We live in an age where film is ancient history for commercial photographers and an afterthought or fond memory for mostly everyone else. I was recently borrowing a friends Nikon F5 film camera and after I took a picture that I wasn’t sure about, I looked down at the back of the camera only to be met by a black plastic film back. It’s a sign of the times.So why would a company release a new format instant film camera? The varieties of materials for film photographers have been narrowed down to very few. Is there even a market for an instant film camera? Polaroid shut down its instant film production and if Polaroid can't make enough of a profit to keep producing instant film, what makes Fuji any different?
Fujifilm is already in the instant film business and makes several types of film that work in Polaroid cameras. Yet there is no replacement for the rapidly vanishing Polaroid 600 film, which is the square color film that everyone grew up with for decades. As it becomes harder to find, its price is on the rise.
Meet the Fuji Instax wide format camera. Making photography fun again! Seriously. There is something special about the instant picture that separates it from film and digital photography. The fact that the one print cant be reproduced makes instant pictures one of kind. But the cheap fuzzy glow, plastic coating, and white borders just beg to be pinned up on a wall of memories or passed around the backseat to laugh at during a late night joyride. Not things you usually do with a one of a kind item.
Overall, the Fuji Instax camera was a lot of fun and easy to shoot with. Like many Polaroid cameras of years past, the Instax is mostlyautomatic, but has some limited manual controls such as built in flash, which can be set on automatic or off. There is also a simple exposure compensation setting for “Normal, Lighter, and Darker” and two distance settings, 0.9-3m and 3m to infinity. All of these control buttons can be found on the left (when holding the camera to your eye) side of the body and are not accessible when composing which I found to be a little disappointing, but understandable.
Personally, I felt the camera should have been a little smaller. It fit in my hands nicely, but I can see some people with smaller hands having an issue handling the camera with only one hand. Additionally the quality of the plastic seemed to be above average. Just like some of the old Polaroid cameras, I wouldn’t mind throwing this camera in the backseat of my car. It could probably survive a few drops, but I didn’t try it and wouldn’t recommend it.
The twin pack (2 packs of 10 exposures) of film I used was rated at ISO 800 and it worked fine both inside and outside. The prints developed just like a Polaroid and when the proper settings were used they were surprisingly sharp and vivid! However do not try to peel the plastic apart from the backing of the film like you could with 600 film. Maybe I wasn’t doing it right, but all I got was a crinkled picture and a bunch of black stuff all over my hands.
With the price of Polaroid 600 film rising and the inevitable fact of it’s extinction, the Fuji Instax is a great bargain and a great deal of fun. The wide format is different than the Polaroid 600 and takes a little getting used to, but it introduces the option of taking a vertical shot as well, rather than being limited to only a square. I highly recommend this camera as a fun and affordable alternative to a point and shoot digital camera and anyone who has enjoyed instant film products of years past.