Return to Instant Photography?

[drg]

Fuji is marketing their INSTAX film product to a wider audience.

See article: New Mini 7S camera

It is film and would you consider an Instant Solution?

[cm_mtb]

I've actually never experienced the fun of owning a camera that instantly prints out a little photo. But $20 for 10 2X3 shots is pretty expensive!

[mwfanelli2]

Fuji is marketing their INSTAX film product to a wider audience.

See article: New Mini 7S camera

It is film and would you consider an Instant Solution?

I don't see the point. Digital is even more "instant" with an almost infinite number of tries to get it right. Buy a small 4x6 dedicated printer and you'll get fast and convenient prints with better quality at a fraction of the price of instant film.

The time for instant film has, long ago, ridden into history.

[drg]

I don't see the point. Digital is even more "instant" with an almost infinite number of tries to get it right. Buy a small 4x6 dedicated printer and you'll get fast and convenient prints with better quality at a fraction of the price of instant film.

The time for instant film has, long ago, ridden into history.

Fuji sees a market, i.e. sales continue in various regions of the world. I find it intriguing the number of contests, art products, and work in this medium don't seem to be decreasing. Whether it is nostalgia or an 'organic' quality to having that instant satisfaction of a photograph in hand there is something going on that goes beyond making a perfect image.

The nature of film photography has always included an 'uncertainty' of the final product.

I'd really like to know how many instant cameras Fuji is selling worldwide.

I still have a few precious pieces of Polaroid film stored carefully for those ridiculously expensive adapters for some older cameras. I will use it for something 'important' or totally frivolous someday.

[mwfanelli2]

The nature of film photography has always included an 'uncertainty' of the final product.

I'd really like to know how many instant cameras Fuji is selling worldwide.

I

Film will last a long time, for no other reasons than nostalgia and hobbists. But instant film? It was never all that big to begin with and the massive drop-off in use after digital was the main reason Polaroid went down.

As for photocontests, I just don't see the same thing. Digital has dominated by a very wide margin for years.

As for Fuji, perhaps in poorer areas of the world without readily available printers?

[drg]

Film will last a long time, for no other reasons than nostalgia and hobbists. But instant film? It was never all that big to begin with and the massive drop-off in use after digital was the main reason Polaroid went down.

As for photocontests, I just don't see the same thing. Digital has dominated by a very wide margin for years.

As for Fuji, perhaps in poorer areas of the world without readily available printers?

This is the film forum and thus the best place to discuss film for the remaining users of it.

Polaroids failure was a series of poor business decisions only a small portion of which were related to good, bad, or non-existent sales of various films. Remember, Polaroid sold a lot of digital P/S cameras at the beginning of the digital craze. Unfortunately, they also sold and branded a lot of other products as well with little or no reason to the marketing decisions required to support such business activity.

The Polaroid Corporation virtually torpedoed their own product even in the face of digital by spending vast sums on bad ideas like instant movies when Video recorders and cameras were a dime a dozen. The professional market use of instant film and its use in technical and legal photography was always a much larger market than was generally realized.

Instant Film was really a major player at one time. So much so that KODAK even risked infringing on trade secrets and known patents to get into the market segment. KODAK sold made and sold instant film for a while and it did very well at their major outlets such as the Disney properties. Polaroid wasn't amused!

There are continuing, though I'd agree no real increase in most areas, contests and shows of work done with Instant Film products. Regular film and instant film have always been tangential. Different users and techniques.

One thing that revitalized the form, at least temporarily was the book "Hockney's Pictures". There was a lot of interest generated in that segment of the art community regarding Polaroid and Instant photography. Publications including JPG have regularly had 'polaroid' or instant photography work included. Some, including JPG, haven't been highly financially successful admittedly, yet there does remain a certain zeal for this medium. I've seen several shows in this year, 2009, that included specifically Polaroid work. My small remaining stock of some of the 3200ISO color film is becoming highly prized. That is one concern with the Fuji product is that it is a relative low speed product compared with the traditional type of film.

The market for this has been very upscale in Europe and Asia for quite some time. Whether with a social set who want the instant documentation of their lifestyle experiences, a younger crowd who spend frivolously, or not wanting just a cell phone snap. And besides, where do you go at 4am on Ibiza to get a digital photo made?? Would you want to depending upon the 'subject'??

[mwfanelli2]

Instant Film was really a major player at one time. So much so that KODAK even risked infringing on trade secrets and known patents to get into the market segment. KODAK sold made and sold instant film for a while and it did very well at their major outlets such as the Disney properties. Polaroid wasn't amused!

FWIW... The lawsuit against Kodak happened long before digital. They would never have copied Polaroid once the digital revolution arrived.

As for Polaroid, yes they died for many reasons. But they suffered a dramatic and deadly drop off in instant film sales as people went to digital, at least in the US and Europe. The appeal of instant photography paled in comparison to digital shots. Digital is the true "family format": you can copy them perfectly, email them to grandma, do them over for free if you don't get what you want... Instant film can't even come close to competing.

[mjs1973]

Instant Film was really a major player at one time. So much so that KODAK even risked infringing on trade secrets and known patents to get into the market segment. KODAK sold made and sold instant film for a while and it did very well at their major outlets such as the Disney properties. Polaroid wasn't amused!

My parents had one of the Kodak instant cameras! I remember taking some photos with it when I was a kid. If I recall correctly, Polaroid sued Kodak over the camera for patent infringement and won. Kodak had to recall all of the cameras, but my parents kept theirs. I have looked for it a few times over the past couple of years, but I can't find it. I believe the model we had was the Kodak Handle.

[drg]

One more addition to this journey into the far reach of photography.
A youtube video about the earlier INSTAX camera. Note that the camera uses much larger film than the one that was the original subject of this post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUyrI9Vj7B0