Hasselblad-Instax is the result of 48-hour project to merge a Hasselblad 500C/M with a FujiFilm Instax 9. Combining best of both worlds, the result of this project allows you to have high-performance vintage camera with modern instant camera functionality. Instant photos are always magical, you get to see they develop before your eyes and right away, you can share them. In collaboration with Eddie Cohen, Isaac Blankensmith hacked Hasselblad to take instant photos.

Hasselblad made a large polaroid back for its 500 series to help photographers check metering and lighting before exposing film. Unfortunately, the film is pretty expensive, the back part of this camera is also pretty bulky. Since the film area is larger than the camera can expose, the result is photo with an off-center exposure. Isaac Blankensmith started this project by taking apart of FujiFilm camera to understand how the internal mechanisms work. Ejector is one of most complicated mechanism, because as the exposed film leaves the camera, it’s pulled through a set of tensioned-rollers that evenly spread the developing chemicals over the film.

The most important part of this hack was to align the loaded film as closely to the body of the camera as possible, in this way, the focal distance of the viewfinder can match the film. The biggest challenge was to develop a custom mounting plate that matched the back of Hasselblad to the FujiFilm without allowing light to come in. Even thought the final product, light still leaks in, the result photos are still sharper than we usually see on this type of film. This project by Isaac Blankensmith has managed to maintain the distinct form languages of each camera, it still features 1950’s Swedish design and 1990’s Japanese design.