If you're a lover of Polaroids and you just happen to have loved shooting a TLR camera back in the day too, then this unique instant camera is going to brighten up your day.
Innovative Instagraom user thepolaflex has created a unique hybrid camera design that combines a Polaroid camera and a twin lens reflex system to produce, you guessed it, The PolaFlex.
This rather bizarre but undeniably cool camera looks completely custom-built, and surrounds an older Polaroid Originals i-type camera (which looks to us like a Polaroid OneStep 2) with a bespoke TLR-style body that took almost half a year to build. Thepolaflex goes into detail:
"After 5 months of tinkering I finished the first version of the PolaFlex TLR. I designed and built it completely by myself, and I'm so happy it works! It's a completely manual close-focusing TLR with a German-made glass lens. Yes, glass!"
There are no other details about why he made this camera, other than it was an idea and he tried it. And it worked – you can't deny that it's an amazing-looking camera! At the same time, I'm not the biggest fan of instant cameras, but I can tell that this is something special and pushes the envelope in what can be done with Polaroid technology and a bit of DIY ingenuity!
As you can see in the image below, and the other sample shots on Instagram, the results from the manual focusing glass lens are impressive:
While this just remains a prototype or major DIY project, users are already encouraging this to go on Kickstarter, so we may or may not be reporting on this very unique camera again in the future, but for now, you'll all have to settle with your normal Polaroid cameras.
The closest thing you can get right now is the fully manual Polaroid I-2, which also has a glass lens (the sharpest Polaroid has ever made) and can produce incredible results – though it also has an incredible price tag!
If you're interested in other wacky Polaroid products, check out the Polaroid Lab. And make sure you know what type of instant film you need!
