{"id":435,"date":"2020-09-07T14:09:45","date_gmt":"2020-09-07T21:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/?p=435"},"modified":"2026-03-08T12:23:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T19:23:36","slug":"fuji-instax-integral-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/2020\/09\/07\/fuji-instax-integral-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuji Instax Integral Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

You’ve seen many posts and web galleries of my Polaroid images, including long-discontinued peel-apart instant film, original square OneStep images, and re-engineered Impossible Project film (once rebranded Polaroid Originals, now just Polaroid).\u00a0 Polaroid invented instant film<\/strong>, and dominated the global market for decades.\u00a0 The company brilliantly sponsored artists like Andy Warhol with cameras and film supplies, and Warhol’s Polaroids are especially famous.<\/p>\n

But there ARE other instant\/integral film products.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Scene
Red Lanterns in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Instax Wide image by A.E. Graves<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

When rivals Kodak and Fuji devised similar projects, they wound up in court for patent infringement (Kodak) or negotiating licensing and territorial deals (Fuji).\u00a0 Fuji’s products became quite advanced, and their consumer-friendly, adorable Fuji Instax camera designs captured the Asian youth market. Tiny instant pictures the size of business cards have been especially popular socially as a social networking convention.<\/p>\n

I haven’t written about my work with the Fuji Instax product line, but their emulsions are superior to the Impossible Project versions in color, contrast, and stability, and so I should give them credit!<\/p>\n

\"Sculptural
Detail from the elaborate facade of the SF Jewish Museum, Instax Wide image by A.E. Graves<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Instax currently comes in three sizes: business-card sized mini, Polaroid-sized square, and wide, which is my preferred format.\u00a0 My (huge) Instax Wide camera allows me to adjust the exposure (light, regular, dark) and distance (near\/medium\/far), and my strong preference for dark mode provides blue-black skies and high contrast in bright settings.\u00a0 The film only comes in one speed, and my low-light (shady garden) images miss the mark, so bright daylight is the best condition to use this film.<\/p>\n

\"Presidio
Neon Marquee to the Presidio Theater in Instax Wide by A.E. Graves<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The color and contrast are excellent (especially in dark mode), and it’s easier to take a well-exposed photograph with Instax than it is with Impossible\/Polaroid.\u00a0 The prints also develop much faster than the Impossible\/Polaroid images do, and all look as good as they day I took them (while the Impossible\/Polaroids have all visibly faded).<\/p>\n

\"Grand
Museum Doors in Seattle shot on Instax Wide by A.E. Graves<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Instax Wide camera (the 210?) is… okay.\u00a0 My viewfinder is inaccurate, so I have to remember that the center is off about 20%, and adjust composition accordingly to prevent the photos from being oddly composed.<\/p>\n

The lens is sharper than my point-and-shoot Polaroid cameras AND the recent Lomography-branded cameras, but not as sharp as the SX-70 (a professional camera).\u00a0 The images could be scanned and enlarged, but mine start to look soft once I get up near 8″ high, if not sooner.\u00a0 They look GREAT at their natural size (3.4″x4.25″), however.<\/p>\n

\"Sunny
A sunny scene near AT&T Park on Instax Wide, distant view, by A.E. Graves<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I use my Instax Wide as a party camera: I bring it to celebrations and give all of the flattering flash portrait photos to the host\/guest of honor.\u00a0 (The young people have never had printed photos of themselves before!\u00a0 Awwwww!)<\/p>\n

I’m still figuring out if there is a place for Instax Wide images in my overall portfolio alongside my other instant\/integral images, or if my “sharpness” obsessions mean these are just for fun.\u00a0 Either way, the film is quite lovely, and is everything an instant\/integral film SHOULD be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You’ve seen many posts and web galleries of my Polaroid images, including long-discontinued peel-apart instant film, original square OneStep images, and re-engineered Impossible Project film (once rebranded Polaroid Originals, now just Polaroid).\u00a0 Polaroid invented instant film, and dominated the global market for decades.\u00a0 The company brilliantly sponsored artists like Andy Warhol with cameras and film […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,33],"tags":[83,84],"class_list":["post-435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-color","category-instant-film","tag-fuji-instax-wide-camera","tag-fuji-instax-wide-integral-film","entry","fw-tab-6 fw-tabr-4","has-featured-image"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/AEG-InstaxWide120.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":446,"href":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions\/446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aegraves.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}