Author Topic: The worst camera hacked....  (Read 1281 times)

astrobeck

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,343
The worst camera hacked....
« on: November 24, 2021, 01:54:36 PM »
I made a Frankencamera out of a JollyLook instax camera.
The Jolly Look was reported to be the worst Instax camera in the world, and I bought one with no intention of using it as sold.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxngeCq4jro
The kickstarter program for it is rumored to still be trying to get backers their cameras. As far as I can tell its a mess.
I didn't support it when it was issued, but bought one from a secondary supplier which may or may not be legit. I don't know.
Anyway, I never planned to use it as made and instead wanted the parts to make two other cameras more interesting.
The first one is, I hacked off the front to put on a Holga to make a Jolly Frankenstein pinhole.
There's a scan of the camera below with a paper negative I did as a test. It was late afternoon by the time I finished taking the camera apart, so the paper negative of Harman paper was about ten minutes long then dunked in caffenol of some trees I use as models in the back yard.

The part of the original camera I was most interested in is the rollers and cranking device to develop Instax film. I plan of building an Instax pinhole box then adding this to it for some Instax pinhole fun over the holidays. I'll post results of that later when I get it finished.

By the way, the pinhole part is the only part I will use on the Holga as the focal length is not enough to use the funky sliding lens option. It's a neat concept, and was usable in the original form but clunky.
« Last Edit: November 24, 2021, 02:10:04 PM by astrobeck »

Francois

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,707
Re: The worst camera hacked....
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2021, 02:23:47 PM »
Pretty cool  :)
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

John Robison

  • Sheet Film
  • ****
  • Posts: 462
Re: The worst camera hacked....
« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2021, 05:23:49 PM »
If you use Instax Mini and have a empty cartridge then slip a piece of photo paper in there and seal it up except for the top slot. Then leave it out in daylight to see if the developer module leaks light through the print ejection slot. Mine did and ruined $20 worth of film before I figured it out.
Might have been repairable but so tired of the whole thing it all went into the bin, $50 lesson learned, no more Kickstarter.
I did salvage the lens. Fixed focus on a homemade 4x5 it covers at about f64. With photo paper as a negative at ISO 5 the shutter can be a sliding black card. Even in full sun exposure is at least 3-5 seconds.
Edit; I also have a 2.4mm hole for about f45.
« Last Edit: November 24, 2021, 05:28:05 PM by John Robison »

astrobeck

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,343
Re: The worst camera hacked....
« Reply #3 on: November 24, 2021, 06:34:35 PM »
I'm sorry to hear of that.
It is big time crap, and could have been easily made by printing...but i'm not in charge so will happily hack away at the cardboard and fake leather stuff it's made of.
Good tip on testing first before using up a good cartridge of instax. 
I was thinking of just drilling a hole in the front and then inserting a pinhole there, but haven't decided for certain yet.
My hacks and mods are sometimes dictated by what kind of scraps I have out in the work shed or can "borrow" from other cameras and things around the house.

A good friend of mine says "everything wants to be something else"
True for toy camera users.

Francois

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,707
Re: The worst camera hacked....
« Reply #4 on: November 24, 2021, 09:04:36 PM »
Definitely some wise words.
I personally can't stand having two broken things sitting on the same shelf.

For me, my worst ideas come from the now fabled "I wonder if..." question.
Then I spend countless hours just getting the parts to somehow fit together when they weren't ever intended to.
It's just like fitting a square peg in a round hole.
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

Adam Doe

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 913
    • My Flickr Stream
Re: The worst camera hacked....
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2021, 04:20:09 PM »
I, unfortunately, backed the original Kickstarter for that sorry excuse for a camera. There aren't enough expletives and derogatory terms in the English language to adequately express just how awful it is. After receiving mine and wasting a couple of packs of instax, I did a bit of googling, discovering that others fared the same and that my camera wasn't just a one-off lemon, but that they all were miserably bad. Cool idea, horrible execution. I shoved the camera back in the box and put it up on a shelf in the back of the closet of regret. But now, Astrobeck, your post has given me hope that I can at least salvage the crank/roller mechanism and build a pinhole that may work. So thank you!

Francois

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,707
Re: The worst camera hacked....
« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2021, 09:48:23 PM »
I know that when they came out, I was very doubtful of the cardboard construction.
But you probably could build a better wood version without too much problems.
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

zapsnaps

  • Sheet Film
  • ****
  • Posts: 730
  • Get Zapped!
    • http://www.NowSeeThis.co.uk
Re: The worst camera hacked....
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2022, 12:27:20 PM »
I really like how your hack rendered the trees - it almost looks like a wet plate. Very cool and no doubt far better than the Jolly would've produced.
Nudes make the world go round
www.NowSeeThis.co.uk