Topic: Fuji Instant film

[Francois]

Since we seem to sadly be witness to the slow death of the Polaroid Corporation, I got wondering about the instant films available.
Has anyone ever tried the Fuji Instax films and cameras?
What are they like?

[kuru]

I haven't tried the Instax, but have been shooting with their 3x4 pack films. So far only the color, but I've got a pack of the b&w too. The color shoots quite nicely.

[Skorj]

Has anyone ever tried the Fuji Instax films and cameras?

Not used the Instax stuff (which gives 600-like results), but I've used heaps of their peel-apart stuff. I will collate and make a review... Skj.

[Tammy]

The peel apart Fuji color films are VERY nice.  They don't manipulate though (no transfers, no lifts).  Just good for shooting.

Nothing really can replace the Polaroid stuff in my mind.  I had the chance to see a 20x24 chocolate Polaroid print (Xprocessed) and it kicked serious butt.

[Francois]

Thanks for the replies.
Here in Canada, the Instax stuff seems to be on every shelf... even at local grocery stores!
While Polaroid... I have to drive into the big city in order to find it.
I just discovered Spectra, 600 and 500 on the shelves of a local store. I'm waiting for them to liquidate the stuff as 22$ for a pack is quite expensive (I still have 2 Joycams and 2 "600" cameras to try)

I had the chance to see a 20x24 chocolate Polaroid print (Xprocessed) and it kicked serious butt.

How the heck do you cross process Polaroid?

[Tammy]

The term "Chocolate" print comes from the color of the Polaroid picture- having a rich chocolate tone.  It iis only possible when the receiver sheet is separate from the pod, as in larger sheets of Polaroid (8x10, 20x24).  After the image is exposed, the 2 sheets (negative and reciever sheet) are put together in a processor.  Anyway, a "chocolate" print comes from using a negative from Polacolor and a developer pod/reciever sheet from 100 speed bw (or 400 speed for the larger film, I think). 

It's a cross processed Polaroid print, and the results are wonderful.

[Francois]

I always tend to forget that bigger Polaroid backs don't have the processing rollers... the biggest I have is a 545 loader.
I would need to eject the film without compressing the rollers, switch the packs in the darkroom and use a big metal rolling pin I have (from a copy machine) to squish the pod...

[Ed Wenn]

For what it's worth I have used the large and small versions of Fuji's peel-apart film and really can't fault it. The colours are vibrant and rich and the black and white is great. The only problem I have with it is that it's not 20 years old (like a lot of my Polaroid film stash) and so tends to work everytime and faithfully reproduce what it was exposed to...in other words I can't rely on serendipity in the form of old film and crazy chemicals to help make my photos interesting.

 

[Francois]

Thanks Ed.
For aging your Fuji Instant, I just had a weird idea...
I don't know if putting the film overnight in a slightly warm oven to incubate it (thus close to body temperature) would age the chemicals and emulsion prematurely so you could get the results you want? Film is a living medium (and has its own metabolism).

Naaah! probably a stupid idea...

[vcv751]

Not sure if anyone still read this aged topic. Anyway.

I have burnt few packs of Fuji Instax Wide on the 210, the color was great but, the color vividness came out best under strong sunlight only. I failed to shoot indoor with it. One problem is the metering system is unknown, whether it has metering at all, or basically shoot at 1/125. Secondly, the internal flash is not powerful enough to cover the frame, and I am not sure what sync speed I can use to match the internal flash with the monoblocs. I am happy to use it outdoor as a proper camera but only a toy while indoor.

With the Fuji peel aparts, I will look at the temperature and time of seconds with every shots to the right timings, but someone told me the Fuji FP-xxxx instant films will stop development process automatically, which means I can shoot several packs and peel them all together later. I haven't confirmed its true or not. If anyone tried please let me know.

[Francois]

Well, the peel apart stuff is self terminating, so no problem there.

As for the Instax Wide, it does have an exposure meter built-in. Only thing is it works in a very strange way. On mine, I sometimes think it's going on the fritz but it obviously isn't. Thing is I feel it has a very limited range of shutter speeds... I haven't taken mine apart but I also suspect they used a combined shutter/aperture control like on most point & shoots. Since they are basically fixed focus (unless you put your hands on one of the rare autofocus models), they need a very small aperture to get everything into focus. I suspect it would be around f/22...

I once read that slave detectors are sensitive to infrared. So putting an infrared filter on the instax flash and setting your studio flash to trigger through slave should do the trick. Since the flash doesn't do a pre-exposure check on the instax, it should be straightforward.

[jojonas~]

I've given a instax mini 25 to my gf and she (read: we) has shot two, three packs through it. the lens is a fixed focus with f12.7 and gives between ok to better results but sometimes acts up and gives a badly exposed shot. I guess the instax film doesn't have that wide a latitude.

I basically bought that particular model as you could choose to turn off the flash but within the right distance the flash works surprisingly well. now if they could only make that tiny viewfinder a bit better??

as skorj mentions, I think the instax film gives results like polaroid 600 film. a bit cold at times I think but good for recording an event.

[Francois]

I know Instax is an 800 ISO film and that the exposure meter on the cameras can be very sensitive.

[Ed Wenn]

This post had me totally confused for 10 minutes until I finally realised it was an old post which had been resurrected. It's funny to see Francois asking about Instax back in the day because I know he's since become a regular user of the film and the cameras.

Also, Tammy's statement that you can't manipulate Fuji peel-aparts raised a smile because that was before we found out about reclaiming the negs from those films.

So anyway, getting back to 2011...

 

[Francois]

Whoa Ed!
That's quite some Dr. Who imitation you did there!

So that's your secret to surviving family life

Lets get back to the tardis!