An SLR for INSTAX film! NONS SL660 review
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- My NONS SL660 review: an instant SLR which uses instax film!
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![An Instax SLR Camera Built Like a Tank - Meet the Nons SL660 [Instant Review]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vLIDtbWLMlQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![An Instax SLR Camera Built Like a Tank - Meet the Nons SL660 [Instant Review]](/img/tr.png)
My NONS SL660 review: an instant SLR which uses instax film!
NONS Camera: nonscamera.com
Buy Gordon a coffee: www.paypal.me/cameralabs
Gordon's In Camera book: amzn.to/2n61PfI / Amazon uk: amzn.to/2mBqRVZ
Cameralabs merchandise: redbubble.com/people/cameralabs/shop
Gordon’s retro gear channel: ruclips.net/user/dinobytes
Buy used gear from MPB at: prf.hn/l/YLqwRAP
Equipment used for producing my videos
Panasonic Lumix S5 II: amzn.to/3Hf5IcI
Sony A6400: prf.hn/l/pRO0wp5
Sony e 24mm f1.8: amzn.to/2TqWNzk
Rode NT USB mic: amzn.to/3AdHcUp
Rode Wireless Go II mic: amzn.to/3xkCvGo
Rode Lavalier Go mic: amzn.to/3ygzzKY
Godox UL150 light: amzn.to/2VpVbXE
Godox QR-P70 softbox: amzn.to/3yQfGdF
MacBook Pro 14in (16GB / 1TB): amzn.to/3PrKbPV
Music: www.davidcuttermusic.com / @dcuttermusic
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Now this is what I was looking for, getting into film with the worst film format and an expensive, heavy, manual brick … One is now on order! 🎉 I must be nuts ❤
You know it makes sense!
Nice to see this format getting more support! Great videos, as an aside, your Sony A300 review was the reason for it becoming my first proper camera.
Thanks! And thanks for sticking with me so long, the A300 was certainly an early review for me on RUclips! You May also enjoy my retro Dino Bytes channel!
This is so cool! It has so many features that has prevented me from buying the instax cameras. Time to start feeding the empty camera fund piggy bank.
It's certainly an interesting proposition so long as you know the caveats I mention in the review.
@@cameralabs Oh I'm all for those caveats :). It's got that wabi-sabi quality with what looks like a relatively solid feel. Too bad you can't get instax film made of tree bark. I'd sell a kidney for a camera that printed an imperfect representation onto some birch bark. Oh and I didn't say it earlier, but great review! Thanks for your work on these lesser known and "vintage digital" cameras :)
If you have a FujiFilm camera (not all models check)you can print to the Instax printers, I have the Wide. If you do not use Fuji but can share images to your phone then use the app to print via Bluetooth.
I've reviewed all the instax printers, and sadly there's very few X series cameras which support the direct print anymore. All the old ones did it over Wifi, but then they switched to Bluetooth on the printers and they only supported that on one camera! So yes, you're right, it all has to go through the app now.
I would be more interested in the NONS Hassy back.
Or you can use your digital interchangeable lens camera to take a picture then using the instax pocket printer to print from your phone. They are 100$ for the printer. You do have to use their app however.
Definitely, and that makes more sense for most people, but this is designed to appeal to those who want a pure analogue pipeline.
Thank you, Gordon!
You're welcome!
Gordon, your review helped me choose this camera. It arrives soon. Question, you think the light meter could give a more accurate aperture "suggestion" if I placed my chosen filter (like an ND) briefly over the sensor for a readout?
It's certainly possible and worth trying, but with these, it's very much a case of experimenting.
Would love this without the internal lenses but a Mamiya 645 mount instead…
Yes, i think there's lots of potential for medium format crossovers - and they already do that Hasselblad 500 back
Great review! As someone who has never done film, here is a question: Why would I prefer using this option over just getting an INSTAX printer for my Fuji camera?
Obviosly I know the experience is a factor, but wondering if there would be specific differences.
Some people just prefer a fully analogue system from start to finish, knowing there's no digital aspect. But an instant printer will make more sense to most and is way more predictable.
@@cameralabs makes sense. Thank you.
Excellent thank you
You're welcome!
I might be crazy but you have this and the sq40 and didn't do a photo comparison in this video?
The lens is so different, a direct comparison would be difficult. But I do take photos of similar subjects, so you can compare some photos from each review
Hmm you could just take a photo with a digital camera with adapted lenses and print on Instax. Just don’t cheat and the result should be the same, right?
Not quite as the exposure and processing would be digital vs fully analogue here. But yes, a printer for a digital camera is easier and more flexible.
Seems very weird to not have electronic control of EF lens apertures, considering the protocol has been reverse-engineered for decades.
I think it was to keep costs down
... add another camera that I want. I have a voigt shoe mount light meter that needs a home.
You know you want to!
@@cameralabs I had just ordered a c/y to rf adapter... be nice to have two c/y cameras
unfortunate brand name
There's always one who has to make this comment. The meaning has been explained many times - you are choosing to interpret it differently.
@@CrookedNose2131 enlighten us then if it’s been explained oh so many times to you already, I’m “choosing to interpret” it the way it’s read
Nah the fact it can't charge with a usb c to c cable is totally ridiculous.
The must be a law that anything which loads Instax has to be ultra shitty in quality... and then even selling this garbage for an insane price
Been eyeing this for a year and been waiting for a detailed review
I hope this gave you all the info you desired!
When Pentax 67 and Instax SQ6 decide to have a child ... ❤
I had a similar thought!
@chronicfish;
Kind of made me wonder if it would be possible to adapt an Instax back to a P67?
@@lohikarhu734 I know there's a film back for the P67, for peel-apart (no longer produced) Polaroid film, and then Instax backs for the Mamiya RB67, but I have no clue if there are any backs for the P67, that would take Instax film. From a mechanical point of view though, I don't know how easy it would be to adapt an Instax back to the P67, but I too would love to know if anyone has attempted it.
I have a couple of kids i want to get into photography someday and thought an instax camera would be a fun way to introduce them to the joys of photography. I had no idea there were third party bodies being produced, and think this is a really cool concept though the rotation of the frame orientation on this camera would drive me berserk.
Yep, this one is definitely for a particular audience! Kids may be better off with one of Fujifilm's bodies...
That might be the most expensive way possible to produce low quality small photographs right now.
Yepp!😂 I've had this for 1 year now. BUT! The joy when I am with relatieves, kids, friends and I surprise them with a photo....it is a good mood lifter anytime🎉
looks like a fun thing and the price seems fair, even if a bit high for the pitfalls. The dealbreakers for me are the lightmeter, vignetting and rotated photos. I think for this amount of money the photos should come out the right way around and also a lightmeter behind the lens was solved in the 70's or even earlier. I would expected them to put a more aggressive expander/focal extender (not speedbooster/focal reducer, since the film isn't APS-C but larger than full frame), so that vignetting would be mitigated a bit better.
Agreed, I'd accept the flaws you mention if I 3D printed something myself but not if I'm spending as much as a vintage professional medium format camera.
I just can't imagine a world where someone would buy Leica's rebranded instax camera over something like this for similar coin. These things look slick.
This is definitely something i dont need, but I do want, and would be loads of fun to play and learn with, especially adapting the manual lenses I use with my Fuji X-T30
Exactly!
Let's hope they release a version for use with medium format lenses.
Never knew this existed, time to put it on my marketplace watch list
I fucked with these and they are a pain for so many reasons most lenses have bad vignetting.
Love yourself. Buy a graflex. You can straight up shoot these as is then roll them in a camera, or get a graflok back
Third party lenses, like Samyang, that only did manual focus sound pretty ideal for this.
Seems like a really fun idea, but poorly executed unfortunately. Great review by the way!
wow! what a cool unit, but perhaps in a few years I can get one used, because $600.
If I understood the principle correctly, this camera employs a 'focal expander', not a focal reducer, because the intermediary lens enlarges the image circle of the taking lens (43.26mm diameter for 35mm lenses) by a factor of 2 to cover the larger image area of a 62mm x 62mm Instax square. And just as a focal reducer increases the amount of light by concentrating it (hence, its alternative name 'speed booster'), a focal expander conversely reduces the light intensity-halves it, in this case. So I would probably zone meter a scene then +2 the exposure. That aside, I enjoyed your review. I am considering this camera for occasions where a social ice-breaker, interaction, and/or a tangible souvenir may be useful.
Yes, I think you're right
I already had so many vintage lenses when this was announced so it was an instant buy for me on launch which was terrifyingly now almost a year and a half ago.
Since then while I have had some issues with specks or other artifacts it has been a very useful camera! I love taking it to family get togethers or office events and printing everyone their photos since the results can be much nicer than what you'd get with a slower fuji lens. (that said indoors having to rely on flash to get evenly exposed images usually means I am stopping down anyway).
I completely disregard the meter on this thing lol. When I use a flash, I usually use the auto setting on the flash (the old film days auto not ttl or anything) and it normally works, but I almost always have to overexpose by 1 or 2 stops (I think it is because the lens+focal reducer means you do lose a fair bit of light??? or maybe it is just the higher up positioning of the flash). That said once you get the exposure figured out, it is great.
I still need to figure out which lenses work best with this (instax is expensive okay!), but I have found my Contax 85 f/2.8 Sonnar to be wonderful. It is also awesome that you can take advantage of things like Helios swirls and so on! So much experimentation you can do if you have collected far too many lenses....just need a lot of adapters to EF. (A pity some popular mounts like Canon FD/Minolta MD/Practica PB can't be adapted without another lens element to shift focus).
....
I have been using it less now since I did buy the nons hasselblad one....that is incredibly fun if you are a fan of hasselblads (but ofc it has a much higher cost to entry). It's not a perfect item (dark slide not fully sealing it due to space, viewfinders other than wlf being difficult if not impossible to mount etc) but pretty great for what it is!
Funnily enough even with the 6x6 coverage, you still get a very distinct 1-2 mm black border on the hasselblad one...but that's not a lens coverage artifact, it is a hasselblad film gate being just a touch too small for instax square artifact.
Thanks for the feedback, interesting points there.
3:24. Gordon, sorry if this is a stupid question as I'm new to all this. Does this threaded shutter button have a standardized name or size spec? (Not on nons site). I'd love to go and try to find a wireless remote for it so I don't have to be behind the camera to fire it. Most remote shutters I see online tend to list popular compatible camera models. If I knew more about that standardized type of shutter button, I could do my homework and find the right fit. I'm hoping you know the right lingo off the top of your head. Again, thanks for running such a great Chanel!
No problem, it's an old style threaded cable release that you'll find on most old film cameras. It's mechanical, not electronic, so you won't find a remote control. It's just a wire with a thin stick at the end that pokes out to push the shutter physically.
I want a square Instax but on the larger print size. Keep it simple
Thanks for the review, Gordon! I'm a longtime Instax film user, and I think it's great that there's creative people out there trying to find new ways of using the format. I'd probably go for the NONS Hasselblad back, not just because I have a 500 C/M and wouldn't have to worry about adapting lenses or the focal expanding optics of the SL series (pretty sure it's expanding to cover a larger format than full frame, and not reducing), but also because it would be a modern replacement for the peel-apart film that I had only begun experimenting with just as the format was being phased out by Fujifilm. Cheers!
If you have a 500 series camera then definitely go for the NONS back!
I've had the SL660 for about a year now and the amount of use I give it puts all my other cameras to shame. compensating for the viewfinder crop has become second nature for me where I can almost perfectly centre my subject no matter the focal length. I've even strapped a 500mm f6.3 to it with mostly usable results!
Something to keep in mind if metering with an external meter, the focal reducer reduces light by 1-ish stop. Meaning you should meter for 400 instead of 800iso. Though I haven't used an external meter while shooting with it but while using a flash I found 2 stops (200iso) had better results.
Nice! Glad you've mastered it!
This looks really neat! Instax Mini comes in troves over here as opposed to Square & Wide, so to have fun with that format would be nice
10:06 10:18 Why do some of the photos have weird white corners? Is that an issue related with this camera? I saw the same on other videos reviewing this camera
It's probably a vignette from the inside of the camera
Have one... LOVE IT!! I too, have a Canon prime 85mm lens. That is what sets this apart from Polaroid; lens selection.
the ISO on instax film is a little weird. if I remenber correctly on bright sunny day the ISO is closer to 1250 and in the dark places is around 640. it is only iso 800 at shady places. I learnt this thru my experience using my polaroid 110a camera with instax wide film
570€ for a polaroid camera. What a world we live in.
Some cost even more, check out Mints
Really weird they didn’t go with X-mount compatibility.
Why? It's not a Fujifilm product and they needed a lens system closer to the format. X mount is APSC, so smaller than full-frame EF. Even with full-frame there's noticeable vignetting here.
The idea of using a film camera again and skipping the chemistry processing sounds like a great option. I have been taking photos since the mid 80's and love cameras that you have control over but never loved the film processing. And agree that Fujifilm should create their own version of NONS.
Amazing! Instant medium format photography at affordable prices.
Excellent. We really need to be regularly challeged to keep our brains healthy.
This seems like an awesome camera for my niece . So she can learn to be creative using what she has vs a digital camera with a computer and all the fancy editing . At least at first
Won't the reducer not 2 stops of light so it becomes ISO 200 instead of ISO 800? Thought I read something like that?
You're right, there'll be some variations in the exposures you might expect for certain conditions, but I'm not sure the optics are working like traditional focal reducers - they're expanding the imaging circle to cover more of the larger film behind it. If anything the light would become dimmer.
Thanks for the reply, @@cameralabs . That's what I menat to say, if you use an external meter you should set it to ISO 200, IMO.
Not really my kind of thing but sure, some folks like them. All of the instax csmeras feel like they will soon be in land fill, this looks a lot better.
I really wish that field of view was just a bit wider.
You mean in the viewfinder? Obviously the photo FOV depends on the lens
Square format is not for me, but if this does well, maybe one that shoots Instax Wide might come along. An EF mount means it is easy to adapt medium format lenses to cover the wider film, or even to have more focal length choices for this square version.
I'd love more wide options...
how is the picture quality? is it like fuji peel apart film? high resolution ?
I show photos in the video! They are like other instax photos, but potentially sharper depending on the lens.
Excellent review as always Gordon! I've wanted to try the NONS Hassy back for awhile now. Just haven't gotten around to getting my hands on one. It would also be wonderful if you ever get the chance to test out the new MiNT TL70 Plus TLR Instant SQ camera.
They're also in the design stage of a new Rollei 35 AF 35mm film camera that is to use Lidar for autofocus. I am quite excited for the promise of a new film camera to hit the market. Interested to see how it turns out.
I'd be keen to try those out too!
The vignetting kills it for me. I wish they would have skipped the compromises to the viewfinder and vignetting.
Yeah, I know what you mean but that's the compromise of the focal reducer trying to get a full-frame lens to become medium format. The only proper solution if you want an SLR viewfinder and full coverage is to use a medium format lens and viewfinder system, like the Hasselblad 500 series with their instant film back. The SL660 is a simpler version meeting a lower budget, so yes, it's compromised in that regard unfortunately.
Kia Ora Gordon - never even heard of this concept so thanks for the review 👍 the closest thing I got a Fuji instax was for my granddaughter a couple of years back. Had to teach her a couple of camera fundamentals and off she went haha. The Nons is a bit too big and bulky for me and looks like it even scared off Steven Seagull 😵Hope you are well and hope to catch up come April. p.s. for some reason I couldnt find your review in my YT subscription feed, so had to go to your channel to find it (only saw your post on FB). So hopefully that was just me 😬
You're not going mad, I actually unticked the box to inform subscribers for this one as some RUclipsr's have been recommending doing this for videos that are a bit different from normal ones on your channel. It's backfired though as no-one's seen it! Glad you found it though!
This was very useful, thanks for the review Gordon! It's kind of intriguing that this basically takes you back to a style of shooting before TTL metering existed, but with modern lens choices and instant film... And I feel the engineering choices could have been better but for a low volume product like this, I think they've done okay.
Yes, I understand some of the reasons why they did what they did.
Can you speak to corner sharpness at all?
I don’t mind some softening at the corners, but every sample image I have found online from this camera seems to show extreme softness for a large portion of the image around the “corners.” It looks like only about 50% of total image area is in focus around the middle in any given image. I know it will depend somewhat on the lens etc. But just curious if it is even possible to achieve focus across most of the frame, and/or to have an object near the corner of the frame in focus? I am seriously considering buying this camera and this one thing is making me hesitate. Thank you for the review!!
There will always be some corner softness and vignetting due to those optics stretching 35mm lenses to the larger format.
I contemplated one of these for a quite some time. The thing that made me go a different route was the repeated reporting of issues with ejecting the pics, and the overall quality delivered by the instax film. I love the idea - but not for the cost and the reported issues. I ended up buying a like new condition Pentax 645 and two lenses (75mm & 150mm) for less than this camera costs, per shot is cheaper - and home developing is so easy now I enjoy the process. May not be instant or as simple - but it is still easy and the results are way better and more reliable.
The 645 is a nice camera, good choice
For some this video does not appear on my 'Subscriptions' feed.
If it weren't for the short posted, I wouldn't have known this video was posted.
Yes, it was an experiment by RUclips which didn't work so well! Glad you found it!
i am going wait for the wide instant film..
and for instax wide?
Not yet
I've been waffling on and off to get something like this for about a year now.
So where do you stand after seeing my review?
This is super cool and all, but I feel like a modern 120mm camera with a full shutter speed selection and either a built in or removable lens is what the analog photography world needs. Every year medium format cameras are getting older and breaking, making them more expensive. I love that Pentax is making a new 35mm camera but we desperately need new medium format cameras!
I agree, although in the meantime a Hassy 500 is an option with a NONS back.
@@cameralabs oh that’s super neat!
Neat.
I can't be the only one who thought they got a text message at 10:02
What, you mean my table swishing sound?
@cameralabs no, it sounds like a phone vibrated during your audio recording. You can barely hear it, but it's there lol
@@JCdizzog oh! Certainly possible!
At this point, I’d rather get an Instax printer and use it with a DSLM. Better invest that money in lenses.
Yes,, digital makes more sense and is more predictable too but this is for people who want to stay 100% analogue.
Worst camera of 2024? We will see!
Well it came out in 2023
@@cameralabs Ok. Worst camera of 2023!