For this review I brought along two of my own cameras — a Hasselblad 503CWD Centennial Edition and a 202FA — to experience the joy of instant prints firsthand.
The Hasselblad 503CWD Centennial Edition with the NONS NIB-H1P back mounted.
Design: Classic Continuity, Clever Integration
Let's start with the exterior. The NONS NIB-H1P carries forward the clean, refined design language of the company's earlier products. The box includes a focal-length conversion lens and a viewfinder riser module. From the back itself to every accessory, everything you can touch is machined from metal — solid in the hand, excellent in feel, with carefully finished chamfers and edges that are genuinely pleasing.
The back is built specifically for the Hasselblad V system. This time, the focal-length conversion lens and riser module solve a long-standing limitation: the restricted rear opening of traditional Hasselblad V-mount bodies makes it impossible to accommodate SQ-format film. The H1P opens up an entirely new instant-imaging experience.
The 503CWD and 202FA used for this review, alongside the NIB-H1P and Hasselblad CFE optics.
Machined metal throughout, with the NONS wordmark set into the body.
In my recent shooting I worked mostly with an 80mm lens, though NONS also offers 100mm and 150mm accessory lenses. Combined with the focal-length conversion lens and viewfinder spacer, the process becomes far more intuitive. 80mm is itself a classic Hasselblad focal length, and with the large-aperture advantage of medium format paired with the NIB-H1P, you can finally enjoy a finished print in about a minute on a V-mount body.
The Hasselblad CFE Planar 80mm f/2.8 — the lens used for most of this review.
On image quality: paired with the Hasselblad CFE Planar 80mm f/2.8, results are very satisfying. The optical excellence of a medium-format lens combined with instant film's characteristic colour rendering — especially the background separation produced at wide apertures, which lends a real sense of depth — delivers a look that is both vintage and refined. One thing worth noting: the actual image area extends roughly 10% beyond the area shown on the focusing screen, so keep that in mind while composing.
Prints straight out of the back, shot on the 503CWD.
A session's worth of square instant film, from interiors to outdoor scenes.
Handling: Simple, Without Sacrificing Professional Control
Installation is straightforward: align the mount, press it on, and it locks automatically. I tested with both the 503CWD and the 202FA. In practice — whether it was manual metering with leaf-shutter flash support, or the convenience and speed of the 2-series focal-plane shutter combined with A mode — the H1P clearly optimises the shooting workflow. Throughout the entire session the back never introduced any distraction, and the remaining-frame counter on top of the body made the process noticeably smoother.
A print emerging from the NIB-H1P on the 202FA.
As for battery life — I had been shooting for several days since unboxing, going through more than four packs of film, and "battery life" only occurred to me as I sat down to write this review. The built-in 1,800mAh battery, with a clear indicator on the display, gives plenty of confidence for location work and removes the old instant-camera anxiety about remaining charge and sourcing odd battery types.
Compared with the Mamiya RB converted instant back I had used before, the H1P is a step up in both usability and design. Never mind the considerable difference in weight — the H1P's feel and build quality are simply in a different class from a converted SQ back, and once it is in your hands you don't have to worry about things like focal-plane calibration. The overall experience is dramatically better.
The back's clean, squared-off profile and metal shell.
A Minor Gripe: The ISO Adjustment Inconvenience
The only real drawback: on 2-series bodies with a built-in meter, ISO can only be set through the body's LCD display — and that small LCD is now partly obscured by the riser frame, so adjusting ISO means removing the back. It does slightly compromise convenience. That said, NONS has already developed a riser module specifically optimised for metered 2-series bodies, and I look forward to trying that improvement.
Separately, friends who tried the setup — unfamiliar with Hasselblad's workflow — often forgot to pull the dark slide, and because of layout trade-offs the H1P does not retain a dark-slide interlock. Given my usual film-shooting habits I never really noticed this, but after discussing it with the NONS team, it is possible that future products will adopt a design that is friendlier to newcomers.
Instant Film Tips: ISO Settings From My Own Testing
With instant film, choosing the right exposure compensation for the available light and the ISO is critical — and genuinely difficult to master. Based on my own field experience, here are the ISO settings I recommend for common situations:
- Bright light or clear sunny day: around ISO 1000
- Gentle daylight with flash: ISO 800
- Overcast outdoors: ISO 640
- Under a building, or well-lit interiors: ISO 400
- Dim interiors (cafés, bookshops, etc.): ISO 250
- Night scenes or star trails: ISO 100 (use advisedly)
These settings come from my testing across different conditions. That said, photography is an art — feel free to adjust them to your own experience.
Low-light samples — the ISO recommendations above in practice.
Interior and architectural samples.
Verdict: An Excellent Marriage of Hasselblad and Instant Film
All told, the NONS NIB-H1P is unquestionably an innovative step forward for instant film backs. It doesn't merely eliminate the black-border problem that plagued earlier instant backs — it lets Hasselblad V-system users play to the strengths of a medium-format system and enjoy a professional-grade instant-imaging experience. For V-system photographers it is a remarkably cost-effective accessory; for instant-film enthusiasts, it is a great opportunity to raise both the quality and the pleasure of their shooting.