Shooting Instax Wide in ANY 4x5 Camera without modifications

• Posted on 12 August 2021
• By Dave Rollans

Hello photographic community!

Wanted to make this little guide for how to shoot Fujifilm Instax Wide film in any 4x5 camera without the need for modifications.

To do this, you’ll need a few things. First off, assuming you’ve already got a 4x5 camera / holders

You’ll need a

1) Changing Bag

2) Instax Wide Camera and Film

3) Spare sheet of 4x5 Film and

4) Xacto Knife or Equivalent

Start by cutting 4 “photo corner” slits in your 4x5 sheet. You can use an instax shot that you’ve already taken to ensure its all lined up and fits properly.

Next, you’ll need to (in the changing bag) remove a sheet of instax film from the changing bag and load it into your 4x5 sheet that you’ve just cut.

Last step is to expose the Instax Wide film with your 4x5 camera. Make sure you meter for ISO 800 and expose from the “non-photo” back side of the film. Then in a changing bag, remove the Instax film from the 4x5 holder and load it back into your pack of instax for processing, ensuring that the chemical pod is facing upwards. To process, you’ll simply cover the lens and fire a “blank” photo and BOOM! It will process the shot you just took with your 4x5 camera!

Some final thoughts are…

Use a 3 stop ND filter to bring your film speed down to 100 if need be. Also, be sure to take some practice shots using whatever metering method you like. Some people say its actually ISO 1000, others say its actually ISO 640…. What I’ll say is that all of this is dependent on HOW you METER your photos. Best thing to do is to take some test shots and calibrate it to YOUR workflow.

Happy Shooting!!!!