Lomograflok Instax: First Experience and Metering.

My wife got me a Lomograflok film back for my birthday. It took a while to arrive but it got here today. My first impression is it is a quality product. Once you find the online manual (through a QOR code) getting it working is quick and simple. (Loading AA batteries for the ejection mechanism and a film pack.) I made a few test prints in my living room with my dog Mollie as the subject. 

For those not familiar with this system it is a large format 4x5 film back that takes Instax Wide instant film that works much like old Polaroids but this film is from FujiFilm. Instax film and cameras are popular so fresh film is readily available. The Wide format gives roughly a 6x9cm image. The film is available in both color and black and white. The packs are 10 sheets per pack and sell for about £14 per pack.

LomoGraflok Filmback

Instax film (both types) is nominally ISO 800 film.

The Lomograflok system comes in two parts. The first is a simple plastic frame for composing and focusing the image on the ground glass. It is a thick piece of plastic that must be that way as the fill holder is thick as well and must of course place the ground glass at the film pane distance. This fits well in my Intrepid 4x5. The composition frame is not centered probably due to how the film holder must be engineered. 

LomoGraflok Compose and Focus Frame

This means one should shift the front standard down to make sure the lens is centered over the image. This should maximize sharpness and minimize any vignetting.  

Once the image is composed and focused on the ground glass you remove the focus frame and, in my case, remove the ground glass as the Intrepid cannot handle the 2" (50mm) thickness of the filmback. It is held in place by the filmback clips like and film back. 

The filmback has a darkslide as normal that is locked by the on-off switch. To take a photo you close the shutter. Meter the scene, set the aperture and shutter speed, and cock the shutter. Switch on the film back, pull the dark slide, actuate the shutter then reinsert the dark slide. You then must remove the film back to press the eject button. The motor makes a whirring noise as the film is ejected. You then wait for the image to appear. 

First Characterization of the Instax Color Film

My very first image I underexposed by setting the deep shadow of the scene in Zone III. I was also metering off a black dog. 

This next image of Mollie I took on the sofa using room light. I metered (at ISO 800) the shadow between her ear and haunch at Ev 3 on my Pentax spot meter. Her well-lit fur is at Ev 4 so I set this for Zone V which puts the shadow in zone IV. The blown-out area of wall in the upper right corner metered at Ev 9 or zone X. This gave me an exposure of f11 at 1". 

f11 1 sec Exposure

In this deepest Zone IV shadow area, there is some texture but not a lot of detail. In the upper right corner (Zone X) there is some color apparent though texture is not apparent.

From this scene the dynamic range of the film is at most 9-3 = 6 stops. I suspect it is more like five usable stops. This makes it like chrome films. However, where I would typically expose chrome films between zone III and VII this first image indicates I might consider Zones IV to Zone IX given how the shadows are crushed in that zone. The other way to look at this is to expose the film as ISO 400 for this application of holding the shadows. Then the shadows and highlights would rebalance around Zone V.

Mind you this is all based off one image. I expect to take it out in the field to experiment with my thoughts on metering. I endeavor to try and get the most out of this film. Stay tuned!