By Heinz Richter
It used to be the case that owning a Leica meant that just about anything you might need for your camera, lenses as well as accessories, had to be bought from Leica. That is no longer the case. For instance, there are several aftermarket lenses offered by a variety of companies. The same goes for accessories.
Every once in a while we come across an aftermarket accessory not available from Leica, one that appears to have some merit. Such is the case with the Instant Magny 35, an instant back for 135 SLR & rangefinder cameras. The fact that it is available for rangefinder cameras caught my eye. Could that possibly mean Leica M cameras?
The answer turned out to be a ‘yes’ with restrictions. The back is only available for the Leica M film cameras. Enough news to warrant a closer look.
The Magny 35 is remindful of the Speed Magny Polaroid back introduced by Nikon in the 60s. That was designed to use the old Polaroid peel-apart films from Polaroid. The new Magny 35 utilizes the Fujifilm Instax Square films. These result is a smaller final image, but it also allowed the Magny 35 to be substantially smaller.
Operation is very simple:
· Detach the original, folding camera back of the Leica M camera
· Install the Instant Magny 35's enlarging optics film back onto the camera
· Then, attach 3 parts properly.
· Pull the dark-slide on the Instant Magny 35
· Proceed to take the picture as usual. Press the film ejection button and take the film out to develop
The system allows for unlimited double exposures since the film is not automatically ejected, and to keep track of the number of film sheets used, the back has a film counter LED that tells the user the number of film(s) left.
One potential drawback is the fact that all images taken will be right/left reversed. This is due to the design of the Magny 35, which projects the image from the camera lens via a mirror onto the film. A pentaprism, like in a SLR viewfinder, could prevent this, but that would make the unit substantially larger and definitely a lot heavier.
Needless to say, this is not for everybody, but to some it might very well be a welcome addition to their Leica system.
The projected retail price is $179.00
Specifications
· Film: Fujifilm Instax Square
· Exposure area: 62mm x 62mm
· Enlarging lens construction: 2 Groups 5 Elements
· Enlarging lens aperture: f/4
· Maximum effective aperture: f/4 (If using aperture larger than f/4, the incoming light value will remain at f/4. Yet, you can still get the narrow depth of field effect.)
· Reflex Mirror: Front Surface Mirror
· Power Supply: 4 x AAA batteries
· Film Feeding Out: Automatic
· Others: LED film counter, tripod socket, dark slide
Dimension:
· Film Ejection Unit: 118 (L) x 123 (W) x 34.8 (H) mm
· Aluminum Lens Barrel: 96 (L) x 96 (W) x 62.64 (H) mm
· Leica Enlarging Optics Film Back: 50 (L) x 89.5 (W) x 51.8 (H) mm
Weight: Approx. 485g (without battery and film pack)
For complete information go here
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