NONS SL660 Instant Camera - Interchangeable Lens EF Mount SLR Analogue Instant Camera

The light meter in my copy seems to be calibrated for 200 speed film even though Instax is rated at 800 ISO really hard to get correct exposure unless you use an external light meter

A summary first: The NONS SL660 is a nice camera, easy to use. It works like a traditional SLR analog camera. The possibility to change the lenses is a nice feature, even in its limits. You can choose from quite wide angles up to a moderate portrait tele length. Compared to other systems with interchangeable lenses, it's lightweight. Lenses are easy to find for cheap. Full manual control is its big advantage, the hyped "bokeh" is easily possible with this camera. The finder is bright, focussing is easy. Build quality is very good, it feels good in your hands. In detail: It has a built-in battery, charging is a bit slow, but the battery is extremely strong. The Canon EF mount, fully compatible with manual EF lenses, has a focal flange distance (FFD) of 44mm. Other mounts with the same or a longer distance can be used via an adapter, like M42, Nikon F, PK, CY, OM and some medium format lenses. There are no electrical contacts on the mount, so only manual mode lenses can be used which also have a manual aperture ring. Based on their tests, NONS recommends lenses between 28mm and 58mm focal length. Lenses with longer back focal length, such as telephoto lenses and medium format lenses, do have a square shape vignetting. So do most of the zoom lenses. According to my tests, some wider lenses (21mm and 24mm) work as well, but their "recommandations" are more or less the limits, otherwise there will be (heavy) vignetting. The body of SL660 is made of CNC anodized aluminum alloy and has a nice wooden grip. With the speed dial on the camera and the aperture/distance rings on the lens you have full manual control. The roof pentaprism SLR viewfinder makes focussing easy, but doesn't show the whole square image, not even the limits in what direction ever. So framing is merely a guess. The metering system is just OK campared to others. It's a bit slow, let it take a second or two before reading. Fuji Instant film is uneven in ISO. It's 800 only in average conditions, it's 1600 on very bright days and only 400 in low light, so you have to compensate 1 stop up or down. The metering system does not take this into account. Beside this, it has a tendency to over-expose. So in general, close the aperture 1 stop more than indicated, on bright days, 2 stops. On the other hand, open the aperture at least one stop in dark situations, 2 stops for close-ups. The system under-exposes in backlight situations. That's normal for all systems, just take it into account. I returned my camera for 2 reasons: 1. most of my lenses are wide zoom lenses, well within the focal limits, but they vignette a lot and 2. the metering system is too erratic for my taste. With shipping and taxes it's nearly $800 in Europe, quite a sum. So I will wait for a camera with better (TTL?) metering. Not regarding the camera itself: I was not happy with the Amazon services. I live in Europe and the camera was delivered from the US. It took 2 weeks to arrive, the return was even longer. There is no Amazon return service, you have to send it back at your expenses ($55 !) and go through complicated custom declarations yourself. The automated customer service is a real nightmare. I will not buy from Overseas via Amazon again.

NONS SL660 is for shooters who want a full manual instant camera and already have lenses to experiment with. Not for anyone who wants point-and-shoot exposure confidence. Pros • Full manual control and a genuinely fun platform if you have lenses to play with. • The look is the payoff, the image quality feels strong for instant film. • I didn’t expect to enjoy instant film this much, but it keeps pulling me back. Cons • The onboard meter is very basic and can be off by a few stops depending on the subject, so I recommend a dedicated light meter. Verdict Would I buy it again? Yes. The results and the manual control make the extra metering step worth it. It made instant film click for me in a way I didn’t expect.

I am intrigued by this bugger, very well made but will take some time for me to master. :-) The built in meter has not really been good to me , but I read allot of articles regarding this and it depends on the subject and lighting. I started to just use my spot meter and remember the 2 stop loss due to the build in NONS Field Expander (if men serves) that I read about some where on the internet. I find it to be a challenge to use at times but I do not blame the camera, its this guy :-). The Camera it self is built like a tank and I enjoy using. Perhaps when I can master it better I can post images. I think the creative possibilities can be endless. I currently have it mated to a Nikon 28mm 2.6 manual lens and also have a Nikkormat 50mm 1.4 manual lens that I use with it. I definitly recommend it, if your willing to put in the time or if your just a natural with totally manual cameras.

If you know how to use a film camera on manual, you'll have no problem External light meter recommended. I overexpose all shots one stop