I've dissected maybe 6 or 7 Instamatic cameras in attempts to adapt them to 35mm film, and this would qualify as my second successful attempt; I'll document the first attempt soon.

The X-15 appears to be a pretty simple model, which works to advantage. There is no focus, aperture, nor shutter speed (with exception of flash-cube adjustment). This means less moving parts, which makes for an easier mod.

I started by opening the front cover of the camera, which involves removing three screws in the back film section. Once removed, the front lens plate tilts down and forward. The upper metal section is glued on, and has to be pulled off. Take care tho, it bends easily... like mine though, should come with a little coaxing, and any twists can be straightened out. After removing one more screw in the upper left, the top cover comes off. Mind the springs for the flash cube area, if you prefer to have your camera as close to operational as it was born.

In the upper left-hand corner, near where you removed the fourth screw, there is an arm that pivots in the middle on a rivet of sorts. This piece prevents the advance lever from being cranked further than one whole frame on the old 126 format. If you don't take it out, you'll only get one advance of the lever, which means your images will overlap guaranteed. I used my trusty Dremel to cut the rivet-screw thing, and the little fellow popped right out. I pulled the tension spring it owned out also, as not to cause trouble in future operation.

Now that the camera advances as many cranks as I like, the next step was to rig the back door with a new film plane. On my previous model, I did not do this, which meant focus was off a tiny bit. In this case, I had an old 126 cartridge around that was sacrificed, and I used the center sections, interior and exterior, to simulate 126 placement. The inner and outer sections of the cartridge fit together like two little pieces, so I can put the outer piece on once the film is in place (see below for final appearance).

*If you don't have access to an old 126 cartridge, don't sweat it. It just means your mod changes a little... see my other article on attempt 1 for info on how that got handled.*

That little fellow on the right hand is a preload canister from a one-time use camera (or OTUC for us lab nerds). Not all brands used them, so if you would like to find one, ask your local lab to fish around in their recycle bin. The ones I have came out of clear-front no-name brands, the kind with paper inserts in the front that say WELCOME TO VEGAS and SPONGEBOB ROCKS. The idea is that you preload the film into that cartridge after yanking it out of the 35 canister... IN THE DARK. I should not have to say this, but I will. If you want to use this method, LOAD THE BUGGERS IN THE DARK! I'll explain this more later in another article.

As you advance the lever, the film should advance back into the 35 canister, thus ensuring your film won't be exposed unnecessarily by having used a crappy camera in the first place, or dropping it and having it pop open.

*At this point I'll also mention, the next one of these I rig, I'll do a proper Instructable on it so this makes more sense. This is all still somewhat new to me.*

The advance interface of 126 differs from 35 in a particular manner, but after screwing up my first attempt, it turned out to be a perfect solution.

The advance drive got whittled down with the Dremel with a sanding bit, so it looks like a wide tab of sorts. To match it, the film cartridge gets a little notch on both sides cut into it. You can use a small file, or even a tiny pliers, but it has to interface with the drive-side of the advance, thats all you need to make sure of. See the discolored pic to get a better idea. When you load the canister into that side of the camera, make sure the tabs connect with the notches and that the film in fact does advance a little, even a half-inch is enough to know that it's in good shape. *When grinding this fellow down, make sure not to grind too much of the center extrusion. Even in my photo here, you can see the pressure spring peeking through a little... too much, and you lose your tension and thus your drive.

Last, you have to make sure to put some black tape over the door window, no matter how you mod this fellow. I neglected to use dark enough tape first try, and got handsome red squares over all of the faces of my test subjects. Not quite ideal, but remedied easily by a combo of electrical tape and gaffers tape, layered. I also rigged the edges of the door with some light-leak foam, available from MicroTools... if you're a modder, this stuff is very handy; get their multi-pack of thicknesses.

So taking a picture. Supposedly, this model operates at f11 at 1/90th of a second, but I can't tell what speed most 126 film operated at. As you see here, the cartridge donor was from 200 speed Kodak Gold. In the tests, 100 was VERY weak, terribly underexposed. 400 was much better, but still rather dark. Outdoors, I expect either would be suitable -- 400 for subdued light, 100 for the beach or Aspen.

How you handle the advancing is up to you. If the cranks and gears all work well, you need to advance the lever at least once to reset the shutter. After that, it's up to you. I saw a very close overlap on my test rolls at 2 full cranks, and definite overlap with just one. If you wanted to play it safe, push for 3, give yourself plenty of room between frames.

As far as developing goes, you should get a proper square frame in your negs. B&W darkroom or scanning at home shouldn't be an issue, but lab-scans might be. Ask the lab to scan the shots to a CD for you, and visit a shop that will let you make square prints... I know Ritz permits 5x and 6x square prints, but you'll have to check your crops.

Any questions, you can ask, but I'll try to make more clear instructions with photos on the next attempt. I'll ask the friend if I can post some of her shots here on ColorBroken once she starts to play with it.