I’ve always enjoyed Lo-Fi snapshot photography in all its forms, and especially the instant film variety. I like the challenge of having to find subjects and lighting that suit the camera’s limitations rather than the other way around.
I took these pictures within walking distance of my apartment in Ottawa with a Fujifilm Instax 210 instant camera. The 210 uses Instax Wide film, which is the largest Instax film format currently available. It’s more or less the same width as if you joined two Instax Mini pictures side by side, and the same height. It’s also closer in size to the old Polaroid Spectra film that I used in the 1990’s, but about 5mm wider. I still have my Spectra camera, but film for it is no longer available from the current incarnation of Polaroid. In my opinion, Instax Wide provides the closest experience to original Polaroid instant film as you can get today. As of this writing, I have not had an opportunity to try Instax Square, but unlike Instax Wide in comparison to Polaroid Spectra, the Instax Square film is significantly smaller than the Polaroid SX-70 type film.
There is a newer Instax 300 model which I have not tried, but it’s essentially the same camera as the 210. It just looks less like a Fisher-Price toy. Either way, we’re talking strictly auto-exposure and auto-flash with a simple brighten or darken exposure compensation control. The camera is limited by its maximum shutter speed of 1/200 sec., which with an aperture of f/14 and the ISO 800 Instax film almost guarantees that pictures taken in bright midday sun conditions will be overexposed, regardless of the exposure compensation setting.
Also, unlike most original Polaroid cameras which used mirrors to pass the image from the lens to the film plane at the bottom of the camera, all Instax cameras are really simple box cameras with the film directly behind the lens. Since instant film is relatively large and it needs to be ejected somewhere, this means the viewfinder has to be offset a fair distance from the lens. As a result, you have to be aware that due to the resulting parallax effect, the composition you see in the viewfinder is not exactly what you will get in the picture. As the parallax effect increases the closer the subject is to the camera, it can be challenging to perfectly compose portraits and close-ups as you intend them to look.
Other than that, these are very reliable for most pictures, as long as you remember that in conditions that really need the flash, like indoors, the subject has to be within the flash’s effective distance to get enough light. As much as I’ve used both Polaroid and Instax cameras for all kinds of photos, I feel that they are really best suited for fairly close portrait snapshots… a la Andy Warhol. I don’t have too many of those, as you have to have lots of parties with willing friends, or know a few models or celebrities. Unfortunately, I strike out badly on all counts.
