Not great, but at least they’re actually analogue instant cameras!
After wishing for years for Fuji to show some love for the long-suffering Instax Wide format, a finger curled on the monkey’s paw this month and we got the Instax Wide Evo.
Promotional image from Fuji of their new product. It’s handsome, but it’s not an analogue instant film camera.
Like the Instax Mini Evo, Fuji touts this camera as a ‘digital/analogue’ ‘hybrid’ camera. You can take digital pictures, apply effects, and the photo pops out of the top of the camera! You can even send photos from your phone to the camera! What’s not to like??
Well, for me? Everything. Because it’s not a film camera. It’s a (kind of crappy) digital camera attached to a printer.
Don’t get me wrong, photographers make incredible art all the time with instant film printers. Heck, you can put a digital image on 35mm if you really want to (actually that’s how Hollywood stores movies in vaults deep underground).
I’m not against innovation – the Fuji Mini 99 is an excellent example of using modern technology to enhance the analogue experience.
However, I shoot and review cameras. I don’t review printers. And no matter how much marketing fluff there is, the Instax Wide Evo is not an analogue film camera. In my opinion, these kind of machines combine the worst of all words.
If you want to print digital photos onto instant film, you’re better off with a dedicated device like the Polaroid Lab Instant Printer. Your phone is a much better device for dealing with digital imagery than any clunky interface a manufacturer can install in a low-cost digital body.
Which brings me to the digital camera portion of the Instax Wide Evo. You’re getting a tiny sensor with a cheap lens and even cheaper SOC. It’s good enough to get a small print out of, but if you think you’re pulling great digital images out of this thing you’re going to be sorely disappointed.
People buy these cameras because it seems like a good way to hedge their bets. Film seems risky, and you can’t get a digital preview on an analogue camera, right? Well, that’s the whole point. Film is fun because of the limitations of an analogue camera. In a world full of screens, analogue photography is a way to unplug, sharpen your eye, and have fun.
At the end of the day, digital camera printers masquerading as instant film photography just aren’t fun because they strip away the spontaneous chaos of real film. And when somebody’s introduction to film is through one of these things, they may come to the conclusion that film isn’t fun.
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