My last entry kind of bothered me. I went to sleep shortly after posting it but when I woke up later that morning, I was annoyed. I went out on what was a pretty beautiful Memorial Day with the intent to photograph stuff on film but I ended up at Samy's Camera in Los Angeles and whenever I'm in a camera store, become that proverbial kid in that candy store.
Normally I'm bad inside camera stores, specifically when I'm there to restock on some film. Every time I enter Samy's in the Miracle Mile area, I always have that need to first go up the top floor where they have all their medium format cameras, proceed to the second floor and check out all the other digital cameras and gear they have and then find my way to the bottom showroom floor where I end up buying a shit load of film I don't really need but I want. This time around, I was pretty good...somewhat. I didn't buy any 35mm or medium format film. I ended up buying something I've always wanted but never got around to buying which was a Fuji Instax 210 Wide Format instant film camera!
 |
| Selfie! |
I've owned various types of instant film cameras in my life such as Polaroid 600, SX-70 and other Land cameras but Polaroid has long stopped producing film and the only way to use those cameras is if you use Impossible Project's Polaroid film which are fine films, don't get me wrong, but I find it hard pressed to pay $25 some odd dollars for a pack of 10 photos? Could be 8. Which ever way, that's a lot of coin for a few shots. These days, the Fuji Instax instant film format is what's hot. You can find Instax format cameras and at many camera stores to the hipster of hipster stores, Urban Outfitters so there's little fear to be had of Fuji discontinuing the format anytime soon. The format comes in two versions. A mini version which the photographs come to about the size of a credit card, and the wide format which is substantially larger. I chose to go with the wide format and you can see what they look like by the photos I provide.
 |
| No Photos! George doesn't like having his picture taken but I think he's just being coy. |
After buying the camera and a twin pack of film, I proceeded to use the first pack as a test pack so I went to the restaurant that I part time to keep me sane from all this journalism, photography and multi-media stuff and proceeded to test it out. One of the problems I faced starting out was compensating for the issue of parallax. On an SLR (or DSLR), you don't suffer from the parallax issue because with SLRs, what you see is what you get. That is, whatever you see in your viewfinder, is how your photo is framed. On non-SLRs, you have to think about parallax. What you see through your viewfinder, even though your subject may be centered, will not be centered in your frame (depending on how close/far your are relative to the subject). My first two photos were off and framed incorrectly as well as being blurry. I tossed those two and had to adjust the rest of my photos for parallax.
 |
| Damn you parallax! Originally I had Cesar centered in the viewfinder but not adjusting for parallax had him left of center. |
I can't remember the last time I had fun shooting. Well, actually I do. It was a couple of weeks ago at the beach but that's besides the point. Shooting instant film again, though I've had experience with it, was something new to me, again. Does that make any sense? It's like meeting with a dear friend that you haven't seen in a long time. The fun is all in catching up. One thing I will say about the many different instant films I've shot, and while they're all good and have their own characteristics, I've always loved the creamy, velvety colors of Fuji film. If I would rank the different types of instant film I've shot, Fuji and Polaroid SX-70 film would be the top of the list. I'm very pleased at the color tone of Fuji's Instax film. I'm a sucker for cream and I've always gone with Fuji films if I wanted to get that look.
 |
| Seriously! NO PHOTOS! Juan looks like he's 14 but I think he's in his early 70s. |
Operating the camera is really easy. Everything is pretty much automatic. Your grandparents will be able to use it, it's that simple. There are two focus settings. With a press of a button, you can switch from .9m-3m to 3m-infinity (sorry, I don't know the hot keys for the infinity sign). There's also a button to switch the flash on and off for fill but I believe the flash will automatically fire in low light situations as the camera did on me even though I didn't have the flash activated. There is a light sensor somewhere on the camera where if I block it, I believe one can neutralize the auto flash, but I have yet to find it. Neutralizing the auto flash would help one in doing long exposure photos. I'll eventually mess around with that at some point, just not at this time. The camera also comes equipped with an adapter for "macro" or very close up photos but I find it to be shitty. However, that being said, that same adapter has a mirror on it for something many people these days love to photograph. Themselves. I suppose that's a good thing #butfirstletmetakeaselfie
 |
| My little sister. |
I really enjoyed shooting with this camera and I find myself using this camera more often than I should. Digital photos are great but I love film. Both digital, and instant film formats are the same in the sense that both have that instant gratification quality to them. However, as instant gratification as digital is, instant film is instant gratification with character. Sure, digital and instant film are, well, instant. But with instant film, your photos are ready in a matter of seconds while with a digital camera, you have to either go home or to a store, dump the media from your memory card, and wait however long it takes to get your photos printed. Plus there's the "cool" factor with instant film. No one really shoots it compared to digital so you'll always have people circle around you whenever you snap a photo and watching with some awe at a photo being developed right before your eyes.
 |
| Never hand your camera to someone that has never operated a camera before or else you're likely to get something as dark as this. |
If you're in the market for an instant camera, I highly recommend the Instax format. They're less expensive than Impossible Project's Polaroid format. Fuji tends to sell twin packs of instant film and with the wide format, I ended up purchasing one for $25 and each pack is a pack of 10 photos. Each photo would end up costing you roughly $1 and some change which isn't bad. Impossible Project's film is about the same price and you get 8-10 photos (I'm not sure) so each photo will cost you almost $2. Fuji's Instax mini format, because it's smaller than the wide format, will be a little cheaper. In the end, whatever floats your boat. Each format is great and I'll be shooting with Impossible Film as soon as I find a great deal on an unused, still fully functional, Polaroid camera.
Happy shooting! Because you know I'll be.