After watching Sean continue to go down market with his conversions, a double-plus-good conversion was in order. The cheapest Polaroid (a 1960s era J33), with the cheapest FujiFilm film - Instax Mini. The new Instax back cost ten times the J33 -
shogani.
The J33 has a smaller film size than both conventional roll-film (J66, Pathfinder,
etc), and pack-film Polaroids, and was a short-lived product as a result. Curiously, the Instax Mini too is smaller than conventional Instax Wide and probably holds a similar place in the market as the J33 did in the 1950s. The Instax Mini film ratio is the same as the J33 and at about 80 to 90% of the area, mating the two formats should result in a moderately accurate framing and print coverage. With the J33 an ISO3000 machine, light filters were used to allow color film (ISO75) in them:
I am glad the original owner did not take the advice of Polaroid and
destroy the unused adapter, as one of these was to recalibrate the ISO3000 exposure system to ISO800 Instax. In the process we discovered the previous owner was a famous Major General in the USAF.
Being pressed metal, not cast like its bigger sisters, it was easy to cut with a nibbler and a tin-snips. Using double-sided sponge tape, adding the Instax back (from the Diana+ range), was much easy than first expected:
I scanned the original back door sticker, cloned a few more cm and relaminated a new sticker to cover the Diana+ branding. I went though a number of options to fill the body holes, but as this was a cheap and nasty conversion settled on the eighth one - dense foam.
The neatest trick was arranging the back installation so the Instax print ejects through the original exit slot. Results? Too good! No light leaks, nice color, a bit blurry though due to film-plane distance change. For the next pack, I will try the correction lens that came with the Diana+ kit.
The viewfinder is amazingly clear & bright, and moderately accurate too. If this was a production line, a small mask could be added to the mirror to cut about 10% off the frame (as the J33 has a little large print size).
The 1-2-3 button process (shutter cock, shutter release, and eject) is strangely intuitive, and not kludgy at all. The light stamped metal body, and leather strap handle make it an easy and fun camera to walk around with.
The only issue we have now, is what to convert next... See ya!
