About ObscuraFlex™

Toby Wilkins - Creator and Founder

Hi, I'm Toby Wilkins, ObscuraFlex™ is my passion project.

I'm a semi-retired British filmmaker and photographer, vintage camera enthusiast, and amateur inventor based in Portland, Oregon.

Growing up with dyslexia before most teachers knew what it was, I struggled to maintain a C-average in school. I dropped out of high school at seventeen to attend a technical college where I developed a passion for cameras, computers, design, technology, art, and all things creative.

The History

In 2017, disheartened by the photographic industry's abandonment of the peel-apart Polaroid film which had been his photography medium of choice for decades, I began brainstorming ways to continue using my beloved 1960s Polaroid Land Camera and 1940s Graflex 4x5 to capture the world around me. 

Within days I had created the first working cardboard prototype of what would become the ObscuraFlex™ adapter.

The First Working Prototype - 2017

The first ObscuraFlex Polaroid Adapter Prototype

From this make-shift prototype I worked to refine the adapter through dozens of iterations, and hundreds of experiments, eventually achieving success with adapters for not just my workhorse Polaroids, but for various antique large format cameras including the Graflex Crown Graphic 4x5 and Polaroid 600SE.

Delighted with this success, I turned my attention back to shooting, using the various adapters to complete art projects such as the street trash photo essay "One Man's Trash" and several portrait works, while continuing the fine-tune the design and materials behind them.

"One Man's Trash" Photo Essay

Happy with the ability to instantly shoot stills and video with a whole collection of vintage and discarded cameras, life went on.

Until...

The Rebirth

In February 2024 I posted a series of short video reels on Instagram and TikTok that featured my various prototype adapters in action.

The videos became an instant viral hit with an audience of professional photographers and vintage camera enthusiasts, garnering millions of views, likes, and comments.

In a matter or weeks this wave of positive reaction gave the project new life. People loved the idea of resurrecting their abandoned Graflex 4x5s and hand-me-down Polaroid Land Cameras gathering dust in attics and thrift stores.

I went to work updating the designs, exploring at-home small-batch manufacturing technologies, and new materials while sharing updates with an enthusiastic group of potential end-users.

The Future

I hope to bring the ObscuraFlex™ adapter to a small but enthusiastic group of photographers and hobbyists.

I'm determined to future-proof against the ever-changing smartphone form factor. This will take a lot of work, some mathematics and physics, and a significant investment of time and money. In the meantime the adapter is available – in small batches – for a selection of the most common vintage and large format cameras.

The underlying technology for the ObscuraFlex™ can theoretically be applied to any medium to large-format camera, and a plan to expand the range of supported models is underway.

Join the mailing list (below) to be kept in the loop, and above all... have fun, and keep making art.