stuff. 🙂

G

 

[Steve M.]

No matter how good the lens is that you use, instant film gives softish images compared to conventional film. It's just the nature of the beast. I've seen lots of photos from Hasselblad cameras w/ Polaroid backs and even w/ a 'blad lens you don't get anything like you would from conventional film. It's nice to support new projects, but reality is reality, especially with today's instant films. The old Type 55 and 665 Polaroid film was fine grained, would give nice sharpness AND you got a negative, but they haven't made that for over a decade.

 

[Godfrey]

No matter how good the lens is that you use, instant film gives softish images compared to conventional film. It's just the nature of the beast. I've seen lots of photos from Hasselblad cameras w/ Polaroid backs and even w/ a 'blad lens you don't get anything like you would from conventional film. It's nice to support new projects, but reality is reality, especially with today's instant films. The old Type 55 and 665 Polaroid film was fine grained, would give nice sharpness AND you got a negative, but they haven't made that for over a decade.

So...? What's your point?

 

[farlymac]

I was riding the fence on this because of an upcoming trip, and some stuff I needed done to the truck first. I'd have backed Leica and Nikon on it, but the truck wins, -$880.:bang:

PF

 

[taemo]

Got an email update stating that they are ready to ship the backs next week.

Would be nice if I receive this before the holidays but realistically I'm expecting to get this in January.

Will be using it on my M3, will borrow a friends CV 15mm before committing on getting one as I'm undecided between the 12mm and 15mm

 

[Godfrey]

I'm looking forward to receiving mine! Ordering four-five packs of Instax Square for it. 🙂

G

 

[zuiko85]

I'm looking forward to receiving mine! Ordering four-five packs of Instax Square for it. 🙂

G

Just curious, where do you find 5-packs? The only multi packs I've seen are 2-packs at B&H.

 

[Godfrey]

Just curious, where do you find 5-packs? The only multi packs I've seen are 2-packs at B&H.

LOL! "Four to five packs" is what i meant... I bought two two-packs. 🙂

—

The Instant Magny 35 has arrived! Nicely packaged for shipment, the unit itself is nicely packaged too. Just handling it, it has a well-made, precise, quality feel. It fitted up to my M4-2 easily and quickly. I fitted a Nikon SB-30 to it, set f/5.6 @ 1/50 second, and made a test exposure.. It works well!

First test exposure ... Color Skopar 50mm f/2.5 set to f/5.6, camera set to 1/50 flash sync, distance at 0.9m, auto flash. I was a bit close and should have flipped the diffuser on the flash to kill the hot spot, but it all works well. Note that I've flipped the image left to right in SnapSeed. 😀

fun fun fun...

enjoy!
G

 

[JoeLopez]

What a cool idea! I'd buy a Nikon back.

 

[Godfrey]

What a cool idea! I'd buy a Nikon back.

If you're really interested, the Kickstarter is over, but they're taking pre-orders on Indiegogo: Instant Magny 35 Pre-orders.

I did some exposure tests. Their instructions for ISO 100 are pretty close, from what I see with my M4-2 I'd add another half to full stop exposure for best results. My testing also pointed out that lenses image differently through the relay optical system: The Color Skopar 50mm produces a lot of light falloff at edges and corners from f/4 to f/8, the Summarit-M 75mm produces none. I'm going to fit my Summicron-M 50 and swap between it and the Color Skopar for a couple of exposures, see how they compare at f/4 and f/11.

I have to say: The test images so far (when the exposure is right) look lovely! Sharp, contrasty, detailed, etc. They've done a very nice job!

G

 

[zuiko85]

The next thing they could develop is a lens in shutter (with front element focusing) that will clip onto the cone for a direct camera. Also a clip on viewfinder. I'm thinking a simple 3 element f5.6 with stops to f32 in a mechanical leaf shutter, say 'B' plus 1/30 through 1/250 sec. Looks like the focal length would have to be about 100mm but since the diagonal of Instax Sq. is 87mm that doesn't seem too narrow an angle.

 

[Godfrey]

The next thing they could develop is a lens in shutter (with front element focusing) that will clip onto the cone for a direct camera. Also a clip on viewfinder. I'm thinking a simple 3 element f5.6 with stops to f32 in a mechanical leaf shutter, say 'B' plus 1/30 through 1/250 sec. Looks like the focal length would have to be about 100mm but since the diagonal of Instax Sq. is 87mm that doesn't seem too narrow an angle.

I could see taking the Instant Magny 35 processing unit and making it into a Hasselblad V system back too. It would take some work to make the adaptation, but that would be fun! 🙂

—
Testing the Instant Magny 35 with three lenses (Color Skopar 50mm f/2.5, Summicron-M 50mm f/2, M-Rokkor 90mm f/4), it's fairly obvious that short back-focus lenses are not a very good match to the relay optical system. The FAQ in the instructions warn about this, but it's interesting to see how severe the vignetting gets to be depending on aperture used.

It works very well with the Summarit 75 that I used for testing and the M-Rokkor 90 that I used on my little test walk. The Summicron 50 does reasonably well, if I keep it in the f/4 to f/5.6 range. The Color Skopar 50 produces a lot of vignetting even at f/4.

While I was walking, I saw a couple of boys riding their scooters in the church parking lot. They're my neighbor's kids and know me, so came over to see what I was doing. I showed them the camera and they let me make photos of them:

Leica M4-2, M-Rokkor 90mm f/4
ISO 100 @ f/5.6 @ 1/15 on Fujifilm Instax Square
Scanned with iPhone 8 Plus, processed in SnapSeed​

enjoy!
G

 

[farlymac]

I might want to dig out one of my Olympus bodies to see if it would be lighter to use.

PF

 

[taemo]

forgot to post on this, I just received mine today so will be giving it a try on my M3 with 35mm and 50mm later this evening.

borrowing a friends CV 15mm, hoping it works well on this.

Godfrey, those images looks great!

 

[Godfrey]

forgot to post on this, I just received mine today so will be giving it a try on my M3 with 35mm and 50mm later this evening.

borrowing a friends CV 15mm, hoping it works well on this.

Godfrey, those images looks great!

Thanks!

I'm pretty sure the CV15 will be difficult at best due to its short back-focus distance. I've tested the Tri-Elmar-M 16-18-21 and even it, with about double the back focus of the CV15, is mostly hopeless: all you get is a center spot, the rest of the frame is black.

WATE @ 16mm:

I then fitted the Super-Elmar-R 15mm using my R Adapter M (after finding an exact focus distance using the CL body and setting that on the focusing ring). At f/4 and f/5.6, it works nicely, although getting the focus on target is problematic.

SER15:

So far, I've tested the following lenses, all at f/4:

• Super-Elmar-R 15mm - good (SLR lens, on adapter the rear flange is well recessed from the M-mount flange)
• Tri-Elmar-M 16-18-21mm @16mm - poor (despite that rear element is inset slightly from mount flange)
• Summilux 35mm v2 (1972) - fair (a bit of darkening, rear element is flush with mount flange)
• Pentax-L 43mm Limited - good (rear element is deeply recessed; this is an SLR lens in an RF mount.
• Summicron-M 50mm (current) - fair to good (rear element is recessed from mount flange by a few mm)
• Color Skopar 50mm - poor (rear element projects about 5-8mm past mount flange)
• Summarit-M 75mm - good
• M-Rokkor 90mm - good
• Hektor 135mm (f/4.5) - good

You can get edge darkening with too small an aperture too, particularly with the shorter focal lengths. (That's why I did my tests at f/4.)

My take on this is to look at the lens and see where the rear-most element is relative to the lens mount flange. If the rear element is about flush or inset into the lens, it will be a fair to good performer. If the rear element projects into the camera body beyond the mount flange, it will perform poorly. As the focal length gets longer, you'll get better results at smaller apertures.

Exposure-wise, meter for ISO 100 and that's for a deep print. I add about 0.5 to 1.0 EV from there for a lot of situations to brighten up the print. The latitude is biased: the film responds better to a touch of overexposure rather than underexposure.

Go have at it! The Instant Magny 35 is a lot of fun to use! I've burned through three packs of film testing and learning how to get the most from it. When you hit it right, the little prints are jewels right out of the camera. And of course: capture them to digital and you can edit them further.

I'll likely use up my last two packs of film and make some 'real' photos playing with the 43mm and the 75mm. 🙂

G

 

[taemo]

Had to use flash as it was already dark when I got home and burned through a pack to figure out how the system works.

Pretty fun system although I don't see my self travelling around with it.

Hoping to give it a proper run over the weekend.

Thanks for testing the wide-angle M lenses on it, disappointing to see that a CV12 and CV15 will vignette on this, saved me time and money buying them.

2 frames from last night, taken with 50mm collapsible cron and 90mm T-E-M, I reversed the image on PS to reflect the mirrored image.
img575 by earl dieta, on Flickr

img572 by earl dieta, on Flickr