Anyone shooting Instax?

Alanstrainor

Hey guys, as the title suggests, I'm wondering if anyone shoots instax at all?

I bought an Instax 200 camera on adverts for 20 quid about a month ago, and 40 shots of instant wide film (which cost more than the camera...) and have been loving it. I usually shoot a Canon 60D, with numerous lenses and have been a bit bored, or just lacking imagination in the last while, hence deciding to shoot with something a big odd ball! Having never shot film at all, and certainly not instant film I didn't know what to expect, and didn't want to get my hopes too high either. But it's fantastic, it forces you to be very choosey with what you shoot, and instead of coming home with 200 shots from a day out, I might only come home with 7.

The camera itself is hilarious, it's massive, looks like a 90's kids toy and the controls are equally hilarious really! No auto focus, you have a choice between 1M and 3M, and then 3M and Infinity. There is also a button for the flash, which seems to do absolutely nothing, as it will fire the flash regardless. There are settings for lighting, lighten, normal, darken. And of course there's a shutter button.

The film is pretty great really, I love the colour reproduction, it has a slightly washed look, but not as much as I would have thought. It gives landscapes a really great look. And of course, not being able to improve them in lightroom after is all part of the fun!

If you can pick one up cheap, I would definitely recommend, even if you only use 20 shots of film it'd be worth it, and then sell the camera on to someone else to enjoy!

DaireQuinlan

I was shooting Instax, but without an Instax



I was taking individual sheets and exposing them in a Mamiya Press camera in a plate holder, then unloading them in a darkbag and putting them through the rollers of polaroid I had hanging around. The process was ... less than perfect :-D

It's a nice format, both the mini and particularly wide, it's just a pity that Fuji's cameras both look ridiculous and don't have any thing more sophisticated than P&S, I'd pay good money for a mini that had manual controls.
The history of Fuji and Kodak and its spat with Polaroid over the technology is quite interesting as well. The format is actually superior to Polaroids integral formats in many ways, but they were frozen out of the american and european markets untill quite recently over legal issues. The irony being of course that the new Polaroid integral camera is just a rebadged fuji mini

dirtyghettokid

@alanstrainor do you have any examples of your instax work? would love to see some!
i love polaroid, and fuji & all that fun instant film stuff! have a few poloroids .. and one of them is a joycam, which has similar film size/shape to the fuji.. but i don't think you can use the fuji film in it. the polaroid film is mad money

Alanstrainor

dirtyghettokid wrote: »

@alanstrainor do you have any examples of your instax work? would love to see some!
i love polaroid, and fuji & all that fun instant film stuff! have a few poloroids .. and one of them is a joycam, which has similar film size/shape to the fuji.. but i don't think you can use the fuji film in it. the polaroid film is mad money

Yeah, I'll post up a few tonight and show them off. I'll have to just take a picture of them and upload them, as I don't have a scanner!

But they're really nice, obviously have that retro feel, but maybe not as much as I would have expected. Just a really fun camera to use. I used it yesterday for urban, and landscape stuff in Dublin, and it was great craic. Even only taking 7 shots in the whole day, I felt it was worth while. And coming home with the prints is awesome too. I think it'll be an interesting camera at parties and the likes too!

Alanstrainor

So here's a sample of shots, 4 from yesterday, and one taken in Carlow!

dirtyghettokid

awesome! the last two shots are my favs!

eoglyn

i love the one with the luas in it. I have a couple of polaroid cameras at home, never used - feeling inspired to go look for some film

Alanstrainor

eoglyn wrote: »

i love the one with the luas in it. I have a couple of polaroid cameras at home, never used - feeling inspired to go look for some film

Cheers guys, I think the camera just has a certain charm to it. Love it myself.

As for the polaroid camera, it may be a lot of hassle, and cost to get film for it. It may be easier to get an instax! I also wonder just how long I can expect fuji to keep producing the film....only time will tell I guess!

DaireQuinlan

Alanstrainor wrote: »

As for the polaroid camera, it may be a lot of hassle, and cost to get film for it. It may be easier to get an instax! I also wonder just how long I can expect fuji to keep producing the film....only time will tell I guess!

Fuji seem to be enjoying a resurgance of Instax stuff lately. It was always popular in Japan, but it seems to have gone global over the last few years. It remains to be seen whether it's just a phase though.

It's funny you say this though "But they're really nice, obviously have that retro feel, but maybe not as much as I would have expected." One of the complaints that people had about Fuji's integral stuff was that it was too realistic :-D

As for the polaroid, unless it's some peel apart cam then yeah forget about it. Only film you can get is from the 'impossible project' and it's substandard at best.

Alanstrainor

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

It's funny you say this though "But they're really nice, obviously have that retro feel, but maybe not as much as I would have expected." One of the complaints that people had about Fuji's integral stuff was that it was too realistic :-D

I'm not surprised they had that complaint! But I love the film, great colour reproduction from it. I feel like this project is going to send me down a path wanting to shoot film for a while...i'll be a very hipster indeed!

Bang Bang

The good news from Fujifilm is that they have launched the new Instax 300 camera so fingers crossed this fun and enjoyable format remains popular for years to come.

News from Fujifilm >> http://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/instax/cameras/300/

dirtyghettokid

sweet! i wonder would that film fit my old poloroid joycam?

DaireQuinlan

dirtyghettokid wrote: »

sweet! i wonder would that film fit my old poloroid joycam?

In a word, no.

It's just an update of the Instax 200/210. Doesn't look as though they've changed it appreciably really.