Tag: instax

Instax Square Link

I just bought a Fujifilm Instax Square Link. It is a device that print Instax Square picture. Send from your smartphone a picture, obtain a hard copy on Instax Square instant film. If you have an Instax Mini Link, this is the same for Instax Square.

What’s in the box?

The box contains the printer, a light manual and a USB-C to A cable for charging.

The printer is battery powered (hence the cable). There is no film. I got a pack of white border and a pack of black borders.

The printer is like a big bar of soap. It is still slightly larger than my Instax Mini 90 Neo camera, but that’s to factor in the difference in size of the film pack.

I has two buttons, large one having a LED to show the status, a large door at the back for the film cartridge and a small trap door hiding the USB charging port and a reset hole. The latter is for cases where the troubleshooting involve turning it off and on. There is no display, like for the number of frames left.

The Instax Square Link compared for size to an Instax Mini 90. Both are roughly the same size.
The Instax Square Link compared for size to an Instax Mini 90

The initial setup consist of charging the printer using the provided USB cable (or any USB-C cable for that matter) and a charger (not included); and loading the instax square cartridge. That step is exactly the same as loading you favourite Instax camera.

To turn the printer on, press the big button for a solid second, it will light up white. The colour will change to flashing purple when printing

Print job

Screenshot of the Instax Square Link app

To use it you need a compatible smart phone (Android or iOS), install the Instax app and connect to the printer with Bluetooth. Within the app you can select images to print, and it’s fairly easy. There are other features within the app but beside the collage or frame print, I really don’t get it.

From my phone I printed a picture I posted a while ago on Instagram, works great. I also printed a picture I took recently directly with my phone. As long that the image is on your phone, you can print it.

Once you printed a picture, you can press the smaller button to reprint it, until the printer turns off. Otherwise you can use the application history to re-print later on. In some circumstance it doesn’t recollect the picture printed on the iOS app. This seems to happen if you use “share” to the Instax Link Square instead of selecting the picture from the application.

The Instax Square Link printer is ejecting the print with the picture face down.
The Instax Square Link ejecting the print.

Fujifilm manual state that the print takes 90 seconds to develop, but in my tests after 2 minutes it wasn’t developed.

The print facing is leaning against the printer. The image is not completely developed.
The print developing after 2 minutes.

In the end you obtain a colourful print.

The colourful print is flat on top of the printer, fully developed.
Print from the Instax Square Printer

The output ressemble a lot to the scan.

Instax Camera

One of the feature in the app is the “Instax Camera”. It is basically the camera app to take the picture before printing it. It put the live view inside a small Instax frame. It allow adding the date time superimposed, printed as a 9 segments led display, another bout of nostalgia that the demographics of that device have no recollection of.

Cost

The printer cost CAD$180 (I got mine on sale at CAD$160). On regular price, it’s priced between the SQ1, the cheapest Instax Square and the SQ40 the more comprehensive model. It’s not gonna break the bank.

The 2x 10-pack of film with white borders was CAD$28, and the single 10-pack of black border was CAD$17. That make a cost per print to CAD$1.40 for the white border and CAD$1.70 for the black border. There are other colours a bit more fancy if you like. You can buy the white border film in bigger pack which bring down the price per unit. A 100 pack bring the cost down to CAD1.20 a print. Also while I can find Instax Mini at my local pharmacy, Instax Square is less common. This is to be considered if you need resupplies in a hurry.

The tinfoiled pack of film leaning against the cardboard packaging that contain 2.
Instax Square film pack in its protective packaging as coming out of the box

Specs

The image size is a 62mm square (2.4in). The image printed is 800×800 pixels, which boils to 318 dpi. That’s a resolution similar to any print you got from a minilab. According to the manufacturer you can print around 100 pictures (that’s 10 packs) with a single recharge.

Verdict

Pros:

– Simple to use.
– Device reasonably priced.
– Battery powered.
– Output quality.

Cons:

– Requires a phone app, very limited interoperability.
– Unlike older models can’t be used from a Fuji-X camera.
– What will die first? The printing mechanism or its battery that can’t be replaced.

After thoughts

I enjoy using my Instax Mini but I’m often left off guard with the quality, and it seem all related to the optics on the camera and the exposure, with a limited dynamic range. It’s possibly part of the challenge. The printer demonstrate that the film rendition is good and that an hybrid like the Instax Mini Evo would probably offer similar results. Sadly the hybrid Instax Square SQ10 and SQ20 cameras that were in the earlier Instax Square lineup are no more so the search for a better image quality will probably need to be sought out of the other camare makers like Lomography, MINT or NONS.

Previously: NONS instant cameras

NONS instant cameras

I just learned about the NONS SL42, a SLR for Instax Mini film. It’s a US$399 camera, currently out of stock. It has an passive EF mount, a light meter and shoots Instax Mini film.

After reading a few reviews from Emulsive and Phoblographer, this feel it might be a winner. The camera has its quirks, but then the Fujifilm Instax also do, differently.

So why a NONS instead of the Fujifilm cameras? Controls, controls, CONTROLS!

The Fujifilm Instax camera only have auto exposure, some with “creative” modes. Also their lens isn’t very fast, stopped down at f/12.7. With the NONS you get to have much faster and interchangeable lenses. The passive EF allow Canon EF lenses (wide open only) and, with adapter rings, you can use Nikon F, Pentax K, Contax CY and M42 lenses. These adapted lenses offer a tremendous quality for an affordable price on the used market, and with the faster aperture the possibilities are broader..

You can read an interview of the team on phoblographer.com about the design of the SL42. It explain that the number 42 isn’t about the answer to life, universe and everything, but rather because the original plan was to release a camera with a M42 mount, the screw lens mount one used on original Pentax SLR and that other camera makers adopted. It also explain why the switch to EF mount, which is the mechanical mount that presented the best versatility in term of further adaptations, and the story behind the NFE (NONS Format Extender).

I was getting excited. It’s out of stock ; turns out it’s no longer made.

The good news is that NONS decided to followup with the SL645 and SL660 cameras. While the SL645 still take Instax Mini, the SL660 takes Instax Square. At US$499 and US$599 respectively they are a bit more pricey. These new models seems to improve a lot. You pick one over the other depending on the format you want to shoot. There is even a back for Instax Square to use on an Hasselblad CM.

The idea of a more sophisticated camera that supports Instax film isn’t new.

When the Polaroid was created, the goal was to offer instant pictures at a time where even 1 hour photo was a pipe dream. So much that today the term “Polaroid” is still commonly associated with instant photography, even though the company died and later was reborn. The process was used in various areas, from identity pictures, to test shots for exposure in the studio, to document reproduction or slide show preparation. The idea of using a Polaroid on an Hasselblad isn’t some sort of sacrilegious practice, it actually was part of the workflow. Setup the shoot, test the exposure with a Polaroid back and then once everything is fine go one with using the regular film.

Instax becoming popular, the choice of Fujifilm cameras is definitely in the space of consumer: inexpensive and all automated. So alternative started to appear. For example the 2016 MINT InstantFlex TL70 is a dedicated TLR that shoot Instax Mini and comes at US$399. Also Lomography has a range of Instax cameras supporting the Lomographic style, as well as Lomo Graflok, a back for large format. While relegated into a corner product category of what I would call novelty, they represent an incredible venue for creativity associated to the medium of instant photography, and fill the niche of photographers looking for a more flexible tool.

New Instax camera, new instax frames

Some new Fujifilm Instax.

The boring:

Instax Mini 40 is just another Instax Mini camera. A look reminding us of the Instax Mini 90 more than the other Instax Mini, but with little settings (4). For CAD$130 it’s on the higher end price range. Still, nothing in sight for more serious photographers ; I see no reason to get one while I have a Mini 90.

The thing I can get behind:

Fujifilm also announced a new frame design for Instax Mini film. Frames are the novelty part of Instax Mini where you have frames around the picture that are not white. Black borders have been around, as well as other novelty for which I might not be their target demographics. This new contact sheet frame brings contact sheet film-like border, something the various “effect” phone apps have had. No sprocket holes, but the film name and a frame number printed in yellow. For once I can really get behind this novelty.

The latter come bundled with the former in a CAD$140 bundle.

To be released April 21st 2021

Instax hack: Wide/Square adapter

Keigo Moriyama on Emulsive explains How to shoot Instax Square in an Instax Wide camera:

One of the characteristics of these [instant film] cameras is that we can choose only one format for one camera.

[…]

The adapter design is a really simple one. Just a few rectangular shapes extruded here and there to fit in both wide and square format.

Keigo then demonstrate the prototype in a video:

It’s interesting to see all the hacks around Instax cameras.

Instax hacks

PetaPixel has two articles about hacks on top of the Fujifilm Instax instant camera.

An Instax Camera with the Leica M lens: a prototype using the SQ10 as a base, where the M lens mount replaces the lens, to produce square images. The hybrid model of small sensor and Instax printer make this work, as the coverage of an M lens is insufficient for even Instax Mini. Still the image quality is seriously limited by the quality of the sensor and the “printer”.

Combining a Hasselblad 500 and an Instax Mini 9: the Instax mini act as a film back for the Hasselblad.

We were really happy with our first tests. The full frame of the film is exposed and the images are sharper than we’ve ever seen on this type of film. There are still a few ongoing issues with light leaks and with focusing because of the slight difference in focal plane length.

Interesting to see the creativity in that area.

The Fujifilm Baby box

At a time where people mostly use digital cameras for family pictures, with phone becoming more and more the prevalent tool to snap family memories, Fujifilm is trying to bring the instant film back to fashion, outside of the niche market by offering the Baby Box as Tokyo Camera Style is telling us back in November. The Baby box is meant to help you document the early days of your child.

The box encourages parents to take a photo of their child every day to document their first year of life. Rather than just a bunch of digital files on their mom’s iPhone, these lucky kids will actually end up with an actual album of actual photographs to look back though for the rest of their lives.

Let’s hope people realize the importance of the physical picture that generations discover in shoe boxes and albums – and don’t require the complicated maintenance that electronic archive need.