Update on delivery status of LomoGraflok instant back

Cholentpot · Oct 20, 2021

Fulltang said:
Just got another delay email.. order in early May. Not unexpected but, still sucks because I asked them twice earlier this month if they were still on track for October and they said yes.

Dear LomoGraflok Buyer,

We are sorry to let you know that due to COVID-19 still affecting global logistics we are continually encountering unforeseen changes in shipping and clearing schedules from carriers. Unfortunately this also causes delays for the delivery of your Lomography Graflok Instant Back which means that we cannot hold the delivery estimate given to you upon purchasing the item. It's also very likely that the delivery estimate given today is still subject to change.

Your Graflok Instant Back is scheduled to arrive in the local shipping hub at:
November 20th
Your Graflok Instant Back is scheduled to be shipped to you from:
November 24th - 30th

We would like to apologize for the unanticipated delays and let you know that we are working around the clock to get your Graflok Instant Backs delivered to you as soon as possible. In case there is a significant change for your delivery estimate we´ll get in touch again!

Thank you so much for your understanding and patience,

Lomography

I ordered mine a few days ago and got the same exact email.

Donald Qualls · Oct 21, 2021

I got that same email yesterday, with the same date range. That beats my recent pessimistic estimates by months, and is only a month or so later than I originally expected my LomoGraflok. I might have to order some Instax Wide soon.

Bronson Dugnutt · Oct 21, 2021

Ditto; an October 2020 order:

Code:

Your Graflok Instant Back is scheduled to arrive in the local shipping hub at:
November 8th
Your Graflok Instant Back is scheduled to be shipped to you from:
November 10th to 17th

As long as they aren't compromising on quality control they can take as long as they want. A correctly calibrated unit is my preference over some belated 'instant' gratification. I pre-ordered Fuji's Wide Link a couple days ago which should arrive around the same time as the LomoG. I've got 100 sheets of wide in the fridge... rarin' to go.

Now that wide is (almost) fully usable through both analog and digital means, we can focus on lobbying Fuji to release an 'RA-4' instax formulation for printing color negatives... Instax Crystal Archive anyone?

Donald Qualls · Oct 21, 2021

Bronson Dugnutt said:
focus on lobbying Fuji to release an 'RA-4' instax formulation for printing color negatives

I'd bet against that ever happening. The process of all integral instant films is inherently positive image -- uncoupled dyes migrate through the opacifying layer to become visible. To print out a positive, you'd have to produce uncoupled dyes in the unexposed areas instead of the exposed. At the least, it'd be "invent from scratch" rather than "tweak an existing film".

Cholentpot · Oct 21, 2021

Bronson Dugnutt said:
Ditto; an October 2020 order:

Code:

Your Graflok Instant Back is scheduled to arrive in the local shipping hub at: November 8th Your Graflok Instant Back is scheduled to be shipped to you from: November 10th to 17th

As long as they aren't compromising on quality control they can take as long as they want. A correctly calibrated unit is my preference over some belated 'instant' gratification. I pre-ordered Fuji's Wide Link a couple days ago which should arrive around the same time as the LomoG. I've got 100 sheets of wide in the fridge... rarin' to go.

Now that wide is (almost) fully usable through both analog and digital means, we can focus on lobbying Fuji to release an 'RA-4' instax formulation for printing color negatives... Instax Crystal Archive anyone?

With those printers you can see how much range the Instax film is really capable of.

Bronson Dugnutt · Nov 13, 2021

Another LomoGraflok has been spotted in the wild:

I've had the wide printer for a minute and it works as advertised, if you can install the software.

abruzzi · Nov 22, 2021

FYI, I just received shipment notification on mine. USA buyer, and the order was placed on 11/2/2020. I wasn't in the first 500 batch, so they are finally getting to the others in the list.

Fulltang · Nov 22, 2021

abruzzi said:
FYI, I just received shipment notification on mine. USA buyer, and the order was placed on 11/2/2020. I wasn't in the first 500 batch, so they are finally getting to the others in the list.

Same, ordered in early May and it should be here Wednesday!

Cholentpot · Nov 22, 2021

darr said:
I must have been in the first batch because I have had mine for a few months. It is fun to use and is built well. Here is one of the original test shots I found on my desk (sorry for the crappy phone image):

That's incredible.

Donald Qualls · Nov 23, 2021

abruzzi said:
FYI, I just received shipment notification on mine. USA buyer, and the order was placed on 11/2/2020. I wasn't in the first 500 batch, so they are finally getting to the others in the list.

I ordered mine in April of this year, and was just notified that it has shipped -- was in Rennselaer, NY as of late yesterday afternoon; I should have it before T-day. Looks like I need to stop by Target and pick up a couple packs of Intax Wide film and get a flashlight and check the bellows on my new-to-me Graphic View II (backup plan, the Graflok back will interchange with the one on my Graphic View with known good bellows).

Fulltang · Nov 23, 2021

I'm curious, anyone who's been using theirs for a while have any pro tips or things that they've learned? Seems like a lot of us are going to be getting theirs soon

Donald Qualls · Nov 24, 2021

Minor change of plan, order a 4-pack (40 exposures) of Instax Wide from an Amazon seller, but I'll probably still drop into Walgreen's this afternoon on the way home or tomorrow on the way out to T-day dinner and get a pack or two of the monochrome. Hopefully that will look better with good exposure control and a larger print than what little I've used with my Fuji Mini 9 camera.

abruzzi · Nov 24, 2021

I have some short dated B&W in my refrigerator that has been waiting ~3 months for this to be shipped. Mine arrives Friday, so I should be able to test it out this weekend.

Donald Qualls · Nov 24, 2021

Something that occurred to me -- I'm used to instant film being very expensive, but Instax Wide (at least if you buy several packs at a time) doesn't cost noticeably more per frame than name-brand 120 (Kodak, Fuji, or Ilford) shot in 6x6 or 6x7 -- and includes processing to a 3x4 print, i.e. twice the size of 8-frame 120!

abruzzi · Nov 24, 2021

Instax wide is about $1 per frame. Yeah, I think thats cheaper than 6x7 on any reversal film, maybe color negative as well.

Of course B&W is far cheaper in 120, but thats to be expected.

Donald Qualls · Nov 24, 2021

Yes, B&W is cheaper than C-41, at least when we're comparing 120 to 120 (in 35mm, there are the consumer films where C-41 is the cheapest). But even Instax Wide Monochrome costs barely more per frame than even B&W in 6x9 format.

This may turn out to be a better deal than I expected -- and bring back instant street photography.

Cholentpot · Nov 24, 2021

Donald Qualls said:
Something that occurred to me -- I'm used to instant film being very expensive, but Instax Wide (at least if you buy several packs at a time) doesn't cost noticeably more per frame than name-brand 120 (Kodak, Fuji, or Ilford) shot in 6x6 or 6x7 -- and includes processing to a 3x4 print, i.e. twice the size of 8-frame 120!

It was cheaper than that a few months ago...

Donald Qualls · Nov 24, 2021

Cholentpot said:
It was cheaper than that a few months ago...

Fuji, Kodak, and Ilford all had price hikes over that time frame. Instax vs. 120 stayed close to the same.

Fulltang · Nov 26, 2021

darr said:
I just make sure I meter well. Also, I found the LomoGraflok does not operate as well on my Linhof 3000 than it does with my Sinar Norma. The LomoGraflok’s exit door for the exposed film to pass through is too close to the Linhof’s camera back. Not a big deal once I figured it out and just hold the film packs cardboard behind it so it exits smoothly.

If you don't mind, can you provide some details on your metering technique/parameters for Instax?

Fulltang · Nov 26, 2021

darr said:
Metering with Pentax Digital Spotmeter: First shot, metered off the midtones using cat's lighter color of fur and shooting via meter reading suggestion. Second shot, opened up 2 stops from the previous reading. This film does not have much dynamic range and I have found the darks clog up fast.

Studio shot (see post #58) did much better with incident reading and two lights; no adjustments.

Remember our meters are not calibrated the same. My advice is to run test films first (and take notes of exposure adjustments if any), to see what works for your metering technique.

Kind regards,
Darr

Thanks for the reply! I have been playing around, nailed a couple shots, but lower light shooting has been tough, likely running I to reciprocity issues. You're meeting for 800iso?

Donald Qualls · Nov 28, 2021

Here's my first take on metering, as well as my first exposure ever on Instax Wide (and first with my new LomoGraflok) -- hand held, RF focused with my Anniversary Speed Graphic (Graflok conversion back by 20th Century Cameras), 135 mm f/4.5 Tessar, f/22 at 1/100 with the (pretty accurate) focal plane shutter (the Tessar has no shutter parts in the case, just the aperture, so it lives on the Speed and it's the one my Kalart is calibrated for). Metered at ISO 800 with an old Weston averaging selenium meter, came to EV 11 2/3.

Cell phone photo of the print, but that's not glare from the phone flash, this was shot against the light (the little purple streak on the roof of the Fiesta is a reflection of the camera's IR focusing light, I presume, and it's a streak because I used "Night Sight" which auto-aligns and adds up a bunch of short exposures). I see here that this film can also solarize -- not Sabatier, but true "so bright it turns black" solarization, as seen on the Kia's hood in the lower right of the frame (specular reflection of the Sun).

Arthurwg · Nov 28, 2021

Still trying to figure out why I might want one of these...

Cholentpot · Nov 28, 2021

Arthurwg said:
Still trying to figure out why I might want one of these...

Because every other option for shooting Instax is terrible or beyond expensive.

Bronson Dugnutt · Nov 28, 2021

I received my order (ID xxxx79x for any numerologists out there) late yesterday. I've loaded the back and successfully ejected a cartridge's dark slide... so far so good! The focusing shim/mask is less cumbersome than expected & the silver dark slide is pure class, but having the frame off-center would probably justify movements in some cases to optimize the exposure being taken from the edge of the image circle.

Instax claims 10 lines/mm resolution so while sharpness isn't really an issue and diffraction doesn't kick it until at least f128, one might expect subtle distortion if using a wide lens.

Now to carve out some viewfinder masks for the Speed Graphic... actually taking photos is way passé

Edit:

Donald Qualls said:
I see here that this film can also solarize -- not Sabatier, but true "so bright it turns black" solarization, as seen on the Kia's hood in the lower right of the frame (specular reflection of the Sun).

I've seen the blackhole sun effect in street lamps with in-camera (Neo 90) exposures. Indeed an interesting property with which to experiment in a more sophisticated camera.

Fulltang · Nov 28, 2021

Arthurwg said:
Still trying to figure out why I might want one of these...

What kind of photography do you do? I've been playing around for it this weekend, and despite the tricky metering, I like the look more than I expected to. I think if you do portraits, it could be a a really cool thing to give your model.

For me personally, I'm very new to LF, so it's helping me practice and gain some muscle memory with instant feedback, while also producing something neat.

Update on delivery status of LomoGraflok instant back

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