Fuji Instax (Cameras and film)

[Alex Bishop-Thorpe]

Does anyone have any experience with these? A friend of mine is keen to get into instant photography, but not the peel-apart variety. Instax looks like direct substitute for the now defunct Polaroid 600 series. The cameras and film are available from megaperls, but I was wondering about people's opinions - viable alternative? does it work the same way? quality? I've never seen any prints from these cameras in person...

Any information is very much appreciated

 

[Akki14]

Not as nice as sx-70. The instax cameras aren't quite as good, fixed focus, forced flash point&shoot things. They can be good for some things but I don't really like them so much as 600 film/sx-70 cameras. I don't know what your friend wants as far as images. This is all my experience with the Instax 100/200 larger format not the minis.
Here's my pictures from the instax 100/200 camera (The 100 camera broke, not sure why, wouldn't turn on again) http://www.flickr.com/photos/fishies_go_pook/tags/instax/ I basically only used it for sunset photos which came out nice but most other things it doesn't look so nice IMO.

 

[amuderick]

Instax is based on the Kodak Instant Technology. Compared with Polaroid 600 film, Instax is sharper, slightly faster (ISO 800), has more saturated color (I think), and keep better in storage (I have some from 2004 that still looks great. Polaroid films start to develop orangey well before that).

The downside is that because of its Kodak lineage, it is exposed from the rear rather than the front. This makes it impossible to use in an SX-70 camera, even if it was cut to shape. The other downside is that there are no 'nice' cameras which can shoot Instax. The only cameras available are P&S fixed focus.

It seems like it might be possible to convert a Polaroid roll film camera to use Instax. It would take some machining skill to make it look nice.

 

[Akki14]

I should point out that there is an autofocus instax (wide) format camera, the 500 AF model, but it's in the hens teeth catagory. Very hard to find available to buy online.

 

[heroic]

Instax in an SLR680

Actually, you *can* do this- you just can't eject it, and the pictures come out backwards. A little creative shuffling around inside a film change bag can produce some rather remarkable results:

https://picasaweb.google.com/closeenoughforjas/Experiment27b?authkey=Gv1sRgCPDO0bCL9cvtgwE#

There's a frame of Impossible PX680 in there for comparison; all shot on the same day, in the same camera (though the Instax shots were transferred back into the Instax 200 for processing).

 

[Aristophanes]

I have the Fuji 210 and it is a very capable camera within it's limitations. I do not like the mini version as the photos are too small, but that is personal preference; some may be OK with that and the greater affordability. They are all P&S 800 ISO instant cams/films with decent optics and AF and convenience. Fun camera. Check the B&H ratings. eBay has good package deals.

 

[darkosaric]

In short: superior film and crappy cameras compared to impossible/polaroid . And also there is no B&W instax film