Through Rikyū’s writings, I was introduced to the phrase ichi-go ichi-e (一期一会), which literally means “one time, one meeting.” Wikipedia describes it as the “cultural concept of treasuring the unrepeatable nature of a moment” – a reminder that each meeting is unique, and we should cherish it as such. Even if the same people meet at the same place again, a particular gathering can never be replicated. We can never step in the same river twice.

Last year I bought a Fujifilm Instax Square SQ1. It’s an instant camera, as the name suggests, which takes pictures on square-format film. 

This article is not a review of the Instax Square SQ1 – for that I refer you to James’s excellent piece which influenced my decision to get this camera. For now, the only thing I want to emphasize is just how simple it is. The camera lacks some of the more advanced features of certain other Instax cameras, such as a way to preview our images before we print them, exposure compensation, and self-timer. In fact, the SQ1 literally has just two controls – a dial for activating Selfie (or close-up) Mode, and a shutter release button.

Despite – or perhaps because of – this extreme simplicity, the Instax Square SQ1 is a joy to photograph with, and I use it more than I expected.

Fujifilm Instax Square SQ1 Review - Simple, Square, Instant Photography

James reviews Fujifilm's newest Instax camera, the strikingly pretty and surprisingly capable Instax Square SQ1.

Photography, in a sense, is the art of capturing fleeting moments. For a while now, I have been thinking about the idea of ichi-go ichi-e – one time, one meeting – and how it applies to photography. I like taking pictures, and in addition to my phone, I tend to carry at least one other camera with me. With digital cameras, I often take dozens of (sometimes indistinguishable) photos. But what if I met a friend and limited myself to just one portrait? Would precious moments be lost to me forever, unrecorded and forgotten? Or would that one recorded moment somehow assume greater significance and value?

Instax film, I thought, would be especially apt for a project like this. You press the shutter, an exposure is made, and a single square of film is ejected from the camera. You can scan it of course, as I have done for the photos in this article. But unlike a digital image, an Instax is a tangible thing. And unlike a conventional film photo, it’s unique (you can make multiple prints from a single negative, but an Instax image is one of a kind). What better medium for a project about the precious and unrepeatable nature of a moment in time?

My SQ1 came with a free cartridge of Instax Square Monochrome film. Each cartridge has 10 sheets – a manageable number. I set out the parameters of my project: simple and spare, in keeping with the overall philosophy. One photo per friend. No retakes, even if I mess it up.

My first subject was Kwang, who has collaborated with me on any number of photography experiments.

The Instax Square SQ1 has an always-on flash, and while direct on-camera flash is undeniably a vibe, sometimes it can be interesting to mix things up. One way to hack it is to use an off-camera flash with an optical receiver function, which means that it can be set to fire when it “sees” another flash.

For this shot, I set up a Godox AD100 flash on camera-left, with a $5 white umbrella as a shoot-through diffuser. When making the exposure, I held a small piece of foil at an angle in front of the SQ1’s flash. The foil deflected the flash off to the left; it didn’t light Kwang herself, but the off-camera Godox AD100 “saw” the flash and fired synchronously.

This photo, and a few others in this set, are actually shot in Selfie mode. The Instax Square SQ1 is optimized to focus at about 6-10 feet in default mode. This is good for half-body or full-body shots, but if I want to frame more tightly, I switch to Selfie mode. All this does is to bring the focus distance forward to around 18 inches. Selfie mode is intended to be used with the camera pointing towards yourself – there’s a selfie mirror next to the lens, to help you frame the shot – but you can also just shoot as normal (camera pointing forward) which is what I do for close-up portraits.

Unlike Kwang, whom I’ve known for years, Muzi and Wu Chi are new friends; the day I took these two photos was only my second time meeting them. One weekend Muzi texted me saying, “Want to go to a dog cafe? Can pet puppies.” She asked me this with no preamble whatsoever – without even pausing to ascertain if I like dogs. I was amused, and since I had never been to a dog cafe before, I said yes.

I thought perhaps Wu Chi, the third member of our impromptu excursion, was a dog-lover. I asked her as we entered the cafe.

“Um, actually I’m a bit afraid of dogs,” she said. But after a while, she was comfortable enough to pose with a big Samoyed.

Afterwards we went to a restaurant which specializes in food from Dongbei (northeast China). In the photo, Muzi is holding a giant pork rib. Unlike the earlier shot of Wu Chi, I took this in selfie mode from about 18 inches away, and for me, it’s the least successful photo of the set.

The Instax Square SQ1 is a compact camera with a direct (as opposed to through-the-lens) viewfinder, so when you’re that close, you have to watch out for parallax. Clearly I wasn’t paying enough attention, because the framing is off and Muzi’s face is mostly obscured. Oh well.

The next photo, on the other hand, is one of my favorites. My friend Russ worked on a textile and light installation at a mall here in Singapore. The drapes were shiny white, Instax film has a relatively narrow dynamic range, and the SQ1 has no exposure compensation. I wasn’t sure if it would capture the highlight detail on the cloth, but it did a fine job in the end.

That same afternoon, we went to Peace Centre – a mall built in the 1970s which is now being demolished. In the last few months before its demise, with the stores shuttered and the tenants gone, the mall has been given over to artists, performers, thrift stores, exhibition spaces and graffiti. Kai (in picture) was the one who suggested we check it out, and I’m glad we did – just one day before it closed for good. It was my first and last time at Peace Centre, so this photo of all the ones in my set feels like the most literal embodiment of ichi-go ichi-e.

The Instax photo was taken outside, but I’ve also included a couple of shots made with my Fuji X-E4, where I tried to capture the vibe inside the mall.

The next two photos are both in my apartment, but on different days – Tomoe looking at her negatives (she came to pick them up from a film lab in my neighborhood) and Redwan helping me cook a lavish meal for two. The photo of Tomoe is over-exposed – Instax can be a bit hit-and-miss – but in the one of Redwan, the camera did a great job of balancing the bright background (natural light) and Redwan who was lit by flash.

I wanted at least one full-body photo in the set, and I saw my opportunity during a dance shoot with my friend Olivia. We shot a whole sequence under the water-tower with my Fuji X-E4. Then, as we were moving on to the next location, I took a quick candid on Instax of Olivia walking downhill.

“I think my eyes were closed,” said Olivia. But I stuck to my self-imposed limitation of one photo per friend; no retakes. Her eyes are indeed closed, but you only see it if you look closely.

There were two of us taking photos of Olivia that day – me and my friend Li Ling who is a wonderful family photographer, but wanted to try her hand at dance photography. After the shoot, we went to a ramen place for dinner, and I asked Li Ling if I could take a picture of her. Like a lot of photographers, she doesn’t like being in photos, so it’s apt that she’s hiding behind her camera, incidentally also a Fuji.

During the Lunar New Year weekend, my Chinese friends took me to a karaoke bar. One of them – Muzi – had already featured in my project (albeit partly hidden by a pork-rib), but the other two had not: Irene, who was leaving Singapore and going back to Shanghai that very night, and Huiwen, who I meet several times a week but had somehow not yet taken a photo of.

At that point I had just one shot left, so I decided to set aside my one-pic-per-friend policy and take a group photo. Rules and constraints are all very well, but they are a means to an end, and ichi-go ichi-e, after all, is about cherishing the time we spend together. It was the last shot of the pack, and a last evening of togetherness before Irene left for China. Let’s not overthink this, I thought. What would Sen no Rikyū do?

When the film ran out, I loaded another cartridge – color film this time. One of the karaoke-bar staff offered to take a photo of us. The picture developed to collective oohs, we all signed it with a marker, and Irene had a nice little souvenir to take back home to China.

Isn’t Instax wonderful?

I enjoyed my ichi-go ichi-e project, and I got a lot out of it. Some nice photographs, a better understanding of the strengths and limitations of the Instax Square SQ1, and most importantly, some happy memories.

By limiting myself to one photo per friend, I found myself devoting more thought to how and where I want to portray them. Some were pre-planned – Li Ling is a photographer, so I wanted to show her holding a camera – while others were spur-of-the-moment decisions.

An Instax photo can be scanned or otherwise reproduced, but the original is unique; it has what Walter Benjamin called the aura of the authentic. Like the moment itself, the Instax image can never truly be repeated or replicated. For these and other reasons, Instax – more so than a digital or even a film photo – feels like an event. You take the photo, a blank white square is ejected, and there is the breathless wait to “see what came out.” The reactions become a part of the experience, and part of the memories too. “Oh no, my eyes are closed!” (Olivia) “What a photo, I look like an artist!” (Redwan) “We look so alive!” (Huiwen)

The Japanese tea ceremony (chanoyu or “the way of tea”) has many different styles and philosophies. Sen no Rikyū, whom I mentioned earlier, is associated with wabi-cha, a school of chanoyu which emphasizes radical simplicity. Rikyū wrote, “All you need to know about chanoyu is this: boil the water, make the tea and drink it.” Using the Instax Square SQ1 is a bit like that: point the camera, press the shutter and make the picture.

And what kind of picture do you get? Most of the time, a good one – or at least, that has been my experience so far. Sometimes, the picture is out-of-focus or off-kilter. But if so, what of it? Memories are sometimes out-of-focus or off-kilter too.

The Instax Square SQ1 is a simple camera, but I am a simple photographer. By limiting our options, the camera sets us free. By getting out of the way, it lets us immerse ourselves in the moment. Olivia dancing down a grassy slope. Wu Chi nervously petting a Samoyed. Cooking with Redwan. Making new friends, and saying goodbye to old friends, hoping we’ll meet again soon. Moments pass, but some leave a mark. And when all is said and done, isn’t that what photography is about?

One time, one meeting. And if we are lucky, a picture to remember it by.

Fuji Instax and Polaroid Instant Camera Buyer's Guide!

We spotlight every single instant film camera available to buy right now in today's instant camera buyer's guide!

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Sitting alone in my office I can think of dozens of examples of people who do the same thing over and over while expecting different results, and these people are as far from the actual definition of insanity as it’s possible to be.

How many rockets exploded on the launch pad before the Saturn V successfully delivered a human being to the surface of the moon?

I think also of a small child strapped into ice skates, feet jittering on a lake of ice, firing slapshot after slapshot toward a gaping net and missing every time. But the child keeps shooting expecting that, eventually, one will go in.

My daughter failing to hold a handstand over and over. The bird watcher who walks the same woods every week in hope of seeing a rare bird that they’ve never seen. Old-timey prospectors, panning for gold.

The whole of life is repeating the same things over and over. Sometimes things work, sometimes they don’t. Doing things over and over and enjoying the unpredictable results is the reason we’re here. There’s nothing “insane” about it.

But I must admit, this week, that the flimsy bon mot around insanity has started to sound a bit more solid for one simple reason. Because I’ve been shooting Polaroid film.

The Three Fs of Polaroid Photography

This week, I discovered my own witticism. That there are three F words that encompass the whole experience of shooting Polaroid film.

The first F is a happy one. Fun!

I load a fresh pack of Polaroid 600 film into my delightfully retro Polaroid Amigo (what a name) and smile down at the small box of ‘80s tech cradled lightly in delicate hands. The expectation that I’m about to make beautiful, unpredictable, experimental (ooh, experimental – I’ve read the word in Polaroid’s press releases!) instant photos is too tantalizing.

I wander around dumbly, my eyes crinkled, the corners of my lips lifted in a slight innocent smile. I can’t wait to take a picture.

This is the fun.

I love my daughters. They’re cute and happy and always oblige me when I ask to take their photo. Today is no different. I place my oldest on a stool by the window, where natural light streams inward upon one side of her face. It’s a basic window light portrait that I’ve shot hundreds of times in the last decade. But it’s pretty.

I frame her in the charmingly vacant viewfinder, nothing more than a square of hollow plastic passing through the camera, and press the shutter release.

The mechanical Polaroid shutter flicks open to capture the light. I hold still, and so does my daughter. She’s well-trained by years of her father using old, slow, rather dumb cameras. The shutter flicks closed, and the whirring gears of the Amigo fire to electric life.

The Polaroid photo is gripped by a metal hook deep within the belly of the camera. It’s drawn forward to the spinning compression rollers and squeezed through, the development chemical raked across the exposed photo material to create the slowly-developing instant photo.

The picture ejects smoothly from the camera, and, miraculously, a photo has been made. I gingerly take it from the camera and place it face down on the table allowing it to develop over the next twenty minutes.

During those twenty minutes I look for more photo opportunities. I shoot a shot of the family dog, now old and whitened, with strange skin growths that the vet assures us are normal and weakening hip joints that slow him down just a little. The photo ejects with the whirring clatter, and it joins its developing predecessor on the table.

A still-life of some sort of grass my wife tells me looks nice. A close-up photo of my second daughter, smiling. A shot of a retro electronic device that I love. A photo of a homemade birthday card featuring the Nintendo character, Kirby.

I’ve shot eight shots in fifteen minutes. I give the photos half a day to develop there, on the table.

When I come back to the photos later that night, the fun is over.

Now it’s time to consider those exploded rockets. Those missed slapshots. The gold a lie. The prospector lying desiccated in a river-less canyon, his only reward the corpse of his pack mule laden with bags of bad luck.

The second F is Failure.

The first shot of my first child is brutally under-exposed. The image is blurry. There’s no sharpness and zero shadow detail. It’s a terrible photo.

The still-life of the decorative grass is exposed well enough, but the entire shot is soft and the framing is way off. The charmingly unsophisticated viewfinder lacks parallax correction for close-up shooting.

The photo of the electronic toy is barely visible. The homemade birthday card is indecipherable. There’s one picture that’s nothing more than a blank, blueish-brown nothing.

The close portrait shot of my second child is also under-exposed. Her beautiful smile is barely visible. There’s an over-bearing green cast dousing the entire image in a sickly hue. It’s like the office sequence of The Matrix, except we don’t have that cool flip phone.

I’m disappointed. In myself. In the camera. In the film. Maybe I didn’t plan enough. Maybe I shouldn’t expect so much from Polaroid film. Maybe I needed more light, or a camera with a flash, or fresher film.

I drive to Target and buy two more packs of film at $21 a pack. Forty-two dollars for sixteen photos.

I load the film into two different cameras. One is another retro camera, the Polaroid 600 One Step. This camera also lacks a flash, but buoyed by quiet self-assurance that if I adjust the exposure compensation dial I’m sure to get better shots, I press on. I load the second pack into the modern Polaroid One Step 2. This new camera has a flash, new circuitry, and has given good results in the past.

I spend the next week shooting instant photos of life. My young daughter’s birthday celebration, the birthday cake, her indoor camping trip in our living room (complete with tent). A winter morning as we make our way to school. Shots of my other interests and projects in vintage electronics and game systems. More pictures of my dog. Photos of fruit.

Throughout the process I become painfully familiar with the third F of Polaroid photography.

The third F is Frustration.

Though I’ve had success shooting Polaroid film and cameras in the past, I’m not sure it’s worth it these days. And that’s what’s frustrating. The uncertainty.

The good Polaroid photo is too elusive. Acquiring it makes no sense. The shots are under-exposed, except when they’re over-exposed. The shots are never sharp. The flash is too flashy, except when it doesn’t fire for some unknown reason. Sometimes the development chemical spreads unevenly, or not at all. Occasionally the camera spontaneously ejects a photo without making it into a photo.

My vast experience with making photographs does not help.

I adjust exposure. Does nothing. I use a flash or don’t use a flash. Doesn’t really matter. I frame the shot with my own estimated parallax compensation. Might as well smash the camera. I shoot outside. I shoot inside. I shoot in a studio with full light kit. I use a tripod. I do everything I can to make it work, and it doesn’t work. At least, it doesn’t work well enough.

Fuji Instax and Polaroid Instant Camera Buyer's Guide!

We spotlight every single instant film camera available to buy right now in today's instant camera buyer's guide!

See, the thing is, Fuji makes Instax film and cameras to shoot it. The film works. The cameras work. And I hate to say it, because I truly love Polaroid’s cameras, Polaroid’s history, and that Polaroid film is bigger than Fuji’s, dimensionally.

But Polaroid film never works. At least, not consistently or well enough to justify the cost.

What’s most confounding, though, is that I’ll still buy Polaroid film and I’ll still shoot Polaroid cameras. I can’t stop. I don’t know why.

What was that bon mot, again, about insanity?

This article launched with the headline that Polaroid photography brings with it three Fs. Fun, failure, and frustration, in that order.

But there’s another F word that comes with making Polaroid photos, a fouth F word that I left out of my newly crafted witticism. The fourth F word is, in fact, the one that I mutter most when shooting Polaroid film. But you’ll have to use your imagination, because this particular F word is not fit to print.

You can get your own Polaroid at F Stop Cameras (my shop)

Get your Polaroid on eBay here

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Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo Camera Review

The Instax Mini Evo is Fuji's newest Instax Mini instant film camera, and it's also a digital camera. See why that's so great in this review.

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We’re heading into the holidays of yet another year in which film photographers have seen price increases, discontinuations of beloved films, and supply chain issues. But if there’s one thing we know about the future of film, it’s that instant film isn’t going anywhere. Fujifilm and the latest incarnation of Polaroid are still manufacturing loads of film, and if you walk into a Target or CVS you’re more likely to find instant film and instant cameras than rolls of 35mm film.

Instant cameras may not offer the highest image quality or creative control, but they make fun gifts for people who just like to take pictures, and sometimes the control freaks among us just need to let go and have fun. And you know how people are always saying to print your pictures? Instant cameras do that! In fact, as roll film becomes more expensive, you might find that the price per image of instant film is actually pretty competitive these days.

Anyway, let’s get to the cameras. Here’s a complete list of every instant film camera you can buy today.

Fujifilm Instax Cameras

Fuji Instax cameras and Instax film comes in three sizes: the cheap, credit-card-size Instax Mini, the mid-sized Instax Square, and the larger aptly named Instax Wide.

Let’s start small.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 11 – There are lots of camera options which use Instax Mini film, ranging from brightly colored to more classically styled. The Mini 11 is the latest iteration of the entry-level Instax camera. This is the camera you get for your kid, tween, or for your friend who wants an instant camera but doesn’t know much about photography, or for your friend who knows everything about photography but wants a camera that’s not black or chrome.

The main improvements from earlier Minis are automatic exposure (no more setting for sunny/cloudy etc.) and better flash compensation. There’s a selfie mode that also works for closeups and… basically no other features. Which is a good thing. Simply point and shoot!

The Instax 11 costs just $59 and also comes in a variety of bundles with film, cases, frames, albums, stickers, and anything else you can imagine attaching to a camera or its resulting images for fun. If you have a child (or just an inner child) they probably want one, even if they don’t know it yet.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 40 – If your inner child is trying to act more grown up, there are slightly less cute Instax options. The Instax Mini 40 has retro black-and-chrome styling but still shoots auto-everything. Its creative features (or lack thereof) are basically identical to those of the Instax Mini 11, but it wouldn’t even think of existing in purple or having stickers on it. It costs $89.

Fujifilm Instax Mini Neo 90 / Neo / Classic – A step up from both the Mini 11 and Mini 40 in creative control, the Instax Mini 90/Neo/Classic (some combination of those words) comes in analog-looking combinations of black, red, and brown with silver, and offers bulb mode, double exposure mode, and exposure compensation. The macro mode behaves similarly to the Instax 11’s and 40’s selfie mode, allowing for subjects as close as 30 cm, but the name is geared toward photographers who are more likely to take a picture of a flower than themselves. It costs $119.

Fujifilm Instax Mini LiPlay – The final mini camera in Fujifilm’s lineup is the hybrid Mini Liplay. The main advantage of this camera is that it allows you to take images digitally and select which ones you want to print, so you don’t need to waste film, although it somewhat dampens the serendipity and slightly delayed gratification of direct-to-film instant photography. It also offers a bunch of filters and frame options to customize your prints, and through some curiously applied wizardry it allows you to save a sound as a scannable QR code to turn your image into a multi-sensory memory.

It also allows you to use your phone as a remote shutter release (my ears finally perked up). Most of these are features I would never have thought to ask for, but they might be perfect for you or someone on your list. It costs $159.

Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo – This is the newest Fuji Instax Mini camera, and it might be the best one ever made. James reviewed it recently and said as much, after all.

It’s a hybrid digital/instant film camera, which means that we have ultimate control over whether or not the camera prints the photos we make. Take the photo, and we choose to print it or not! It also offers ten different “lens effects” (double exposure, light leak, etc.) and ten “film effects” (pale, vivid, sepia, etc.) to apply to your digital images. It can even print images directly from your smartphone using the (amazingly good) app!

The fast 28mm lens, classic styling, and extensive features (including exposure compensation as well as selective printing and all the effects) will appeal to more serious photographers. It will cost around $200, which is a lot for an Instax camera, but may be worth it for a camera that can give you the images and user experience you’re looking for. A full review of the camera can be seen here, and when you’re ready to spend $199 to own the best Instax Mini camera in the world, you can do that from B&H Photo here.

If your head is spinning from all that, take a deep breath and get ready for the Square and Wide Instax cameras!

Let’s talk about squares, first. Most people of my generation (I’m a youngish Gen X-er) grew up with Polaroid instead of Instax, and that classic square image is still what we think of when we think of instant film. The Instax square image is a little smaller than regular Polaroid film, but like all Instax, its colors are more saturated (the black and white film is cooler than Polaroid’s, tending toward purply), it develops more quickly, and the developed image is more stable than Polaroid’s current emulsion. Plus, while Instax Square costs more than Mini film and doesn’t come in a zillion frame options, it’s cheaper than Polaroid.

Fujifilm makes two cameras for its Instax Square film.

Fujifilm Instax Square SQ1 – The SQ1 is the most basic Instax Square camera that Fujifilm currently makes. It offers no user control besides selfie mode. Even so, James loves his for its simplicity and its ability to take great photos despite (or because of?) its lack of features [see his full review here]. It also comes in colors like terracotta and glacier blue that are fun but a little less tween-girly than the Instax Mini 11 colors. If you’re looking for a point-and-shoot Instax camera that is a little more mature and shoots a bigger image than the Mini options, this could be it. It costs $99.

Fujifilm Instax Square SQ6 – The Instax SQ6 is a more advanced camera than the SQ1. It includes features such as double exposure, selfie, macro, and landscape modes, and exposure compensation (well, light and dark modes). It comes in a variety of metallic colors, something rather different from the candy-colored Instax Mini 11 and the retro styled Mini 90. It comes with three flash filters in different colors, and more importantly for a lot of photographers, allows the flash to be turned off – which you’d think would be a given, but isn’t, for a lot of Instax cameras. This camera has been quietly discontinued by Fuji, so in a couple of months it may be difficult to find one. This likely means that a new mid-level Fuji Square camera is coming soon. For this reason, your best bet to buying one will be to find one on eBay. It costs around $139

Fujifilm Instax Square SQ20 – The Instax square also comes in a digital/film hybrid option, the SQ20. Like the Liplay, it gives the user the ability to select images for printing (adding a “time grab” feature to select a frame from a short video) and add various filters to images. It also takes advantage of the larger print area to allow for collages. Bulb, double exposure, and brightness control allow more creativity to the more experienced photographer. This camera has also been quietly discontinued by Fuji, so in a couple of months it may be difficult to find one. This likely means that a new digital/film hybrid Fuji Square camera is coming soon. For this reason, your best bet to buying one will be to find one on eBay. It costs around $200.

Want the biggest Instax instant photo you can get? Then you want to shoot Instax Wide film. And to do that with an official Fuji camera, there’s only one option.

Fujifilm Instax Wide 300 – The only camera option from Fujifilm for this format is the Instax Wide 300. There’s one color choice (black and silver). There’s a flash that you can use for fill lighting in backlit situations, but you can’t turn it off. There’s exposure compensation.  There’s a tripod socket. And that’s it. But it takes big photos  If you want an Instax Wide camera with more features, there are a few offered by other companies, and we’ll get to those later in this article. It costs $109.

Fuji is the most prolific of the instant camera manufacturers. Now that we’ve covered them, let’s turn to Polaroid.

Here’s Every Polaroid Instant Film Camera

Polaroid, which has metamorphosed from the Impossible Project to Polaroid Originals and now back to just Polaroid again (with maybe a little DNA from the original Polaroid), still makes cameras that use that big square film that Outkast says you should shake it like. But don’t! Stick it in a dark place and don’t look at it for half an hour or so. Polaroid refurbishes classic SX-70 and 600 cameras for resale, and also makes several new cameras that can shoot both 600 film and the company’s i-Type film that uses the battery in the camera instead of each pack coming with its own. It’s a little cheaper than SX-70 and 600 film, and a little more environmentally friendly.

Polaroid Now – The Polaroid Now is the entry-level Polaroid camera, perfect for beginners, or those who are looking to have fun and not worry about photography beyond pointing and shooting. If you’ve a young kid who’s interested in a Polaroid camera, this may be the one to buy. It is an autofocus point-and-shoot camera in typical Polaroid boxy form that comes in black with that nifty little rainbow as well as a bunch of bright color options like Mint Green and Yellow. Along with ease of use, it offers basic features like double exposure and self timer modes. It uses I-Type film and costs $120.

Polaroid Now+ -The Now+ is a more advanced but very similar camera to the Polaroid Now. The biggest difference is that the Polaroid Now+ connects to a mobile app that allows for far more creative control (finally, a camera with aperture priority!) and comes with five experimental starburst/color/vignette filters. Both cameras have internal rechargeable batteries. It uses i-Type film and costs $150.

Polaroid Go – Polaroid has its own recently introduced teeny film format for its almost equally teeny Polaroid Go camera. Instax Mini cameras shoot small formats in what are often bubbly, boxy cameras, but the Polaroid Go literally fits in the palm of your hand, or close, depending on your hands. Like the Polaroid Now, it features double exposure and self timer modes, but is otherwise an itty bitty point and shoot instant camera. For the shooter who likes the Polaroid aesthetic and small versions of big things, the Polaroid Go is the perfect gift. It even comes with a necklace so you can wear your camera. It shoots the tiny Go Film and costs $99.

That’s it for the cameras made by the current mass-market manufacturers of instant film. “But wait!” you (or your giftee) will say. “I’m a serious photographer! I don’t want hinky digital filters, I don’t want to connect my phone with Bluetooth. I want some control over my photos, and I want to stick my hinky filters to the outside of the camera!” Well, has Lomography got some cameras for you!

Lomography Instant Cameras

Lomography makes instant cameras for all three sizes of Instax film. We’ll cover those first .

Lomography Cameras for Instax Mini Film – The Lomo’ Instant and Lomo’ Instant Automat use Instax Mini film and come in a variety of colors, tending more toward the retro/analog look than the basic Instax Mini cotton candy shades. The two cameras are similar in appearance and features, but the original Lomo’Instant has a wider 48mm lens (27mm equivalent in 35mm) vs. the Automat’s 60mm lens (35mm equivalent). Both cameras automatically set exposure but give the user multiple creative options, including multiple exposure, bulb mode, exposure compensation, and flash control (i.e. you can turn it off, or add funky color gels). Optional add-on lenses allow for wide-angle, closeup, and fisheye shooting, and the lens cap on the Automat can be used as a remote shutter release. The Lomo Instant Automat Glass pairs these features with an even wider 38mm f/4.5 glass lens that allows more depth of field control than is possible with any other mass market instant camera, if you can nail the zone focusing.

Lomography Cameras for Instax Wide Film – Lomo makes one standalone camera for Instax Wide film, and one instant back. The Lomo Instant Wide shares multiple and long exposure features, flash control, and exposure compensation with its siblings, and also includes a PC sync socket that allows the use of external flashes.

The LomoGraflok 4×5 Instant Back might be hard to get under the tree this year if you haven’t preordered, but it is something entirely different from everything else we’ve covered so far: a film back for Instax Wide film that attaches to any 4×5 camera with a Graflok back. Of course you need to have such a camera already, but if you do, the LomoGraflok allows ultimate exposure control, and at the reasonable price of $149 (reasonable, that is, if you have a camera to attach it to). It’s clearly not meant for snapshots and requires an existing large format setup, but for the experienced photographer with the right gear who wants to make their own decisions about exposure settings and doesn’t want to spend a ton of money to shoot instant film, it’s a good way to get started.

These are the major manufacturers of instant cameras. There are a lot of other players, so I’ll briefly take a look at a few. These cameras tend to be more specialized, expensive, wonky, or some combination of the three.

Everyone Else Making Instant Cameras

Mint Camera refurbishes classic Polaroid SLR cameras and upgrades them with features such as shutter speed control, dual format compatibility (SX-70 and 600 film), and external flash sync. The prices reflect the amount of time and customization; they are not cheap, but they offer the most features of any Polaroid camera. They also produce modern Instax cameras: the InstantKon RF70 [see our full article here], a bellows-folding rangefinder with full shutter and aperture controls that shoots Instax Wide film, and the InstantFlex TL70 [see our full article here], a TLR with shutter speed control and exposure compensation that shoots Instax Mini film. The price of these cameras (also not cheap) is offset by Mint’s free film program, which sends registered Mint camera users a free pack of film for every four images taken by the camera that they post on social media (Instagram/Facebook) and get 45 likes on.

Like Mint, other companies such as Brooklyn Film Camera and Retrospekt refurbish classic Polaroid cameras, offering them for sale on their websites or restoring cameras which customers already own. They’ll also convert SX-70 cameras to use Polaroid’s higher ISO 600 films.

Jollylook is in the preorder stage for three instant cameras that look like little view cameras with folding bellows: the Auto Instant film camera in Instax square and mini sizes, and the Pinhole Zoom in mini size. The Auto cameras let the user choose the aperture aperture and automatically set the shutter speed, while the Pinhole comes with a fixed aperture and a neutral density filter to allow for longer shutter speeds with the fast (ISO 800) Instax film. They also sell Square and Mini development units for photographers who want to cobble together a back for their own camera.

The Nons42 SL42 shoots Instax Mini film in an SLR body that can accept a variety of lenses from different manufacturers, with a native non-electronic Canon EF mount. The camera can be purchased with a suitable 50mm lens to save the trouble of finding something compatible. The shooter chooses a shutter speed and the camera recommends an aperture for correct exposure. It’s an expensive way to shoot Instax mini film, but entirely unique among all the available options.

And then of course there are the hundreds of classic Polaroid cameras which you can buy from reputable camera shops such as F Stop Cameras (which is run by James, the founder of Casual Photophile) and Blue Moon Camera. You can also try your luck buying a used Polaroid camera on eBay, though when these are untested it is a definite risk.

That just about covers the easily available cameras for shooting instant film in 2021. If I’ve missed any (and I probably have!), please offer your suggestions in the comments. There might not be something for everybody, but there are so many choices that you should be able to find something for yourself or the aspiring instant film photographer on your list.

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

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​The Camera and Lenses

Alright gear heads, I hope you’re ready; there’s a bit to go through before we reach the central theme of this piece. I’ll start first with the camera.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “I don’t remember a Toyo Super Graphic, only the Graflex Super Graphic.” You wouldn’t be shamed by many people. Toyo purchased the manufacturing rights of the Super Graphic from Singer/Graflex in the early 1970s, with the earliest Toyo versions being produced in late 1973 and early ’74.

The camera body itself is just about the same as its older Graflex brother. They even share most of the same features; a revolving back, electronic shutter release for handheld use, rangefinders with interchangeable cams, and front standard swing. There is also what is called a flash computer, but from what I’ve been able to gather, it amounts to a calculator that resides at the top of the body to aid in flash metering.

Both the Graflex and the Toyo require an odd ball 22.5 volt battery for the electronic shutter release. I didn’t use it because I’m not enough of a mad man to use this camera handheld.

What lenses did I pair with this unstoppable force? I was extremely lucky to purchase this camera with three magnificent lenses, all three of which saw use over this last week.

First, the nifty fifty and the widest focal length of the three, a Nikkor-W 150mm f/5.6. For the uninitiated, calculating the 35mm equivalent of a 4×5 lens is quite easy, simply divide the focal length of the 4×5 lens by 3, and that is your 35mm focal length equivalent. This method is used to determine if you’re using a wider angle or more telephoto lens. Since the first lens in the trio is 150mm, divide that by three, and you get 50mm, which is arguably the most standard focal length in the 35mm format.

Next in the lineup is another Nikkor-W lens, the 210mm f/5.6. The optical formula of both of these large Nikkors is comprised of six elements in four groups. A simple, yet effective formula that we have seen in Nikon’s 35mm glass. Aperture diaphragms on both are comprised of seven blades. Both lenses stop all the way down to a minuscule f/64, a favorite of large format pioneers Ansel Adams and Group f/64.

The 150mm lens takes 52mm filters which is also the same size as my 35mm lens filters. This is an incredible upside since I won’t have to worry about investing in a set of filters for at least one of my 4×5 lenses.

Finally, to round out the lineup is a Fujinon T 300mm f/8. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find much information about this lens. The few various forums that I read that even make mention of this lens just write it off as decent. Which is kind of a shame because the portraits I made with this lens were incredibly sharp stopped down, soft at the edges wide open, and even made for a great lens for architecture and detail work. Once again, longer focal length lenses not getting the love and credit they deserve; where have I heard this before?

Film

The next item on the list, what film did I use? Well, since pack film has rode off into the sunset, Polaroid is not doing Polaroid things (deciding instead to create Bluetooth speakers), and wet plate collodion is chemistry class with a camera, I used the next best thing we have available – a Lomo Graflok Instax Wide back and Fuji Instax Wide film.

This might be blasphemous to the die hard instant shooters, but Instax Wide on 4×5 is near pack film quality. Before I’m banished from all instant film circles, let me plead my case.

Instax Wide doesn’t usually come to mind when discussing the greatest of the instant films. You usually hear mentions of the various Fuji FP series. Polaroid made its name with SX70, 669, and the multitude of consumer film for which it was world famous. Not to mention, the large format peel apart, namely 4×5 and 8×10. Ansel Adams, as well as many professional photographers loved this instant tool as a means of checking lighting, composition, and a print as well as a negative to use as a reference or a print on its own. Instax Wide has the ability to take the place of those once beloved instant greats.

Lomography graced us large format nerds with the Lomo Graflok Instax Wide back to use on cameras with what’s called a “Graflok” back, otherwise known as a camera with a Graflex style film back. Since my new Toyo is a Japanese Graflex, this makes it perfect for this use.

My experience with Instax Wide on 4×5 has been nothing short of refreshing and humbling. It reminded me that large format is nothing to rush and that a simple mistake can cost an exposure. Since Instax is readily available and significantly cheaper than sheet film, I had no qualms with making a mistake on Instax. After all, it’s all apart of the process.

The quality of Instax Wide is wonderful. The color film brings vibrancy, pastel if over-exposed just a touch, and the process of watching the image slowly come to life makes even the most casual of instant film shooters smile ear to ear.

Instax Wide is very capable at 800 iso which means you can shoot in broad daylight at f/32 or in low light, so long as you meter for your highlights or shadows. Unfortunately, latitude is not this instant film’s middle name. You need to meter for shadows and let the highlights be eradicated or meter for the highlights and let the shadows fall into Mariana’s Trench. There’s hardly an in between. You can do what I did and play around with over or under exposing by a third or two since the apertures on large format lenses are de-clicked which allows for more precise control of exposure.

In case you were wondering about my metering process, I use a Pentax Spotmeter V. As simplistic as it may be, this meter does exactly what I need it to do and that’s about it. Most of these new meters are a bit too space age for my taste.

Polacon

Finally, the main event. I acquired my new 4×5 at peculiar time; one week before Polacon 7. For the non-instant shooters, Polacon is an annual convention that takes place in Denton, TX. It’s everything you think it is – photographers who are passionate about the instant film process gather for photo walks, print sales and trades, talks, presentations, comparing notes, lamenting about instant film’s recent discontinuations, and of course, all of the instant photographs.

To prepare, I borrowed the Lomo Graflok back from a good photographer friend (thanks Jen!) and quickly learned my process for using such a method of shooting.

This year would be my first attending Polacon, so what better way to do it than by attending a morning photo walk on day two of the convention? I showed up with my Super Graphic on the tripod and was quickly met with smiles and greetings. Everyone was welcoming, enthusiastic, and ready to get the instant photos underway.

All instant film types were present, Polaroid 600, SX70, I-type, Polaroid Go, Duochrome, Fuji pack film, and even 8×10 Polaroids! It was truly a sight to behold. However, there were some bittersweet undertones the more I talked to various people. Perspectives ranged from all over as the people I talked to were from various states, Minnesota, California, Florida, other parts of Texas, and so on. That’s right, this instant film convention attracts people from far and wide. Which is a beautiful thing, but the more and more I talked to these various people from different walks of life, they all had the same concerns – how much longer is instant film going to be around? Kind of a buzz kill at a convention celebrating instant photographs, but a valid question nonetheless.

One simply can’t put into words the passion everyone had not just about instant film, but the raw process of photography it involves. Instant film isn’t the sharpest, the latitude is not great, and sometimes, it down right looks kind of terrible if the exposure just isn’t absolutely perfect. None of that matters here. This was an interesting perspective and a refreshing one to embrace since I always second, third, and fourth guess about my compositions and exposures, especially on large format.

At one point or another, we’ve all experienced snobbery to some degree at a photo walk or meet up; usually a Leica with a persona attached to it. Those Lenny Kravitz Editions are especially guilty. No such snobbery was present at Polacon. Cameras of all shapes, brands, and colors were snapping and clicking away. Images printing out left and right, portraits being taken every couple of minutes. Never have I experienced such a joyous gathering.

The Future of Instant Photography

You may think that since there is a growing convention here in Texas, that should bode well for the future of instant photography. Well, this is where things become a bit pessimistic. Let’s recap how we got here starting with the formation of The Impossible Project.

Impossible Project was formed by ten former employees of Polaroid in October of 2008 who were able to save the last Polaroid production plant in the Netherlands. The goal of this team was to reinvent materials for old Polaroid cameras. A task that was deemed “seemingly impossible” hence the name of the project.

It was announced in March of 2010 that Impossible was successful in recreating a monochromatic film for certain cameras, a success no one saw coming. Just one year before, in 2009, Fuji announced a discontinuation of FP100B, FP400B, and FP500B with shipments concluding in March of that year. In September of 2011, FP3000B45, the 4×5 version of its famous high speed black and white peel apart film was discontinued with all 4×5 instant pack film being discontinued by 2013. On February 29, 2016, an infamous day to instant film shooters, Fuji announced the discontinuation of FP100C, officially putting the nail in the coffin for the beloved pack film.

That was a condensed version of a long, painful timeline of events, but here we are in 2022. Instant film is still around, Fuji pack film sells for absurd amounts on the internet with expiration dates varying wildly, averaging $150 for a pack of 10 instant photos.

Polaroid markets itself as a lifestyle brand, most recently releasing Polaroid Music, a Bluetooth speaker for which no one was jonesing.

Impossible reached out to Fuji about purchasing one of the machines used to keep the fabled pack film afloat and Fuji essentially told them to kick rocks. Those machines have since been repurposed (more likely sold for scrap) to make cosmetics, which is the primary source of profit for Fuji outside of its digital cameras and Instax film. From what most people have heard whether it be word of mouth or internet conjecture, Fuji is only making pro grade and consumer 35mm and 120 film in the 21st century out of tradition for the absolute die hard photographers.

Just a couple months ago, I acquired a pack of FP100C and FP3000B and put them through my Mamiya RB67 equipped with the Polaroid back. It was a fun, rewarding experience and a way to loosen up and keep the photo-creating process intact without having to burn film that needs to be handled in absolute darkness when developing.

I gave most of my instant pack film prints away, which for some is heresy, but I did that because it excited onlookers to watch me peel apart these two thin pieces of paper and see a vibrant image come to life right before their very eyes. Don’t get me wrong, I get as excited as the next person about peel apart film, but it’s an experience that the uninitiated will remember for a long time. They don’t know the heartbreak of the discontinuation.

I implore anyone reading this who has an abundance of pack film stored away in their freezer to do one simple thing: load that film into your holder and shoot it. You are not doing that film any good by keeping it in your freezer or fridge. It’s already gone. I’ve made my peace by giving away most of my 100C and 3000B prints. The smiles on those strangers faces are worth more than what that instant film could have brought me personally.

I wasn’t around during pack film’s heyday, I was fumbling around with a Sony A6000 at that point. I understand that many people have made memories with pack film and want to extend the supply for that much longer. The more you attempt to extend the supply, the longer you keep it in that arctic dungeon, the less likely that film will look like what you remember. Life is already short, just shoot your pack film and cherish the memories you make while doing so. When it’s all said and done, not only will you have the memories, but you will also have some priceless photographs. Is that not why we love instant photography?    

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

The post Shooting Polacon with a Toyo Super Graphic and Instax Wide appeared first on Casual Photophile.

It takes digital photos, allows us to apply filters and lens effects to these photos, and then gives us the freedom to decide whether or not we want to instantly print those photos. It’s got Bluetooth, built-in storage, a big LCD screen, a nice CMOS sensor, and a selfie mirror (admit it, you care about this). It even works as an Instax photo printer to print any picture or image from a smartphone via its own dedicated app (which works surprisingly well).

I’ve spent the past couple of months shooting the Mini Evo, and though there are two or three problems with the camera, it really is a wonderful thing. It’s easily the best Instax Mini camera that Fuji’s currently producing. And though it costs about twice what the average Instax camera costs at $199, the plentiful features of the Evo perfectly justify this higher price.

Fuji Instax Mini Evo Specifications

• Camera Type : Digital Hybrid Instant Film Camera, also functions as a smartphone Instax photo printer
• Film Type : Instax Mini Film
• Image Sensor : 2560 x 1920mm (1/5″ type) CMOS
• Image File Format : JPEG
• Lens : 28mm f/2
• Focusing Modes : Automatic focus from 3.9″ to infinity
• Exposure Control : Automatic Exposure
• ISO Range : Automatic from 100 to 1600
• Shutter Speed : 1/8000th to 1/4 second in Auto
• Metering Method : Multi Through the Lens 256-zone metering
• Exposure Compenation : +/- 2 EV, user controlled
• White Balance : Automatic, user-selectable modes for flourescent, incandescent, sun, shade
• Self-Timer : Yes, 2 or 10 second delay
• LCD Display : 3″ fixed LCD display
• Flash : Built-in flash with automatic mode, and forced ON mode; flash range from 20″ to 59″
• Media and Storage : On board storage for 45 photos; One microSD card slot for added storage
• Battery : Built-in lithium-ion, charged via micro-USB cable
• Battery life : Approximately 100 shots per charge
• Wireless Connectivity : Yes, via Bluetooth connection to Fuji’s app for smartphones
• Dimensions : 4.8 x 3.4 x 1.4″ (123 x 87 x 36mm)
• Weight : 10.1 oz (285g)

Further Details of the Fuji Instax Mini Evo

The major points, to briefly reiterate, are these- digital camera, makes instant photos on Fuji Instax Mini film, pairs to smartphones via Bluetooth and an app, can print photos from phones. Looks good doing it.

On the surface, this camera is doing nothing that other Fuji Instax cameras haven’t done before. However, the beauty of the Evo is that it combines all of these core design features with a slew (a veritable slew, I tell ya) of secondary features. At the core of these primary and secondary features is user control.

Fundamentally, the camera allows the user to make the photos they want to make and print the photos they want to print – two things that aren’t necessarily the status quo in instant film photography. We can decide how a photo should look and then decide which of these become instant prints. Polaroid cameras and the more rudimentary or truly analog Fuji Instax cameras don’t typically allow this (with those cameras, you get what you get, and you get a print of every shot – good or bad). With the Evo, we shoot and shoot and shoot until the photo looks right, and then decide at any time whether or not a photo is worthy of becoming an instant photo (which is nice, considering that every Instax Mini photo costs close to $1.00).

The Mini Evo gives us exposure controls, white balance controls, lens filters, saturation adjustment, special effect filters, and more. In fact, Fujifilm boasts that the Evo can make images that benefit from 100 different combinations of effects.

Compared to other Fuji Instax film cameras, the Evo offers a degree of easy creative control that’s simply unrivaled. The Mini Evo isn’t a Fuji X Pro, but it’s as close as an Instax camera can get.

Controls and Practical Use

The camera is designed intuitively and everything works the way that it should. Instant film photographers who have used a Fuji Instax or Polaroid camera in the past will instantly understand what to do to make a picture, and anyone who’s used a digital camera with an LCD and menu buttons will understand, too. That effectively covers everyone who would ever be interested in this thing.

We turn on the camera and, if satisfied to only go that far, we simply point and shoot. The camera does all of the hard work of focusing, calculating exposure, and making a picture. A photo is made and displayed on the LCD screen. If we want to print it, we crank the delightfully tactile print lever (the style of which will be recognizable to many film photographers for its callback to the film advance levers of many of the most popular 35mm film cameras), and an instant photo ejects from the camera’s film slot.

There are two shutter release buttons, one on top and one on the front. This makes shooting the camera in both landscape orientation and portrait orientation feel natural. It also give us an easy method for shooting selfies, which is nice. I like taking selfies with my kids. It proves that I was there.

There’s an accessory shoe on the top plate, which is most useful for mounting a self-powered light, and a tripod socket on the bottom.

Additional buttons on the top and back of the camera control the advanced user controls, such as exposure compensation, flash control, white balance, and more. A dial on top controls the special effect filters. Just scroll through and the camera displays the selected filter name and its impact on the photo shown in live view on the camera’s LCD. The same functionality applies to a rotatable ring around the lens, except this one changes the lens effects.

I used the Evo during a coastal drive to Maine. Along the way north my family and I stopped at Cape Neddick, a rocky peninsula jutting aggressively into the marbled onyx waves of the Atlantic Ocean. From the cliffs of the peninsula we could see an island, upon which stands the Nubble Light, a homely light station that’s been lighting the seas around since 1879.

The skies were overcast and everything was grey, a typical day as we approach winter in New England. We stood against the wind and the salty spray of the bleak sea for as long as we could be bothered, which wasn’t long, considering we had a five- and seven-year-old in tow, and also considering that my idea of a perfect day is comprised mostly of sun and temperatures strictly higher than 79 degrees Fahrenheit.

As we retreated to the shelter of the car I cast a last glance back at the island. Just then the sun burned one small window through the clouds, casting lonely rays onto the light station. I wouldn’t call it a beacon from heaven, but in the least, it changed the formerly grey light house into its appropriately bright white.

I took a photo and reviewed it on the LCD. It was okay.

I adjusted my exposure compensation to bring the light down, and took another. This one was starting to look like something.

I added a monochrome filter to the shot by simply rotating a dial. And now we had a photo. One of my favorite instant photos I’ve ever made, in fact. It’s nothing special. But it’s moody and dark and interesting. Truthfully I could have made the same shot on another instant camera, but I certainly couldn’t have made it as easily or as inexpensively.

Similar control on a boutique instant camera will cost a lot (I’m thinking MiNT’s machines), or if I tried it on an older Polaroid with exposure control the photos simply won’t be as vivid (Polaroid film just isn’t as good as Fuji’s Instax these days), or the camera will be heavy (something like the Nons instant cameras could do it, but they’re bigger and heavier than the Mini Evo).

No, the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced. I couldn’t have made this shot the way that I did with another instant camera. And that idea has only further solidified as I’ve continued to use the Fuji Instax Mini Evo.

A few days ago I set up a photo shoot with a pear. The fruit. Nothing special. I wanted to illustrate all of the different looks that a photographer can get from the Mini Evo simply by doing nothing more than rotating the ring around the lens or the dial on the top.

Intentional chromatic aberration, mirrored imagery, vivid film simulations, lower exposure, lower saturation, artificial light leaks – the list goes on and on. And in use, it’s lovely. The variety and texture of these photos is wonderful. Pictures of a pear. Who would have guessed?

But the thing that’s been most exciting about my time with the Mini Evo is that it’s freed me from the stress of Instant Photography.

I would never have attempted this pear photo shoot with a Polaroid camera, or with my Fuji SQ1, a camera which I love, simply because it’s so expensive to waste film. I’d be fumbling around with actual glass filters, holding them in place over the lens, or I’d be changing colored gels in a soft box to get the desired effect, or I’d have to buy a prism to bend the light, and every time I took a photo I’d be spending up to a couple bucks, depending on the film and camera I chose.

Besides being prohibitively expensive, it would also be difficult. I’d never get the results that I was hoping for, and any decent photos would be (despite my claims to the contrary) nothing but happy accidents.

With the Mini Evo I’m free to shoot whatever I want, take a look at the results, and decide if they’re worth the money of a print. If not, I fiddle some dials and keep inching my way closer to a photo that looks good enough to force that chemical reaction.

Of course I could do the same with my phone and then print the shots with Polaroid’s analog printer. But, honestly, Polaroid film just isn’t that good. I think I’d rather do this.

The Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo Smartphone App

When I first received the Fuji Instax Mini Evo from my friends at B&H Photo, I was reluctant to try the accompanying smartphone app. I read about it and thought, “Oh, good. Another sluggish, poorly made afterthought of an app. Do I really need to download this?”

For the sake of this review, I did.

My preconceived notions were wrong. The app works brilliantly. It’s fast and responsive. Its user interface is highly legible and easily discernible at a glance. It connected my phone and camera within seconds, and worked flawlessly every time that I opened the two.

From the app it’s possible to remotely trigger the Evo to make a picture, change flash settings, and activate the camera’s self timer. The app is also able to transfer and save printed images from the camera onto the smartphone. Lastly, and most interestingly, the app allows users to direct print images from their smartphone onto the Instax film in the Mini Evo.

I spent a lot of time printing images from my phone, images that would have otherwise stayed locked in that digital tomb forever (or at least until I got around to having them printed professionally – so, likely never). And they came out beautifully.

What’s also enticing about the direct print feature is that the app also allows us to edit our print within the app before sending it to the camera for printing. It gives the ability to crop, zoom, rotate, add filters and to even correct brightness, contrast, and saturation. This is critical to tweaking an image to get the best possible Instax print.

Quick review of the Fuji Instax Mini Evo app – amazing job, Fuji. I couldn’t be more impressed.

Where the Instax Mini Evo Falls Short

Though it’s true that the Instax Mini Evo is (probably) the best modern, mainstream instant film camera that I’ve used, it does let me down in a few ways. These small issues are just that, small. But they exist, and here they are.

To start, Instax Mini film is, as the name suggests, quite mini. The physical photos with their now iconic white border are about the size of a business card at 2.1 x 3.4″ (54x 86mm), and the actual image area is naturally even smaller at 1.8 x 2.4″ (46 x 62mm). And that’s always been a problem for me. The pictures are just so small.

This can be seen as a good thing, in the right light. Instax Mini film is cute and fun, and they fit all snuggly wuggly into those similarly cute Instax Mini photo albums we see on the shelves in Target. The tiny film fits the aesthetic of the target demographic of the Instax film shooter. They’re good for kids and young people. But while my seven-years-old daughter adores the cute, tiny Instax Mini film prints, I inevitably find myself wishing they were bigger. This is why I have always been so taken by Instax Square cameras. But there’s no Instax Square camera as good as the Mini Evo. There just isn’t.

My second gripe is that the Instax Mini Evo has a design flaw, even if it’s not critical.

The flap that covers the ports on the bottom of the camera is made of flimsy rubber and it’s held in place with a truly ephemeral strand of fiber that I’m sure will break before the camera’s blown the candle out on it’s first birthday cupcake. I can easily imagine I’ll see a lot of Mini Evos come into my shop with missing flaps in the future.

Lastly, there’s no way to edit images that have already been shot in the Mini Evo before printing. This seems like such an oversight in the design that I was, in fact, sure that I’d made a mistake. I spent about two days researching how to edit pictures within the Mini Evo before printing. But I don’t think it’s possible. So any filter effects or lens effects that you’d like to apply to your images need to be made at the moment the image is made, or you’re out of luck. There’s no in-camera editing.

Final Thoughts

The takeaway on this one is simple. This is the best Fuji Instax Mini camera that you can buy right now. It’s more expensive than the average instant camera, but it’s worth the money, and in fact it will save money in the long run, since we’ll only be printing the photos we definitely want to print.

The creative control that it offers is second-to-none in the mainstream instant film camera market. It’s super compact, and easy to use. The photos it makes are lovely, and if they’re not, you can adjust your settings and try again. And, let’s not forget, it looks great! The Fuji Instax Mini Evo really is the only instant camera that Only Does Everything.

Buy your Fuji Instax Mini Evo from B&H Photo here

Find one on eBay here

Search for a camera at F Stop Cameras here

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

The post Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo Camera Review appeared first on Casual Photophile.

But in 2022, I made a bit of a promise to myself to only buy new cameras, or at least cameras where my money is going to someone involved in their manufacturing. So when I saw the In An Instant video hyping the Cameradactyl Rex, it seemed like the perfect time to take the plunge. 

As a really quick overview, the Cameradactyl Rex is a camera body that takes Mamiya Press lenses, able to shoot directly onto Instax Wide film with the Lomograflock without the cumbersome focusing shim, as well as 120 film with a Mamiya RB back. So you could use Instax to proof your film shot and not have to refocus.

This is not a full review of the Cameradactyl Rex system. I haven’t had enough time or run enough film through it to really be able to review it. But I’ve already learned quite a bit about it. It’s an intriguing system, so if you’re interested in learning from my initial fumbles with it, here they are. 

It’s not an idiot-proof system

This might not come as a surprise. Mamiya medium format cameras are generally geared at professionals, and couldn’t care less about people who don’t bother to read the flipping manual. As a simple enthusiast using a whole new camera system, I should have been prepared to be humbled. I added to the challenge by using a Mamiya 100mm f3.5 lens straight from eBay, unsure if it worked or what condition the glass was really in. My first shot was… let’s say, underwhelming.

How did I bungle focusing to infinity on my first shot, the biggest gimme in all of zone focusing? Was the lens at fault, was the Rex not designed for this lens and I missed the memo in the product listing? The answer was user error. It turns out that the 100mm f3.5 is a retracting lens, something indicated by a cryptic “Normal” sticker with a diagram of how to extend the lens. A panicked Instagram DM to Ethan later, I had the lens extended and was able to get the rather pedestrian test shot in focus.

You can use it inside without a flash

When I first committed to getting the Rex, I wasn’t sure how versatile it would be. The Lomograflock is a great 4×5 accessory, but having a camera bound to a tripod means I would realistically only ever use it on dedicated photographic excursions. The Rex held the promise of using it handheld.

When it arrived, I was a bit snowed in by a recent storm, so if I wanted to play with it, I had to take a lot of shots indoors. Mamiya Press lenses top out at f2.8, but since I didn’t want to spend upwards of $500 on a lens, I settled for the much cheaper aforementioned 100mm f3.5. To my surprise, I was often able to take shots inside with reasonable shutter speeds. A lot of this has to do with Instax’s 800 ISO. Wide open I was able to shoot at 1/60 with decent window light. With quiet leaf shutters, that’s pretty manageable without hand shake becoming an issue. 

Framing takes some practice

While the Rex comes with a ground glass to let you focus your shots, when you’re using it handheld, realistically you need a viewfinder. Ethan helpfully made ones for the common standard lenses in the Press system, even providing an adorable drawing of how to use it (by the way, the entire Rex manual is hand written and worth the price of the camera by itself). Even still, you need to get a feel for how to properly frame the camera. Plan on your first two packs of film to have some miscues. I found it most challenging using the camera vertically. And without parallax compensation, shots within five feet or so mean you have to guess a bit.

I ended up getting a different lens after using the 100mm for a while, and it came with one of Mamiya’s viewfinders. It’s a fantastically solid piece of kit, with manual parallax compensation. Even still, it also requires a bit of an adjustment, since the Instax negative is about 6×10 versus the 6×9 frame lines. 

Focus at your own risk

My current favorite 35mm camera is the Rollei 35. I’ve never had a camera that gives me pure joy every time I hold it up to my eye. It’s a zone focus 40mm f3.5 lens, and while I generally only consider shooting it at f8 and up, I’ve become really comfortable at estimating distances and have more keepers than I thought when I first got it. 

While the 100mm lens has about a 40mm equivalent field of view, it’s a very different beast to focus. I knew this going in, and figured I’d have to be more rigorous than the person-people-mountain focusing I can pull off on the Rollei. I used my iPhone’s Measure app to get a distance, dialed it in on the lens and basically front-focused every time.

Even backing up when things get more merciful and stopping down to f5.6, I was still just missing.

Now I know this is not the ideal use case right. I’m sure I’d have a much better hit rate outside stopping down to f16. But I live in northeast Ohio, so about a third of the year we’re inside, and that’s where I wanted to test it. In the end, I was having some shutter issues with the 100mm lens, so I opted to return it and get the 75mm f5.6. While it makes it a little less applicable inside (only enough windows light on sunny days to really use it), the difference is night and day. 

It’s not a handheld portrait system

The Rex has many wonderful strengths, but handheld portraits are not among them. The focusing issue I mentioned above contributes, although with a flash you could comfortably shoot stopped down and it wouldn’t be too bad. But the bigger issue are the designs of the Press lenses themselves. There’s a reason most of the other Mamiya system cameras use bellows, they let you get really freaking close. I used to own a Mamiya C33 and that thing could do near macro. The Press lenses, though, were designed for a rangefinder system. As such, the closest focus you get is about 1 meter. On the 100mm that’s good for about 1:10 reproduction, in my view the best choice for portraits. The 127mm will give you more compression, but you can only focus at 1.5 meters. Here is the 100mm at minimum focusing distance.

So head shots are out of the question. You definitely can do portraits with this camera, but I’d use a tripod and the ground glass for it. While I haven’t had a chance to use it as such, I’m really looking forward to testing the 75mm for environmental portraits, since it has a wide 30mm equivalent field of view, but can still pull off some nice compression. It’s not the Rex’s fault these lenses weren’t designed for close focus, but compared to something like the SX-70, or the Mint RF-70 for a more direct comparison, it loses out on a bit of the fun factor. 

Everyone will ask why the picture is upside down

People are used to instant photos that have the chemical pouch on the bottom of an image. I’m sorry, you’re going to have to explain this is just how the camera works. You’ll get used to it.

The Rex finally lets Instax Wide sing  

I’ve listed more than a few caveats about the Rex here, but let me be clear, it’s an amazingly fun camera. Instax can soak up all the detail these Mamiya lenses throw at it.

While you have to operate with very limited dynamic range, Instax colors make it worth getting it right. Blues lean into the cerulean hues to make them extra dramatic. Reds have a little extra saturation to make them pop, it’s just a great contrasty look. Underexposed skin tones can go a little green, but then if you’re missing exposure by over a stop, they’ll probably go to black anyway. And unlike volatile, if beautiful, Polaroid chemistry, Instax is stable enough that you don’t have to baby it. While you have to learn how to get the most out of the Rex, the stability of Instax film means you’re at least dealing with one less variable. I can’t tell you how many SX-70 shots have had me questioning whether they were metered poorly by the camera or were exposed by 0.5 seconds too long. 

For all these reasons, I feel like I’m still getting to know the Rex as a camera and figuring out how exactly I want to use it. I used it only once on a tripod, so I need to explore its capabilities there. Heck I’ve only used it outside twice due to snow storms striking exactly when I get a free moment. I’ve also not shot any 120 film with it, so I think more than a few rolls of Acros are in the Rex’s future. None of the things I’ve learned in these first few packs of films has diminished my excitement for the camera, or for the ingenuity it took to make it. After I really run it through it’s paces, I can’t wait to put together a full review. 

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