Last Updated on 02/10/2018 by Chris Gampat
There are a lot of cameras out there that shoot Instax Mini Film. Cameras that shoot Instax Wide are rarer. (featured image screenshot from embedded video)
MiNT, the company you have likely heard of for their products related to instant film photography and the creators of the [amazon_textlink asin=’B018FQ53XE’ text=’InstaFlex TL70′ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’502e9ac1-0dc5-11e8-ad6b-67c56acf8e2a’], have just had their new and interesting project, the Instakon RF70, leaked. We still don’t know a ton about the camera, but based on what we know so far, this looks like something we will be incredibly excited to get a look at.
The thing that stands out right off the bat about the InstantKon RF70 is that it seems to be shooting with Fujifilm’s Instax Wide film and it’s a fully manual camera, which is a really exciting proposition. As you may or may not know, Fujifilm currently offers three Instax film sizes; Mini, Square, and Wide. Mini is by far the most popular and is likely what you think of when you think of Instax. This is the credit card sized prints most cameras that shoot Instax spit out. Instax Square is the latest size, and more closely resembles the look of old-school Polaroid Instant Film. However, it is still new and very few cameras support it at this point. Instax Wide, on the other hand, has been around for some time, but due to its size, third-party cameras that support it are much less common than the other two Instax film mediums.
The InstantKon RF70, featured in this video below (around the 8:00 mark) clearly makes use of Instax Wide. As you can see, compared to the Mini and Square versions, it shoots a much wider frame, resulting in a much larger print overall. Again, we don’t know the specs yet for sure, but the design of the camera seems to be based on a converted Fujifilm GF670 (via Yockenwaithe on Reddit). Assuming that is correct, we can extrapolate from that it is likely the InstantKon RF70 could feature an F3.5 lens. This would not exactly be a speed demon by today’s standards, but still plenty fast enough to capture some excellent images with this large Instant Film format.
The only reason anyone knows about this camera is because of it being featured in the video you just saw above, by BigHeadTaco for the StoryHive Youtube channel. It appears that the InstantKon RF70 was not intended to be ‘leaked’ how it was, but due to release timelines needed on the video, it just worked out the way it did.
MiNT seems to have an information page set up for the instantKon RF70 now. It contains very little in terms of details or information, but it does confirm the naming, and if you enter your email address you will presumably be sent more information about the camera when it becomes available. As well, you can help them get the project finished if you feel like helping out. If you are interested you can find that website, here.