Instant Instax

   I wanted to begin using the Fuji Instax Wide camera again, especially since there’s less harsh light this time of year. The Fuji Instax film is rated at ISO800 which isn’t that good for bright sunny days and can even give you problems on moderately sunny days with lens flare, even when the light source is behind you. If you need faster film you have to use either Polaroid 600 film which is rated at ISO600 or their SX70 film which is rated at ISO100. In my opinion Polaroid has too many problems to consider using unless you have plenty of money to spare. While their cameras are better than Fuji’s you will pay a hell of a lot more especially if you want to use their SX70 film. But the film itself is expensive and has a few problems. A pack of film is about $20 for only 8 exposures while the Instax Wide is about $11 color and $13 for monochrome, and that’s for 10 exposures. The Polaroid is also very limited to what temperature the film can be used in without colorcast and color shift happening. I won’t even get into other development problems.

  In a perfect world Polaroid would make the cameras and Fuji would make the film.

  I finished the pack of Monochrome film that has been sitting in the camera since spring. I love taking photos of the electricity transmission towers. I’ll continue doing so as long as I find new ones to photograph and have the Monochrome film in the camera which brings up my biggest problem with the Instax Wide right now. The shortage of Wide Monochrome film for well over a year. Fuji hasn’t mentioned anything about it and most of the packs being sold on the internet have either been expired for 4 years or are being sold at exaggerated prices by profiteers. I hope the problem gets fixed soon.

This week I loaded color film into the camera, I really want to like and continue using the color film but color has never come easy to me. These photos are all from my neighborhood and the Wissahickon Park.

 If I can continue to acquire packs of film I’ll continue to use the Instax Wide camera but at some point Fuji needs to release a better wide camera like they have several times for their mini and square film. Speaking of the square film I was very excited when Fuji said they were going to release square film but quickly I became disappointed when I found out it was small than Polaroid film.

  There are a few other companies that make a wide camera but one doesn’t have a great reputation and the other costs $900 which I find ridiculous. Come on Fuji make a better camera.

UPDATE - It turns out that my Fuji Wide 300 has light leaks coming from its lens barrel, thus putting an end to my experiment with instant photography for a while.