Fuji Instax Portable Printer
A new photography product arrived on my doorstep the other day. I was eager to test it and play with it for a bit. I have to say that my initial testing was rather painless, quite easy and fun!
Let me point out that many of the photographic prints hanging in our house are actual lab processed prints developed in chemicals the same way that prints were produced from film back when I was a child decades ago. I learned photography when I was a child shooting film and I processed my own photos in a darkroom... well, sometimes and I sometimes sent them out for processing and printing.
I learned photography using cameras with no automatic focus, no automatic exposure, no automatic prints and I knew my way around a darkroom as well as how to effectively handle an all-manual camera. In my opinion, these types of darkroom lab prints are far superior to modern inkjet prints. Truth be told, I feel that typical home photo "printers" are a rather poor medium for showcasing photographic pieces. The same holds true for inexpensive prints done at retail kiosks or at the usual big-box stores. If you are going to print high quality digital prints and you want accurate good prints, have them done professionally using high-end printers. Better yet, if you can, opt for the time proven old-school chemical print developing like I do for my own important prints.
Another option which more appropriately classifies as a "fun option" with a quality somewhere between lab processed prints and home printer prints is to purchase a tiny portable printer that actually develops instant Fuji Instax film. The portable printer that I chose and the one which I am writing about today is called the Fujifilm Instax Link Smartphone Printer.
Fujifilm makes good quality instant film called Instax. Polaroid also still makes their instant film but I find their film to be a rather crappy product even today. I tested the Fuji and Polaroid instant film this past weekend, side-by-side, and the Polaroid film was just like I remember those Polaroid instant prints from yesteryear... terrible funky color, subdued, dark, low contrast, fuzzy prints with muddy shadows and highlights with no detail whatsoever. Fuji, on the other hand, is still making high quality film including their Instax line of films. The Polaroid instant film does not even come close to the quality of the Fujifilm Instax film. I bought a single roll of color Polaroid instant film and a single roll of monochrome Polaroid instant film... the first photos of my tests were so poor that I don't even want to use the rest of the film!
A few years ago, Fuji came out with a portable printer using their Instax film. Fuji now makes a new version of their Fujifilm Instax Mini Link printer and I have to say that I like it! This tiny portable printer allows my high-end Sony digital cameras that I take everywhere to become Instant cameras!
Here is what I do... I shoot a photo using my Sony digital camera and, if I like the photo I just shot, I have it wirelessly sent to my Samsung cellphone at the push of a button on my camera. From my cellphone, I can post the photo to any social media websites and/or I can print a small Fuji Instax Mini print.
As you can see in the above photo, the Instax Mini Link printer is tiny and it is also wireless. It holds no ink. It simply processes Instax Mini prints just like their line of Instax cameras... light exposed to the film. The printer holds a cassette of 10 prints. These film cassettes are available in color or monochrome and also come with white borders, black borders or even oddly decorative borders (I suspect these decorative borders are only appealing to young girls).
Considering these are instant prints, the quality is quite impressive and worth mentioning. These instant prints are nothing like the instant prints from 30, 40 or 50 years ago. These prints have a nice fine grain and are rather sharp. They have remarkable color reproduction too! The contrast is nice as well. I should point out that these are still just instant prints so the dynamic range is a bit limited by today's standards... you can lose a tiny bit of detail in highlights and the shadows do clip a bit early. One could hardly complain though since these are actually instant prints and far, far superior to Polaroid film prints. I like these Fuji Instax Mini prints and, admittedly, I am pretty damn picky when it comes to quality.
The Instax Link app is easy to use. Better yet, it operates fluidly and seamlessly. I often have complaints about apps but I have no complaints about this Fuji app. It is actually fun to use. After selecting the photo you want to print, you simply touch the icon with the printer on it and watch your image slide upward and off the screen like it is flying out of your cellphone and toward your printer. You then hear the printer begin spooling out the print as it emerges from the top end. The sound it makes is very reminiscent of my childhood when using instant cameras. The app flawlessly bridges the gap between today's digital world and yesterday's analog world.
This printer is actually smaller than a standard 4"x6" print! It measures less than 5"x3.5" and is only 1.25" thick. It's easy to slip inside a pocket in my camera bag. That being said, I will probably purchase a hard shell case for it to keep it clean and to avoid accidental button pushes while in my bag.
These prints develop right in front of your eyes like all instant prints. Of course, they should not be sitting in direct sunlight or any bright light for that matter while developing. They slowly develop most of the way within 20 minutes. They will continue to develop an additional 10% or so of contrast over the next 24 hours.
Contrary to popular belief and ridiculously infamous instant film shinanigans, once the print starts developing you should just let it sit. Do not shake the print... do not warm it up under your arm... do not whack it against your arm over and over... do not squeeze any part of the print of the print. Doing any of these things will ruin the print. Just be patient and let it sit as it develops.
The great thing about using this printer with my usual digital cameras is that I still retain the digital file of the photo so I can have professional prints made later if I desire. If we are out and about with friends and/or family and someone wants a little instant print of a particular photo I just shot, we can easily and quickly print it instantly!
If I print one photo and then someone else says they want one too, Fuji has a remarkably simple solution to this. All I need to do is pick up the tiny printer and turn it upside-down like I am going to shake another print out of the printer... while it is held upside-down, hit the 'instax' button (the only button on the device)... and, a bit amusingly, the second copy of the previous print will then spool out of the printer.
I find this option of printing from my good digital cameras to be a better option than using one of the inexpensive Fuji Instax instant cameras (although I may eventually purchase one if they ever produce one with classic lines, a better and faster lens, more controls and which uses their Instax Wide film... hmmm, maybe... a clone of one of their classic medium format cameras would be nice as an Instax camera). Unfortunately, the current lineup of Fuji Instax cameras have rather low quality lenses and lack any sort of adequate control over the exposure so the quality of the prints is a bit lacking due to the low quality of the cameras. These cheap Fuji Instax cameras do have "character" but they are really lacking good quality. They are better than the old Polaroids though.
On the other hand, there are other manufacturers producing cameras that use Fuji Instax film. Two cameras in particular have captured my attention. I hope to be writing a bit about one of these cameras soon...
Let me point out that many of the photographic prints hanging in our house are actual lab processed prints developed in chemicals the same way that prints were produced from film back when I was a child decades ago. I learned photography when I was a child shooting film and I processed my own photos in a darkroom... well, sometimes and I sometimes sent them out for processing and printing.
I learned photography using cameras with no automatic focus, no automatic exposure, no automatic prints and I knew my way around a darkroom as well as how to effectively handle an all-manual camera. In my opinion, these types of darkroom lab prints are far superior to modern inkjet prints. Truth be told, I feel that typical home photo "printers" are a rather poor medium for showcasing photographic pieces. The same holds true for inexpensive prints done at retail kiosks or at the usual big-box stores. If you are going to print high quality digital prints and you want accurate good prints, have them done professionally using high-end printers. Better yet, if you can, opt for the time proven old-school chemical print developing like I do for my own important prints.
Another option which more appropriately classifies as a "fun option" with a quality somewhere between lab processed prints and home printer prints is to purchase a tiny portable printer that actually develops instant Fuji Instax film. The portable printer that I chose and the one which I am writing about today is called the Fujifilm Instax Link Smartphone Printer.
Fujifilm makes good quality instant film called Instax. Polaroid also still makes their instant film but I find their film to be a rather crappy product even today. I tested the Fuji and Polaroid instant film this past weekend, side-by-side, and the Polaroid film was just like I remember those Polaroid instant prints from yesteryear... terrible funky color, subdued, dark, low contrast, fuzzy prints with muddy shadows and highlights with no detail whatsoever. Fuji, on the other hand, is still making high quality film including their Instax line of films. The Polaroid instant film does not even come close to the quality of the Fujifilm Instax film. I bought a single roll of color Polaroid instant film and a single roll of monochrome Polaroid instant film... the first photos of my tests were so poor that I don't even want to use the rest of the film!
A few years ago, Fuji came out with a portable printer using their Instax film. Fuji now makes a new version of their Fujifilm Instax Mini Link printer and I have to say that I like it! This tiny portable printer allows my high-end Sony digital cameras that I take everywhere to become Instant cameras!
Here is what I do... I shoot a photo using my Sony digital camera and, if I like the photo I just shot, I have it wirelessly sent to my Samsung cellphone at the push of a button on my camera. From my cellphone, I can post the photo to any social media websites and/or I can print a small Fuji Instax Mini print.
As you can see in the above photo, the Instax Mini Link printer is tiny and it is also wireless. It holds no ink. It simply processes Instax Mini prints just like their line of Instax cameras... light exposed to the film. The printer holds a cassette of 10 prints. These film cassettes are available in color or monochrome and also come with white borders, black borders or even oddly decorative borders (I suspect these decorative borders are only appealing to young girls).
Considering these are instant prints, the quality is quite impressive and worth mentioning. These instant prints are nothing like the instant prints from 30, 40 or 50 years ago. These prints have a nice fine grain and are rather sharp. They have remarkable color reproduction too! The contrast is nice as well. I should point out that these are still just instant prints so the dynamic range is a bit limited by today's standards... you can lose a tiny bit of detail in highlights and the shadows do clip a bit early. One could hardly complain though since these are actually instant prints and far, far superior to Polaroid film prints. I like these Fuji Instax Mini prints and, admittedly, I am pretty damn picky when it comes to quality.
The Instax Link app is easy to use. Better yet, it operates fluidly and seamlessly. I often have complaints about apps but I have no complaints about this Fuji app. It is actually fun to use. After selecting the photo you want to print, you simply touch the icon with the printer on it and watch your image slide upward and off the screen like it is flying out of your cellphone and toward your printer. You then hear the printer begin spooling out the print as it emerges from the top end. The sound it makes is very reminiscent of my childhood when using instant cameras. The app flawlessly bridges the gap between today's digital world and yesterday's analog world.
This printer is actually smaller than a standard 4"x6" print! It measures less than 5"x3.5" and is only 1.25" thick. It's easy to slip inside a pocket in my camera bag. That being said, I will probably purchase a hard shell case for it to keep it clean and to avoid accidental button pushes while in my bag.
These prints develop right in front of your eyes like all instant prints. Of course, they should not be sitting in direct sunlight or any bright light for that matter while developing. They slowly develop most of the way within 20 minutes. They will continue to develop an additional 10% or so of contrast over the next 24 hours.
Contrary to popular belief and ridiculously infamous instant film shinanigans, once the print starts developing you should just let it sit. Do not shake the print... do not warm it up under your arm... do not whack it against your arm over and over... do not squeeze any part of the print of the print. Doing any of these things will ruin the print. Just be patient and let it sit as it develops.
The great thing about using this printer with my usual digital cameras is that I still retain the digital file of the photo so I can have professional prints made later if I desire. If we are out and about with friends and/or family and someone wants a little instant print of a particular photo I just shot, we can easily and quickly print it instantly!
If I print one photo and then someone else says they want one too, Fuji has a remarkably simple solution to this. All I need to do is pick up the tiny printer and turn it upside-down like I am going to shake another print out of the printer... while it is held upside-down, hit the 'instax' button (the only button on the device)... and, a bit amusingly, the second copy of the previous print will then spool out of the printer.
I find this option of printing from my good digital cameras to be a better option than using one of the inexpensive Fuji Instax instant cameras (although I may eventually purchase one if they ever produce one with classic lines, a better and faster lens, more controls and which uses their Instax Wide film... hmmm, maybe... a clone of one of their classic medium format cameras would be nice as an Instax camera). Unfortunately, the current lineup of Fuji Instax cameras have rather low quality lenses and lack any sort of adequate control over the exposure so the quality of the prints is a bit lacking due to the low quality of the cameras. These cheap Fuji Instax cameras do have "character" but they are really lacking good quality. They are better than the old Polaroids though.
On the other hand, there are other manufacturers producing cameras that use Fuji Instax film. Two cameras in particular have captured my attention. I hope to be writing a bit about one of these cameras soon...
Comments
Post a Comment