Anyone else shooting instax?

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the_accidental

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Maybe I can start an instax thread…

Started for fun with a square instax back for my Hasselblad, it’s quite a challenge as you’re shooting for correct exposure and also to the dynamic range of the print. You’ve also got to think a bit different for composition, considering the final size of the print.

Anyway, I’ll start with a cheesy shot that everyone takes, but I like, my wife and son in the spring sun today:
Blossom.jpg

Show me your instax for inspiration?
 
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My daughter has one but I've never used it, may be I should
 
I'd suggest getting a pack of film and giving it a go... less exposure control on the Fuji cameras than I have on my Hasselblad, so even harder. But there's something about shooting for a fixed 6x6cm print size that really makes you consider composition etc. It kinda forces you into large frame-filling subjects or strong shapes/colour.

Equal parts fun and challenging, waiting for the print to appear before your eyes is like the junk food version of the thrill of developing film, if that makes any sense?
 
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That is a very good shot, nicely exposed!

I also picked up an Instax back for the Hasselblad last year and got through a few packs of film, it'll be getting more use now it's warming up a bit again. Agree about the fun and the challenge of getting things right with Instax. I'll have to upload a few to share.
 
River.jpg

To try and encourage others to post, another trio from a river side wander earlier in the year. I take photos of my prints where I take them as I like the context and it gives me primitive geotagging!

I was quite pleased to nail the exposure on the reflection bottom right. Kinda wished I had a ND grad to bring the sky down to match.

Again in all three trying consciously to get strong/bold compositions to work in the small print size.
 
It’s kinda pricey, but also kinda not… 76p a shot for me vs say Kodak gold at £1.67 a shot for film, dev and low res scan.

But I guess the difference is if you’re even reaching for a Hasselblad you know you’re spending money! Bit different for the Fuji cameras which are more cheap and cheerful.

I like having the little prints to stick on the fridge, and have a display of favs attached to a metal board with sticky back magnets that gives me a grid I can update.
 
There do seem to be a few cameras turning up with more control than the basic Fuji Instax, these days. I'm not particularly keen, but seeing daughter's fridge papered with Instax photos did make me reconsider for a bit. It would have to be Wide for me, I think.
 
A deliberately out of focus (as I don't put my son online) photo of how I display/"frame" mine.

It's a metal Ikea memo board then I attach the photos with two small squares of magnetic sticky tape on the opposite corners. I really like it as it lets me rotate/re-arrange the pics on display, and have it up on the wall rather than just ad-hoc on the fridge (but we have that too!)

Instax wide, you can get backs for some large format cameras...but that's a whole other rabbit hole...

display.jpg
 
ChrisR said:
There do seem to be a few cameras turning up with more control than the basic Fuji Instax, these days. I'm not particularly keen, but seeing daughter's fridge papered with Instax photos did make me reconsider for a bit. It would have to be Wide for me, I think.
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The Instax Wide Graflok back for 4x5 keeps tempting me... but its just more stuff to carry! The squares are a tad small but I enjoy swapping backs and taking a few instax while I'm out shooting film, it makes a nice change sometimes.
 
I like instax, I have a wide and mini cameras.
I did an experiment last year, I gutted out a duff mini and fitted a lens unit from a Zeiss Ikon Nettar to it. The pictures were better quality than the Fuji 'lens', but had quite a bit of vignetting.
After that I made it into a pinhole camera which really was a waste of time and film.
I don't think instax film is all that expensive compared to 120 when you include dev and printing. Just a shame Fuji won't make a camera with a decent lens for it, though.
If I win the lottery, I'll get some engineer to convert a Mamiya TLR for instax square!
 
D_M_J said:
The Instax Wide Graflok back for 4x5 keeps tempting me... but it’s just more stuff to carry! The squares are a tad small but I enjoy swapping backs and taking a few instax while I'm out shooting film, it makes a nice change sometimes.
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This isn’t an advert (I promise!) but I designed my SnapShot InstantWide to combine the LomoGraflok with Mamiya Press or pretty much any large format lens to get the best quality out of Instax.

Photoroom_006_20250129_094227.jpegPhotoroom_003_20250129_094227.jpegPhotoroom_006_20241205_171344.jpegIMG_7624.jpeg
 
stevelmx5 said:
Schneider 47/5.6 -Instax wide

View attachment 450882

View attachment 450884
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That's interesting, Steve. It does suggest to me that some of the softness we see in Instax photos comes from the film rather than the plastic lens. Is that how it looks IRL (comparing with, say, colour neg images from that lens) rather than via compression on this site?
 
ChrisR said:
That's interesting, Steve. It does suggest to me that some of the softness we see in Instax photos comes from the film rather than the plastic lens. Is that how it looks IRL (comparing with, say, colour neg images from that lens) rather than via compression on this site?
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Instax doesn't have the same resolution as sheet/roll film, even with good glass in front of it. These pictures were taken on my phone, so the quality IRL is sharper/brighter than they look here though.
 
This is a slightly better example, taken with the Press 50mm. There’s still compression on upload, but the edge definition is clearer.

IMG_3113.jpeg

IMG_7152.jpeg

Edit - Looking at this on the forum via my laptop, the site compression makes a huge difference!
 
Old Oak 002.jpg
 
ChrisR said:
There do seem to be a few cameras turning up with more control than the basic Fuji Instax, these days. I'm not particularly keen, but seeing daughter's fridge papered with Instax photos did make me reconsider for a bit. It would have to be Wide for me, I think.
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The one I was thinking of was the Lomo Instant Wide Glass. Quite expensive and huuuuuuge, but the quality should be better than Fuji's plastic lenses.
 
Post Box 001.jpg
 
I wonder how much a sheet of 20"x20" Polaroid film costs and if they still make it ? Some interesting vids on YouTube about it !
 
I don’t think any Polaroid is still made - I looked into it a bit as Polaroid backs for hasselblads are cheap but you can’t get the film.
 
the_accidental said:
I don’t think any Polaroid is still made - I looked into it a bit as Polaroid backs for hasselblads are cheap but you can’t get the film.
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You can get still get regular Polaroid instant film (although it's not the original stuff - it had to be re-engineered by The Impossible Project, who were later renamed to Polaroid after their main investor bought the brand). Peel-apart pack film is sadly no longer manufactured though and the only way yo acquire it is expired stock (which is extremely expensive!).
 
stevelmx5 said:
Is that a digital effect for the branding/"Don't put in mouth" warning around the image, as they're normally on the back of an Instax sheet?
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Yes it's on the reverse Steve, I just fooled around in Affinity and kind of liked the result.
 
the_accidental said:
I don’t think any Polaroid is still made - I looked into it a bit as Polaroid backs for hasselblads are cheap but you can’t get the film.
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As @FishyFish said above, Polaroid as a company is still going albeit with new owners, formerly The Impossible Project who have re engineered the integral film but sadly, the peel apart stuff most recently made by Fuji is no more so the back that used it for medium format cameras are somewhat redundant, although there are some companies trying to do peel apart like these...

One Instant

supersense.com supersense.com

BADGER.BRAD said:
I wonder how much a sheet of 20"x20" Polaroid film costs and if they still make it ? Some interesting vids on YouTube about it !
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Polaroid themselves DO still make 8x10 Polaroid film at £179 for a box. That's as big as you can get now.
 
Here is a shot from old, defunct Instax Wide 100.

1745327445719.jpeg

This from Fuji FP 100C in a Polaroid (also defunct) camera.

1745327497944.jpeg

I bought a replacement for the Wide recently, The Lomo’Instant Wide Glass, pretty good, but at the moment I cannot find the recent batch of photographs which I added to an old photographic album which had a bit of space in it. Can I identify the album?
 
I cannot find the recent batch of photographs which I added to an old photographic album
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This is the reason (as well as geotagging) that I take pics of my instax at the time of shooting. If I don't future-me will forget where past-me put them. :)
 
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