Fuji Instax Wide - Dye Stability

Hi guys... I have used polaroids when I was younger, and no matter what polaroid said to the contrary, every single one of my polaroids from 2006 and before have begun to fade, either starting to go yellow or white, this was noticeable in 2010. They were taken before i got into film, luckily i did not take too many, before then i was digital! They were stored in a box out of light and heat for many years at my parents' house. I have heard the instax is better but I cannot find any 'first hand' on the internet. All my b/w and Colour RA4 is usually in 8x10 portfolio albums and my best shots are blown up further and kept in a portfolio folder or box.

I have used the instax on a few occasions for social events, or just for fun with friends. I have got some pretty unique shots with this and they have all been scanned to digital. I usually scan finished prints to get the look I want.

I cannot find any information on the dye stability, or how long until they begin to fade at room temperature, in instax albums out of light.

If anyone has any information or first-hand information it will be great. So i can know weather to continue using them for this kind of shot or if i should just use colour negative and print smaller.

instax shots are only 'fun' shots but provide unique perspectives of an event and i have some great shots, the shots taken in the last stage of mine and my boyfriends relationship before we decided were better as close friends (and still are) were on instax and thus they have high sentimental value. All the others throughout our relationship were black and white prints and film. are I recently got a photo on instax of a friend's cat in a position and angle that is impossible to replicate, which i gave to them and it is now framed behind thick UV resistant glass at my advice. It was a fluke, but looks amazing and unique. Wish i had got it on my 35mm at the time, but my mate was using it at the time, but it really suits the look of an instax shot. Usually the polaroids are used for a social setting and not for any big events or days.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Jacob

I just came across this thread and wish that there was an answer! Perhaps I will try to contact Fuji. I too am curious. I have experienced the same with Polaroid 600 pictures. From what I have heard, the Instax is so far from the Polaroid type integral film that it doesn't even contain a negative like Polaroid does.

Ektagraphic said:

I just came across this thread and wish that there was an answer! Perhaps I will try to contact Fuji. I too am curious. I have experienced the same with Polaroid 600 pictures. From what I have heard, the Instax is so far from the Polaroid type integral film that it doesn't even contain a negative like Polaroid does.

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Funny how i got a reply to this now, i have had for over 6 months some fuji instax pictures on my kitchen tiles blu-tacked there, in indirect sunlight and around kitchen fumes and extreme damp so far this winter until i sorted out heating, so far, so good with no noticeable fade. They were some fun snaps but two of them are irreplacable pictures which have been scanned, decided to put some polaroids on my kitchen wall, 1 picture per tile!

Jacob

Ektagraphic said:

From what I have heard, the Instax is so far from the Polaroid type integral film that it doesn't even contain a negative like Polaroid does.

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The only thing the two systems have in common is the work 'Instant'. Instax is based on the old Kodak Instant Film System and now uses metalized dye releasers for very good dye stability.

I haven't shot at all instant but I have some of it around as family collection.

Some polaroids (600) which date 1985-2000, all of them look fine; some have a slight cast (vintage look) but doesn't seem downright fading.

Instax, I do have a single frame of me as a kid in '97 taken in somekind of supermarket event for kids. It has sat 13 years on a shelf in my room, displayed but far from direct light. Kept in a plastic sleeve. Looks great.

I even have some kodak instant from the 70s of my father and it's alright.

It's ironic that the Kodak instant photo system is one of the last ones standing. Any guess as to how Impossible Project color prints might be expected to hold up long term?

From The Permance and Care of Color Photographs by Henry Wilhelm

Lee Rust said:

It's ironic that the Kodak instant photo system is one of the last ones standing. Any guess as to how Impossible Project color prints might be expected to hold up long term?

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see here by matter of proof:
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Thanks for that info. Looks like the prints will have to stay in the dark most of the time.