What subjects do you shoot with Instax Wide film?

I converted a Polaroid pack film camera to Instax wide, expecting it to produce instant pictures a la Polaroid. While it was nice to use my pack film camera again, the film isn't Polaroid film. I found it has a narrow dynamic range (maybe 3 useable stops?) making exposure critical. And although the picture is as wide as Polaroid, it isn't as high (1 cm shorter), giving it an odd 3/5 aspect ratio. The actual photo rarely lies perfectly flat--the top and bottom pockets are thicker than the photo area, and the actual photo often has a wave to it. They don't stack very well, and the acetate "window" is super highly reflective. All this to say I miss peel apart film, but apart from those things, it is nice to have my pack camera working again.

I've taken landscapes, buildings, nature, lots of test shots, and have a bunch of pictures stacked on my shelf or stored in boxes. The pictures don't seem to scan well, so I think they're really meant to look at by flipping through. Actually, I did a panorama which I manually stitched together of Banff that hangs on my wall...


I've settled on using it mainly to take portraits/people for now. Instax seems to work well in this capacity and I give most of the pictures away.

So I'm wondering, what do you mainly take pictures of with your Instax capable camera? And what do you do with your photos? What do you find Instax film works best for?

I use Instax mostly for portraits and closeup still-lives. It's not the sharpest film, and I find it underwhelming for most other uses. I'm shooting with a Polaroid 110a I modified to shoot Instax Wide. The 110a has a very good 127mm Rodenstock lens, so the results are about as good as you're likely to get. I think in my case the limiting factors are the film and probably my skill, not the camera.

I've also tried shooting Instax Mini in a Rolleiflex with a cut film holder. It worked fine but I never really found a situation that resulted in images I was happy with. Mini is tiny, and the size coupled with the relatively low resolving power makes for mush much of the time.

The nicest things about Instax are its (relatively) low cost, good reliability and long shelf life. It's pretty much bulletproof, unlike the current Impossible/Polaroid offerings which turn out well only when the stars align precisely.

Nothing beats peel-apart, but unfortunately we'll never see that again.

I'm still learning Instax. I bought a Mini camera and have not quite finished a single pack (I'm not very impressed by the B&W material, BTW), and I've only started on the second pack in my LomoGraflok. I want to like it -- it's got better color than modern Polaroid, IMO; in fact, it reminds me very much of Kodak instant film from the 1970s/1980s (not surprisingly, it's my understanding the process was co-created by the two companies). I've even bought (so far) two old Kodak instant cameras and an adapter to put Instax Square in those -- though at present the one with metal gears won't expose and the other one that does expose has crumbled gears). I'll try that again, most likely.

For subject matter, it's pretty much a snapshot material, IMO. I've seen some very good images done on Instax, but few done with the Fuji camera -- Mint, various adapters, and single-sheet (labor intensive, too much work for me) let you get a better lens involved.

Yes, as nearly all of us I miss peel-apart film. I have quite some cameras for Instax Wide film, they all have their pros and cons, but I have not found the ideal camera yet https://www.instantphoto.eu/other/other_instant.htm. As I have a useless Polaroid 180, I would be interested how you modified your pack film camera...

I use it almost exclusively to take pictures of my kids. But that seems to be what I do with most film....

xya said:

Yes, as nearly all of us I miss peel-apart film. I have quite some cameras for Instax Wide film, they all have their pros and cons, but I have not found the ideal camera yet https://www.instantphoto.eu/other/other_instant.htm. As I have a useless Polaroid 180, I would be interested how you modified your pack film camera...

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That is quite the collection! Now if you have all those cameras and haven't found an ideal camera yet, maybe it isn't the camera... I'm thinking a good camera to modify for Instax would be the Polaroid big shot, since the film seems to work well with portraits. I've done both upside down and right side up conversions for pack cameras which are detailed here: http://polaroids.theskeltons.org/instaxwide.htm

Instax Wide is not very good, but it is cheap and all we have. I use it mostly for family photos, portraits and still life. I bought several special albums for the photos. They are cool to look at at home and in social events. Instax Mini and Square are quite popular with parties and school gatherings. I have not seen any Instax Wide in parties.

I have a couple of Instax Wide cameras, and still looking for the "ideal" one.

• Fujifilm Instax Wide 300 camera. Quite good results in bright daylight or with flash. But almost zero control.
• Modified Polaroid 110A with custom Graflex adapter and Lomograflok Instax Wide back. Good quality lens (127mm f/4.7 Rodenstock Ysarex), full manual control, coupled rangefinder focusing, but big clunky and unwieldy.
• [Coming soon] Custom 3D printed GansoLG camera with Mamiya 127mm f/4.7 lens from Polaroid 600SE and Lomograflok Instax Wide back. It will be zone focus, but should be compact and light weight. Yet to receive it and test out.
• [Maybe for future] the Instax Wide printer, for a hybrid digital-instax experience

On the other hand, Polaroid SX-70 is an ideal camera for me (especially now I found a good flash solution). However the current film is much more expensive than Instax Wide, and not necessarily better. I only use the B&W of SX-70 film.

I still have 3 packs of peel apart, and need to use them this year on special occasions before they go bad.

Jimskelton said:

That is quite the collection! Now if you have all those cameras and haven't found an ideal camera yet, maybe it isn't the camera... I'm thinking a good camera to modify for Instax would be the Polaroid big shot, since the film seems to If it succeeds, work well with portraits. I've done both upside down and right side up conversions for pack cameras which are detailed here: http://polaroids.theskeltons.org/instaxwide.htm

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Thank you so much for the link. This is really helpful. I will have a try with a 360 as I have several of these. If it succeeds, I will attack the 180.

Jimskelton said:

That is quite the collection! Now if you have all those cameras and haven't found an ideal camera yet, maybe it isn't the camera...

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As I said, there are pros and cons. The Mint RF 70 is superb if you can cope with the focal length, so is the SuperWideStax made by option8 for wide angles. The Mamiya Universal back is nearly ideal, as you have a choice of optics. There is an ideal system (IMHO) for the square format, the Mamiya RB67 back. Everything is on board: a reflex view for precise focussing and a reliable metered prism. I wish this would be available for the wide format...

xya said:

I wish this would be available for the wide format...

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I won't disagree...