Last Updated on 10/19/2018 by Mark Beckenbach
Instax Wide backs for the Mamiya Universal Press and Polaroid 600SE cameras were readily available, until they weren’t.
If you’re browsing eBay, the equivalent of an Instax Unicorn has surfaced on the web: an Instax Wide back for the Mamiya Universal camera. This adapter lets you load up Fujifilm Instax Wide film and shoot it with the medium format lenses used by the system. In addition to that, the system gives you full manual control over the image. With that said, you have full manual control over a modern Instant film format–currently the largest available on the market to consumers. Serious portrait photographers will adore the ability to do this with a camera that can fire off flashes and do so much more. The only other cameras that is nearly this versatile is the Mamiya RB67 and RZ67 series of medium format cameras.
The reason why this is so rare is because of the supply. It all started when Lomography created an Instax Wide back for their Bel-Air cameras. Folks bought up the backs and eventually, they found a way to convert them to other formats like the Mamiya Universal. All was well and good until Lomography mysteriously discontinued the backs. These backs were all analog and so to that end they were, in theory, easier to fix. Now, getting one on the market, because they’re so highly in demand, comes with the expectancy that the price will be pretty darn high too.
As you can see in the photos, there is a hand crank and all. When you fire the images, the camera exposes the film. Then you crank the film out and your image comes out.
The only thing on the market that is even close to this product is the MiNT RF70. From my review though, I wasn’t too happy with the optics. Of course, when you stack them up against the stuff that Mamiya put out, there is pretty much no contest.
Head on over to eBay to get it.