2 into 1 will go
With a little mod
Over the last few years I have picked up Instax cameras, start with a mini, the Neo 90 then a Wide 300 and finally the square SQ6, although this was short-lived as it was stolen in Paris.
I've shot with the mini and Wide on and off over the years, the mini mainly at parties and family celebrations and the Wide for more general stuff.
The Wide is a beast of a camera mainly due the large size of the film and the way it's built.
I like the size of the wide image which is pretty much the same as a Polaroid, only in a rectangular format. The Square is smaller than a Polaroid but still a nice sized image.
Both the Neo 90 and SQ6 are more advanced that the Wide, with shooting modes like macro, landscape, double exposure and flash suppression, the only thing the Wide has in common is the +/-1 lighten/darken mode.
The film for all these camera is pretty good and you do get constant results with them most of the time.
I did intend to replace the SQ6 but 4 years down the line that's never happened and Fuji don't make that model anymore, now going with a much simpler model.
Recently I came across a YouTube video where a guy had added the film holder and ejection part of a wide 210 to a Polaroid 110 camera. From what I understand the Polaroid 110 range of cameras shoot Type 40 packfilm which obviously isn't around anymore and a lot of people mod these cameras to shoot either Instax or 4x5.
It wasn't this mod that interested me but the mod to be able to shoot square film in a wide camera!
One thing the mini, square and wide film cartridges have in common is that they are all the same height.
The slots on the back of the cartridges are where the two spring mounted bars hold the film inside tight, so the frame is on the correct plain and also helps place pressure for the film ejection. As you can see the slots are all different sizes and so are the bars that hold them.
The square cartridge is roughly ¾ the width of a wide cartridge so by taking a piece of the bar out which is the same width of a square cartridge, you can fit a square cartridge in.
The original bars are very easy to remove, and the only thing you need from them is the springs to put on the new ones. Like I said the new ones have a section missing to allow the square cartridge to work but the new bars also still works with the wide film. The bars just slide in, the bottom being held by gravity and the top by a piece of double sided tape.
With the square cartridge being over to one side, you have to correct when you are looking through the viewfinder. The new bars do come with a framing guide to help you frame correctly for shooting square images.
Anyone who shoots Instax knows that you shot through the back of the film and the film is rejected upside down, so shooting with the square means you have to compensate to the left of the viewfinder.
I did sacrifice one pack of film to work out the framing and towards the end I think I know where I should be looking using the viewfinder.
The replacement bars are not exactly cheap at €39 (around £33) and it does take some time to fully understand how to get the framing right all of the time. I would guess that if you have a 3-d printer it wouldn't be to difficult to print a set.
It's true that the Wide 300 isn't the most flexible camera but it can take good images and adding the ability to shoot square in it, means for me it's worthwhile.
If anyone is interested in the replacement parts the company is Realfilmreel who are based in France, the bars took about a week to arrive.
That is very nifty. Nice to have the flexability to shoot the different formats
As always I learn something new from you. Thanks 🙂