About ObscuraFlex™

At the core of the ObscuraFlex ecosystem is a modular viewfinder and digital capture solution for vintage large format and instant cameras. The brainchild of inventor Toby Wilkins. It allows photographers to compose and focus more effectively when shooting large format film, or to capture high-resolution, film-like digital images using modern features such as HDR and RAW.

Historically, most large format digital back systems have been prohibitively expensive, technically complex, commercially unsustainable, and frankly overkill for the needs of many enthusiasts. Most modern systems abandon the organic look and feel vintage photography in favor of technically precise, but often clinical and convoluted digital workflows.

ObscuraFlex retains the full-frame optical characteristics of the original format without relying on cumbersome stitching, tiling, or scanning. Instead it relies on the smartphone or compact digital camera you already have to do the heavy lifting, creating a comparatively simple large format digital option that preserves what most of us love about shooting with these beautiful old cameras.

Toby Wilkins holding a vintage Graflex 4x5 camera fitted with his ObscuraFlex digital adapter on a snowy city street in New York City 2026.

Toby Wilkins - Creator and Founder

Hi, I'm Toby, 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 in school. But at seventeen I landed at a technical college where I discovered my life-long passion for cameras, computers, design, technology, art, and all things creative.

The History

One night in 2017, disheartened by the photographic industry's abandonment of the peel-apart Polaroid film which had been my 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. 

By morning I had created a working cardboard prototype of what would become the ObscuraFlex large format camera digital 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 Polaroid Land Camera, but for a who's who of large format cameras including Graflex, Linhof, Chamonix, and more.

Using the various adapters I embarked on 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, eventually expanding the list of cameras to include any GrafLok equipped 4x5, as well as Polaroid 600SE and Mamiya Universal Press cameras.

"One Man's Trash" Photo Essay 2018

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 that featured my various prototype adapters in action.

The videos went viral. The simplicity of the concept was a 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 4x5 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.

Today I'm happy to be able to sustain this passion project by offering built-to-order adapters on a first-come-first-served basis through ObscuraFlex.com to enable professionals and enthusiasts breath new life into their beloved vintage gear.

Today ObscuraFlex is being used by adventurous professionals around the world including Ryan Pierse, Pauline Ballet, Héctor Vivas who used three ObscuraFlex kits to shoot the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics⧉ and and David Ramos, the Winter Paralympics⧉ for Getty Images, and Neilson Bernard who used his ObscuraFlex to shoot The Met Gala 2026⧉ also for Getty.

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 large-format camera, and the plan to expand the range of supported models is well underway.

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