Jollylook is making affordable mechanical instant film backs for the Mamiya RB67, RZ67, and other MF cameras.
Last month, the company announced the completion of their hand-crankable DIY instant film development units with an Instax Wide back — today, they’re working on adapting the same technology to medium format film cameras.
One of the nicest things about film cameras is that many of them require no batteries or have no electronics at all. But that’s not the case for most instant film cameras, which at least have a motorized film ejection mechanism. The peel-apart film is very hard to come by, so one of the very few options for going instant-batteryless is Jollylook’s system.
Jollylook’s camera design (eg, analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…) relies on intricate cardboard and plywood assembly that may not always give reliable results. However, the plastic+metal film rollers & frame work nicely in DIY projects (like analog.cafe/r/building-the…). We’ll soon find out how well this technology holds up for medium format cameras. If successful, it may become an affordable way to quickly convert your medium format camera into an instant film camera.
Dmitri Jun 4, ‘25