Instant cameras compared
Digital photography is synonymous with instant pictures – but these analogue cameras offer these too.
WHEN YOU’RE AWAY from home, there’s no need to disconnect from the digital world. You could rely on your phone, as we so often do, but taking your laptop out of the living room and onto the road is the best way to get everything done – from work to bigger-screen entertainment. This is particularly true if you’re going further afield, but it’s important not to take travel lightly.
Without the guarantee of Internet connectivity, you’ll need to prepare a little before you leave. Without permanent power, pulling as much life out of your battery as possible is massively important. And carrying that laptop with you introduces other dangers, so a couple of steps to ensure your security is up to scratch go a long way. None of this takes a long time, none of it’s difficult, but you’ll be glad you’ve done it when the time comes.
Fujifilm Instax SQ6 A COLOURFUL OPTION..
TARGETING INSTAGRAM FANS and boasting a design suggestive of that app’s logo, Fuji’s newest analogue snapper replaces the SQ10 and is square in both print output – with a central image size of 6.2 x 6.2cm – and construction. It’s powered by two tiny CR2 lithium batteries, which better the performance of AAs in lasting an impressive 300 shots. Credit-card-size prints work out at around a couple of dollars each, which is standard for an instant camera.
Also predictable is the choice of three body colours and a front-facing selfie mirror. Three coloured plastic cubes included in the box slip over the built-in flash and cleverly act as colour filters. Encouraging further experimentation is a double-exposure mode, a macro mode and a landscape mode; the setting in use is indicated by an illuminated bulb on the SQ6’s back.
As with most instant cameras, prints appear washed out compared with a digital image; but if you’re trying to tear your teenager away from their phone to interact with the real world, the SQ6 provides an inexpensive opportunity to do so.
PROS Simple design aids ease of use; square-format prints for the Instagram obsessive.
CONS Tiny viewfinder; the square body lacks a proper handgrip.
FUJIFILM INSTAX SQ6 $199.95 www.fujifilm.com.au CRITICAL SPECS Built-in flash; retractable lens; 10 second timer.
Fujifilm Instax Wide 300 THINKING BIG..
THIS INSTANT CAMERA is the literal big daddy of Fujifilm’s Instax range. Its almost medium-format-camera-like heft allows it to deliver prints twice the size of Fujifilm’s popular Instax Mini format. It utilises Instax Wide films packs (rather than Instax Mini, or Instax Square film used in the SQ6). Image area is 9.9 x 6.2cm. While its chunkiness means it’s not the most practical option for selfies, its is lighter than you’d think. That’s despite being powered by four AA batteries, rather than the two used in cheaper, smaller models.
A lever encircling the shutter release on its DSLR-inspired handgrip powers this one up and extends its 95mm lens. The built-in flash is again larger than average and, save for a fill-in option, fires automatically. With prints emerging from the slit in the camera’s top plate rather than from the side or front, the only small thing here, oddly, is the left-of-centre viewfinder. Control is limited to adjusting brightness and flash, and exposure modes are restricted to Dark, Normal or Light; but if you want instant prints closer to a more standard photographic ratio, this is the choice for you.
PROS Ease of use and large, straightforward controls; larger prints than we’d normally expect.
CONS The bulky design hardly aids portability (or selfie shooting); small viewfinder.
FUJIFILM INSTAX WIDE 300 $179 www.fujifilm.com.au CRITICAL SPECS Built-in flash; retractable lens.
Kodak Printomatic SADLY DISAPPOINTING..
THIS FLAT-FRONTED, BOXY yet sleek camera in Kodak yellow – just one of several body colour options available – utilises zero ink (or ‘Zink’) technology. It’s essentially a miniature printer plus lens: turn the Printomatic on, press the shutter release button and, like when setting up a desktop printer from scratch, its first action is to emit a test sheet before an actual print emerges – the 7.5 x 5cm prints are the size of a credit card.
Despite its inexpensive asking price the 10-megapixel Printomatic is more solidly built than rivals here. A USB cable is provided out of the box, enabling its internal battery to be charged the same way as your mobile phone.
Interestingly, we get a slot for microSD and the ability to flick between capturing shots in colour or black and white, via a top plate slider. Water-resistant prints resembling crude colour photocopies emerge after a lot of buzzing and whirring, but it’s not quite the same as seeing a film image magically developing. Selfie fans will also miss the small mirror on the front rivals possess. This Kodak looks great, but prints fail to convince.
PROS More portable and cheaper than most rivals; rechargeable battery; microSD card slot. CONS Shots resemble crude photocopies; easy to accidentally trigger the shutter release.
KODAK PRINTOMATIC $179.95 www.kodak.com CRITICAL SPECS Built-in flash; built-in speaker.
Leica Sofort HIGH PRICE, SAME PERFORMANCE
SOFORT IS GERMAN for ‘instant’ – and everything about Leica’s surprising incursion into this market is efficiently executed. However it’s twice the price of Fujifilm’s very similar Instax Mini 90 (not reviewed here). The Leica takes the same Instax Mini film, which costs about $2 per 8.6 x 5.4cm print (with a 6.2 x 4.2cm image).
On the other hand, this is the cheapest Leica you could own. Operation is straightforward; the only top-plate button is the shutter release, and it features a selfie mirror, an optical viewfinder and a built-in flash. The on/off button is kept out of the way of accidental activation on the backplate. It’s the top control in a vertically stacked row of five, alongside a tall, narrow LCD displaying operational settings via simplistic icons.
The 60mm lens with f/12.7 aperture provides the focal equivalent of a 34mm lens; an approximation of what we see with the human eye. As with any instant camera, trial and error is required to arrive at pleasing results: prints are a bit softer than we’re used to seeing in this digital age – and from Leica itself.
PROS Fun yet fashionable with it; the most affordable Leica camera you can buy
CONS Expensive compared with alternatives; image quality no better than cheaper models
LEICA SOFORT $449 www.au.leica-camera.com CRITICAL SPECS Built-in flash; retractable lens; 10 second timer.
Lomography Lomo’Instant Wide TOO BIG TO FAIL?.
THE CLOSEST COMPETITOR to the Instax Wide 300 is similarly brick-like, thanks to the wider-format prints it emits and the four AA batteries that power it. The Instant Wide differs in featuring the viewfinder on the opposite side of the body to its Fujifilm doppelgänger, but these cameras are two peas from the same pod.
It is no surprise, therefore, that this model uses the same film packs as the Instax Wide 300. It’s less obviously design-conscious than the Fujifilm, however: the frill-free execution here is all a bit Plain Jane, although there are dedicated buttons for disabling the flash and swapping exposure between +/- 1EV.
Like its competitor, images come out better defined with the exposure dialled down or flash disabled. With a selfie mirror on the front and a large ridged lever for the shutter release – like a foot pedal for the thumb – the camera’s lens ring allows you to dial in a focus distance between 0.6 metres and infinity. Interestingly its lens cap multi-tasks, housing a CR2025E lithium cell that cleverly allows the cap to function as a remote control.
PROS Uses Fujifilm Instax Wide film packs for bigger prints; large and straightforward controls.
CONS Big, clunky and heavier than rivals; tiny optical viewfinder.
LOMOGRAPHY LOMO’INSTANT WIDE $256 www.lomography.com CRITICAL SPECS Built-in flash; retractable lens; remote control.
Polaroid Originals OneStep 2 ONCE WAS KING..
MOST ADULTS – and certainly those with an interest in photography – will recall the once-ubiquitous Polaroid brand. With the name now under the ownership of a group of instant film enthusiasts, who stepped in to continue producing Polaroid film after the original brand collapsed, the OneStep 2 should be a relatively easy sell to nostalgia buffs.
Embracing a retro design inspired by the original OneStep from 1977, the new camera embraces the modern era in, being charged via a USB port. Producing large 10.7 x 8.8cm prints (it uses Polaroid i-Type and 600 category film), it does mean you’ll be paying a bit more compared with its Instax rivals.
Like others here, we get a lighten/darken switch and a self-timer button, but this is pretty much a frill-free operation. We’d have liked the opportunity to use AAs alongside recharging the internal battery if power runs dry, and a numeric indicator counting down shots taken or remaining.
PROS Charmingly familiar retro design and layout; simple to use, with big buttons for small fingers; larger prints than most instant print rivals (‘wide’ cameras excepted).
CONS: Prints take much longer to fully develop than Instax film-based rivals; price of film.
POLAROID ORIGINALS ONESTEP 2 $199 www.polaroidoriginals.com CRITICAL SPECS Built-in flash.