Instax in a Polaroid Camera: It’s Easy with PolaStax!

Yes, Polaroid is a fun film stock, but let’s face it, paying $2 or more per sheet and waiting 20 minutes for your picture to develop doesn’t make my heart go pitter patter. Instax, on the other hand, is a film stock I can get excited about: at half the cost of Polaroid, Instax develops in 2 minutes instead of 20 and has better color dynamics and higher resolution. And it’s easier to find online and in physical stores: when’s the last time you saw a box of Polaroid film for sale at Target?

Unfortunately, Fujifilm’s Instax cameras are as awful as Polaroid’s worst point and shoot cameras (if not more so). Bulky, ugly pieces of plastic, they’re fixed focus cameras, they have no flash control, and they make it almost impossible to do anything creative with Instax film. That’s why I decided to look for a non-Lomographic alternative to Fujifilm’s Instax cameras, and having found it, I’m passing it on to you.

Polaroid’s 100-400 series pack film cameras, which were made in the 1960s and 70s, have manual focus (!), rangefinder focusing, glass lenses with a choice of apertures, aperture priority light meter coupled shutters, and are ruggedly constructed. And now you can put Instax Wide in these cameras, thanks to the PolaStax Instax Wide film holder!

You use the PolaStax holder the same way you use a 4×5 film holder in a large format camera. Using a darkroom or a changing bag (or a dark closet, if that’s what’s available), you load a sheet of Instax Wide in the holder, put the holder in your Polaroid Land Camera, and shoot. Then you take the holder out and repeat the process in reverse, unloading the film and transferring it to either an Instax camera or a manual developing device like the Polaroid 545 film back. Develop your film and voila: Instax in a Polaroid!

There are a couple of changes you have to make to your Polaroid camera to make this work, but it literally takes less than 5 minutes to get a Polaroid Land Camera ready for Instax Wide. I’ve explained how to do this in this website’s FAQ, and I also have a video on the PolaStax YouTube channel that explores the process in greater detail (Polaroid to Instax Conversion in 5 Minutes).

Is this a solution for everyone who wants to use Instax in a Polaroid? If point and shoot is your thing, you’re probably going to find the process of loading and unloading the film yourself a bit daunting. But if you’re a photographer who enjoys trying new things and exploring new ways of using existing film stocks, chances are that you’ll savor the challenge of making the leap from “I’ll let the camera do everything” to “I AM IN CONTROL.”

And with the PolaStax Instax Wide film holder, you are in control. Easily do double exposures, special effects in camera, or add bokeh to your instant shots. You can even shoot dreamy background blurred portraits using off camera flash with these cameras! The creative possibilities are only limited by the limits of your imagination.

So what are you waiting for? Check out our videos, scan the FAQ, and let us know if you have any questions. The PolaStax Instax Wide film holder is here to help you make Instax shine!

Sincerely,
Chad Gayle
Owner and operator, Polastax.com