wlewisiii
Veteran
This post:
Has a quote of someone claiming a $600 ~ $800 USD price. That's way too much.
Has a quote of someone claiming a $600 ~ $800 USD price. That's way too much.
TTartisan Folding Instax Camera
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JeffS7444
Well-known
DPreview says they were quoted $300 but perhaps that was a mistake? In the following video, it seems as if the representatives were struggling a bit with English. Lens, shutter and struts appear to be Seagull 203 (I hope none were sacrificed!), which would suggest shutter speeds of 1 sec - 1/300 and B, and the prototypes appear to have a functioning coupled rangefinder.
Mackinaw
Think Different
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Very interested until I read if takes Instax Mini film. To me, too small to be useful.
Jim B.
Jim B.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
I have an Instax SQ back for my Hasselblad. And for my Leica M4-2. It's not so different from Instax Mini format, just square rather than rectangular really, with the long dimension of the mini format being the SQ side length ... and the instant print film does pretty well with either.
Instant Magny Experiments with Leica M4-2 and M-Rokkor 90mm f/4
G
CMur12
Veteran
Yeah, I am too, especially in medium format.
Tessars I really like are the Tessar in the Rolleiflex T and the Tessar-type in the Minolta Autocord.
Regarding Cooke triplets, I actually bought a Yashica D TLR with the 3-element Yashikor lens for portraiture. My thought was, why degrade a sharp lens with a filter, when a simpler lens in native form, wide-open, will provide a little softness and desirable fall-off in the corners? This, of course, won't be as pronounced in a "contact print" such as the Instax.
- Murray
wlewisiii
Veteran
Cooke triplets can be very nice - I have a couple of Zeiss folder's with Novars and they certainly are capable of fine work. But all in all, there is nothing quite like a well made Tessar.
Perhaps if there is a later 120 version, that will get a fourth element 😉
Perhaps if there is a later 120 version, that will get a fourth element 😉
Harry the K
Well-known
Another toy camera. I don´t get the fascination.
PetPhoto
Member
the shutter.... some are thinking it is a leaf shutter.
if it is an actual leaf shutter, people are going to be buyin them just for the leaf shutter.
Retro-Grouch
Veteran
Why do you call it a toy? It's as serious or as trivial as it's user. Just like a Hasselblad, just like a Diana.
Harry the K
Well-known
That´s true. I just can´t see the wee little instant images as serious photography. When I was a child, my family had a Polaroid camera, which I always considered as toy.
I know, I know, s..tstorm rising.
wlewisiii
Veteran
Eh, I understand. I don't feel that way about instant as such but I have that same reaction every time I hear the word "Lomo".
Godfrey
somewhat colored
My photo workshop group often does a Summer party and a Holiday party. At both of these parties, an informal exhibition of the members' recent works is usually set up, with no real notion of being a competition: just to share and enjoy what the other folks are doing.
At one of these parties some years ago, I realized I hadn't printed in a while the day before and figured there wasn't time to do my usual careful printing. But I had a thought: I'd been playing with a pocket polaroid camera for some weeks, shooting portraits and silly still lifes with it. The images were about 1x1.5 inches in size, or something like that. I had a shoebox full of them.
So the night before the party, I spread them all out on the dining table and curated out 30 or so of the best. I pasted them into a small Moleskine notebook, each on a page with a title and some information about the subject, and at the party I left the notebook and a magnifying glass on the table, along with a Comments sheet specifically designed to fold up and fit into the Moleskine's rear pocket.
I didn't stand by during the party, I just left the kit on the table and went about having drinks, talking with friends, etc. As the party ended I remembered my display piece just before I was leaving, and walked back into the exhibition room to pick it up. Imagine my shock and surprise when I found that nearly every person at the party had signed the Comments sheet and left a short note .. In fact, they'd added three more comments sheets to the original.
This just goes to show that the size of a photograph has little to do with its "seriousness". The folks at the party were all very serious photographers, and they took the piece with it's tiny photographs as a bona fide art work worthy of being commented on, appreciated, and critiqued.
(BTW: Not all the comments were praise, some were quite critical, but critical in a constructive and imaginative way as befits an artist delivering an honest critique of an art piece. I've kept the piece and the comments to this day, go back to it occasionally, look through it, and consider the comments made with all due respect for their sincerity and thought... )
G
—
Art can surprise you.
Harry the K
Well-known
.... or "expired".
Harry the K
Well-known
That´s very subjective, isn´t it? Art...
Cascadilla
Well-known
I'm probably not interested in this camera, but I am reminded of the old saying in photography that if you can't make it good then make it big. Small size can make for a different viewing experience and it sometimes works well for some images.
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
Yes, the Yashikor performs well. And the Novars are quite good -- I have Zeiss Ikon TLRs and folders with Novars. Sure, a Tessar/Xenar/Yashinon will be a little better at the edges at wider apertures, but I think a triplet will do just fine for this camera.
Harry the K
Well-known
A good photo is good in any size, but the viewing is more interesting when it is printed bigger as two stamps in line, when the eye can wander and discover.
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
You mean the "spring-driven shutter"? Where does the winding key fit? 🙂
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Nearly all camera shutters are "spring driven" and have been for almost two hundred years... ??? On most cameras, the action of the film transport also tensions the shutter main spring; older cameras and view cameras with mechanically timed shutters have a specific shutter cocking lever to tension the shutter main spring.
What has changed on modern shutters is that the shutter's timing mechanism is more usually controlled by electronic means, but this does not change the fact that the shutter is "spring-driven" ...
G
JeffS7444
Well-known
$300 would be an awesome price for this, but given the ISO 800 speed of Instax film, and the camera's 1/300 max shutter speed, I might set aside a few extra $ for neutral-density filters.
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