MiNT Launches The Thinking Photographer’s Instant Camera

The instant print camera revival shows so no signs of slowing down, but the vast majority of models available now are essentially simple point-and-shoot types. The longawaited MiNT InstantKon RF70 is a very different animal and provides much more control over both exposure and focus. It uses the Fujifilm Instax Wide print format – which is rated at ISO 800 and gives an image area of 62x99mm – and the print is manually ejected so there’s plenty of scope for creating multiple exposures.

The InstantKon RF70 employs a classic folding design – similar to a Polaroid Land camera from the 1960s – with the lens mounted on bellows while the main body incorporates an optical viewfinder, a separate mechanical rangefinder to assist focusing, and a built-in exposure meter (coupled, but non-TTL) linked to a LED indicator. It also sports a conventional shutter speed dial and there’s a built-in pop-up flash. The lens has a three-element optical construction (which includes aspherical surfaces) with a focal length of 93mm – which is close to the standard focal length in the 35mm format – and a maximum aperture of f5.6 (equivalent to f2.4 in the 35mm format). The minimum focusing distance is 75 centimetres.

For manual exposure control there’s a choice of six aperture settings down to f22 and a shutter speed range spanning one second to 1/500 second plus a ‘B’ timer which can be set for up to ten minutes (and also offers a ‘T’ control option). The shutter is a leaf-type so flash sync is at all speeds. There’s the option of aperture-priority auto exposure control with ‘A+1’ and ‘A-1’ settings giving +/-1.0 EV of exposure compensation respectively. The exposure indicator – located between the viewfinder and rangefinder eyepieces – shows red when either under- or overexposure will happen and green for correct exposure. The viewfinder itself has a magnification of 0.44x and includes both a brightline frame and close-up correction marks (to compensate for parallax error).

Other notable features of the InstantKon RF70 include a cable release socket, a tripod-mounting socket and a 2.5 mm audio-type minijack input that can be used for coupling an external flash. Optional accessories include an ND filter set and a lens hood. There’s also a slightly down-specced model called the InstantKon RF70 Auto which lacks the manual shutter speed settings. Both models are powered by a pair of AA-size batteries.

The InstantKon RF70 is priced at $1300 and the Auto version at $1120.95.

MiNT cameras are distributed by Brands Australia and for more information visit brandsaustralia.com/mint