Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: kpz on December 02, 2018, 06:18:13 pm
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I was recently looking through André Kertész's collection "The Polaroids" and reminded of the grungy beauty of instant cameras. This motivated me to look up modern options, the best of which seems to be the Fuji Instax line.
If you've used these, what are your thoughts? I'm thinking of picking up either an Instax Square or Instax Wide to fool around with. There appear to be some downsides, including the price of a photo (something like $1/shot) and perhaps more importantly, an inaccurate viewfinder and limited controls.
Have you found these cameras to provide a fun experience?
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I bought some as presents, doesn't look like they caught up. Fun in the beginning but limiting.
A little more flexible is the Instax printer, you can send photos directly from many new Fuji cameras or from the cellphone, and many other cameras that have apps.
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Thanks. That's sort of what I expected, but still a little disappointing. As you note, it may be better just to get a small dedicated photo printer to satisfy my itch.
There's also the Polaroid Snap, which lacks the retro square frame but has the same kind of instant film charm. Its advantage is that the film seems to be a little cheaper.
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Polaroids (and similar, like the Instax lineup) are expensive on a per shot basis. I still enjoy using my SX-70, though, 'cuz it gives me something I can immediately hold in my hand. And it's complete in & of itself. I don't digitize such photos, rather I put my favorites away during the course of each year and then give 'em as holiday gifts.
-Dave-
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I just bought my daughter the Instax 6. We played with it yesterday and had fun with it with a bunch of dinner guests. It's nice to take home a print. The photo portion is 2"x2". You can write on the bottom border. It's also nice to see it pop out of the machine and watch it develop over two minutes. Like magic. I don;t know what the mark is in the photo. Maybe I dripped my drink on it. :)
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Get a portable printer. Much more practical and you can make the same prints from devices like your phone. I took a printer to Tanzania with me and it was a hit at the orphanages I visited.
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I don;t know what the mark is in the photo.
Solarisation of highlights. It's a polaroid thing.
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For me the whole appeal of these things is that they are unique prints (that you sometimes give away) - a portable printer doesn't cut it.
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Does anyone know how long these last before fading?
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For me the whole appeal of these things is that they are unique prints (that you sometimes give away) - a portable printer doesn't cut it.
What makes them unique? As far as giving away...that is exactly why I took the portable printer. They produce the same size prints as the camera. The printer is a lot more practical as you can choose which images to get printed. With the camera...every image gets printed, even the ones that you really don't want.
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What makes them unique?
Ah, I was talking about the old-style Instax cameras, which obviously create a unique print, but I see that Fuji now apply the Instax moniker to digital hybrid cameras where the same file can be printed multiple times.
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Does anyone know how long these last before fading?
The ones that I got from the Instax printer don't necessarily fade a couple of years later but they become even more contrasty, they lose a lot of shadow details. That's why I always lift the shadows before printing otherwise you get pure blacks.
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I see that the Instax 6 camera that Alan is using is a traditional photo-chemical device - same as an old Polaroid camera. Do the hybrid Instax cameras, and the Instax printer, use the same film? If so, how do they go about converting a jpeg into the light needed to expose the film?
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I see that the Instax 6 camera that Alan is using is a traditional photo-chemical device - same as an old Polaroid camera. Do the hybrid Instax cameras, and the Instax printer, use the same film? If so, how do they go about converting a jpeg into the light needed to expose the film?
If I recall correctly they use some laser to develop the photo. The rectangular ones, SP-2, are still 99$ at amazon (half price).
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Get a portable printer. Much more practical and you can make the same prints from devices like your phone. I took a printer to Tanzania with me and it was a hit at the orphanages I visited.
What sort of prints were you making? Instax, or something else like standard 4x6s on glossy paper?
There's something cool about the square frame, but then again there's also something cool about not paying $1 per print.
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What sort of prints were you making? Instax, or something else like standard 4x6s on glossy paper?
There's something cool about the square frame, but then again there's also something cool about not paying $1 per print.
The prints were square, about 2.5" x 2.5". However they still come in at about $1 per print. Worth every penny for the expressions on the orphan's faces.
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The portable printer idea is tempting. Perhaps not good for my wallet, but very tempting. I will eventually cave but aim to hold off another week or two.
Thanks for the input!