Today, I will review the Fujifilm Instax 100.
At first glance, the first thing you notice is how huge it really is. Much bigger than most cameras. Not really surprising since it is an instant camera but still bigger than Polaroid's SX-70 and 600's. The camera is designed essentially as an overgrown point and shoot. The pop out lens is a great reminder of that.
One of the great things about this camera is how it feels in your hand. The grip is very well designed and the plastic cone which surrounds the lens is a wonderful addition which helps greatly to stabilize the mammoth camera for vertical shots.
The other cool thing is this camera is a definite attention getter, especially at camera stores where most clerks react with a definite "this is totally sick" followed by a smile. But for most people on the street, it just looks awkward and weird since it is so big. They tend to expect to see small digital cameras, nothing this size. Also the fact that it was not widely distributed in Canada probably adds the its appeal (most salesmen at the camera store had never seen one in their life).
The camera operates quite quietly for an instant camera with auto eject. The picture comes straight out the top.
On first use, I noticed the film works very differently than Polaroid. The picture comes out with the white surface facing the photographer. This means that the image gets exposed through the back of the picture instead of the front. This is not unlike the old Kodak EK cameras of the 1970's. The prints also take longer to develop (about 1:30 minute) than Polaroids.
The camera is extremely simple to use. There is a flash on-off button which I noticed takes about a second to react. There is a red LED just under the viewfinder which indicates whether it is on or off. There is also another button which is used to select the focusing range: from either 0.9 - 3 meters or from 3 meters to infinity. This setting is indicated on a small digital readout on the back. Even though the camera exposes wide images by default, it seems it was more geared towards portraits since when you power it up, it instantly goes to the close focus mode. There is also a small switch for the exposure. You have the choice between lighten or darken with a single click in between. The range is not continuous like on most Polaroids.
The viewfinder is very bright without any markings whatsoever. It shows less image than there is in reality. The only thing is your eye has to be properly aligned with it to see the complete image.
One of the big pluses for me is the camera works with 4 AA batteries. This is great since you don't have to worry about the camera's film pack battery going dead.
On paper, the prints have surprisingly good colors. While being more vivid than Polaroids, they remain quite nice to the eye. There is also a slight out of focus on the images it produces which is quite different than whatever we're used to seeing in print media.
The camera was bought for 4$ at a garage sale and is in mint condition.
Since the camera is quite new to me, I feel I have yet to use it to its full potential. But up to now, I am quite pleased with how it handles.
Here are a few pictures of the camera and a few shots I took with it.
[Sorry, image deleted during forum software upgrade. Please re-upload if so inclined.]
