So, Tony (Mastadon) responded to a micro-blog post on the new Fujifilm Instax Wide Evo (review on PetaPixel), mentioning that the Fujifilm Instax cameras produce a slightly soft look. Well, there are alternatives to Fujifilm cameras. Leaving aside Polaroid, the original instant film company, there are a number of options for Instax instant film.
First is Lomography's Lomo’Instant Wide Glass. Lomo themselves claim that its "brilliant 90 mm multi-coated glass lens delivers beautifully crisp images, superb depth of field, and smooth skin tones that make portraits shine." At under $300 including lens cap that also works as a remote, splitzer attachment and flash gels, it is not breaking the bank. If it lives up to the hype, this sounds like a nice option.
Lomography also has the LomoGraflok back that can attach to any 4x5 large format camera with Graflok attachments. This gives one the choice of many cameras and lenses to choose from. There is some inconvience that an adaptor has to be placed under the ground glass to focus.
The Chroma.Camera SnapShot InstantWide V2 is built for the LomoGraflok, but is a bit pricey once factoring in the cost of the back (not included). The price for custom-built convenience. Made to order, so one can configure the camera when ordering. The camera focuses with an all-metal helicoid and uses the same nose cones as the Chroma Six9 cameras. If you already have Chroma-brand cameras or are thinking of going medium format with their line of cameras, that might be a plus.
Last, but not least, is the MiNT Camera InstantKon RF70 Instant Camera. A complete camera in one package with full manual to full automatic control. A bit pricey, but MiNT does offer free film for life (see site for details). VIPs (previous customers of MiNT) qualify for discounts on their next purchase.
Back to the Fujifilm Wide Evo, it is a hybrid camera. It has a digital sensor and builtin Instax printer that prints the image. Whether that leads to sharper images or not, no one has said. There is magic in instant film even today, as there are still those whom have not seen a print pop out of a camera yet. The novelty has not worn off for Your Blogger yet, either.
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