My first introduction to instant cameras was in February of this year, the Fujifilm Instax Mini 7s, an adorable novelty camera. I bought it on Amazon for $49 out of total curiosity. There’s something so satisfying about the feeling of an actual image in your hands right after it’s taken. No mysterious waiting game like my other film camera (not that I love my Lomography Diana F+ any less). I never considered purchasing another similar camera, but on the weekend, I went to the 400 Antiques Mall south of Barrie for the first time. There was tons of things to see, and within the first few minutes of being there we found a 1980’s Polaroid One Step 600 for $6.50. I had no way of knowing if it would work (or if I could find film for it), but for that price it was totally worth trying out. Such an exciting find!
I am the dorkiest person ever, I think we already knew that though.
As you can see, the Polaroid works amazingly! The film is relatively expensive ($25 for 8 images), but I’m happy that I decided to grab it. Not only is it another fun thing to play around with, but it also looks so cool! The images it produces are more than double the size of the Fuji instants, but the camera itself is also a lot more bulky. Since Polaroid no longer makes the film, I had to purchase Impossible film, which takes 30 minutes to an hour to expose the images. You also need to be sure to keep the image in a warm, dark place while it develops. No shaking it like a Polaroid picture! Not so instant, but the physical image is great to have nonetheless.
I love this cat photo display that my sister bought for me earlier this year. Perfect for displaying all my Instax memories!
The Fujifilm, however, offers nearly instant images. Film comes in 20 packs for around $20 usually. Within minutes the shots are ready, and you can watch them expose in front of your eyes. I really like that feeling when you see the image slowly appear.
These are both very different cameras and operate in different ways. I’m so happy to have them both and can see myself continuing to have fun and share memories this way. Both these purchases were a little bit impulsive and out of curiosity, but have proven to be great additions to my small camera collection. I’m currently lusting after the Fujifilm Imstax Mini 90 Neo Classic, but am going to wait for quite some time before I give into that desire. I’m more than happy playing with what I already own!
Do you have a love of instant cameras like me?