Instant Camera Review: Which One To Buy

Instant cameras have long been an obsession of mine, I used to be as you might call it ‘a full on mod’ dressing up in 60s mini dresses, I had a peroxide blonde bob and always wore two pairs of false eyelashes everyday. I truly wanted to live the 60s life which extended from the music all the way to analogue and instant photography. Thankfully I have ditched the peroxide and the false eyelashes, but I still have a longstanding love affair with photography beyond my iPhone. On my honeymoon I posted a couple of snaps of my photos from my beloved Fuji Instax Wide, I’ve also done some stories discussing my hits and misses of instant photography throughout the years, and thought a blog post was the best way to answer all your questions about instant cameras.

Fuji Instax Wide

If you choose not to read any further down the page, just know that I’m starting with my favourite instant camera, and I have been through quite a few over the years (RIP to the camera I lost in Williamsburg after one too many $2 sours). The Fuji Instax Mini is probably the one you see all over the internet, it’s cute, comes in pastel colours and generally is the Instax wide’s trendy younger sibling. However I find the images a bit too small, and just love how much the wide can capture so much in the frame. I used to be a bit funny about only taking things in landscape, but since I got over that I have used it so much more. The Fuji Instax Wide can do close ups and distance well. It also does a great job in full sunshine, low light and in the dark I tend to use the flash. Overall, it doesn’t give the same dreamy quality as the original polaroid, however it’s the next best thing for me, especially in terms of reliability of the finished product as all the films for these products need to be taken into consideration. I’ve taken hundreds on this format over the years and I love sitting back and going through them, my number one instant camera for sure!

Camera: £109 RRP but you can one for around £89.

Price Per Shot: 90p

Polaroid Original One Step Camera

I was very excited about the release of the One Step camera, it came out just over a couple of years ago and I got one last Christmas. I’ve had plenty of second hand, original polaroid cameras over the years, but they’ve all sadly kicked the bucket one by one (I talk more about the original 600 below). Unfortunately this just didn’t live up to my expectations, as you can see from the photos I took I just couldn’t get the settings right for a bright enough photo. I have used instant cameras enough over the years to know you don’t get a perfect photo every time, and that’s what I love about them. However with this, no matter what combination I did: inside / outside, flash on/ flash off I couldn’t get a photo I loved, and they all seemed excessively dark. Compared to the original Polaroid photos, I just don’t think it’s as good, which is such a shame! Especially when it’s costing you £1.70 a photo (a pack costs around £14 for 8), I just can’t justify the cost when every other photo isn’t a keeper. Since I got this camera, Polaroid have brought out a One Step Plus, which seems to have more features, I’d be very interested to see the difference in performance, and if I was dreaming I’d love to try out the SX-70 camera, but with that price tag I don’t think I will be anytime soon. For me this camera is not a winner!

Camera: £95.00

Price Per Shot: £1.75

P.S. If anyone has any pointers or tips on getting better results from this camera, I am all ears!

Instax Share Printer SP-2

Ok, so not technically an instant camera, but I feel it falls under this category with it producing psychical photos, in well, erm, an instant. The SP-2 Share is the cheapest of the Instax printers and it hooks up to your phone via a Wi-Fi connection once you’ve downloaded the ‘Instax Share App’. Through the app, you import your photos one by one, you can zoom, rotate, and alter the brightness, contrast or saturation. There’s a preview on the app before you print, so you know what you’re getting. You could argue that this takes the magic away from the nature of this kind of photography, but I love having the photos around the house and being able to print them on demand from my sofa. There’s a SP-3 version of this printer, the difference being the photos are square. I’d probably have gone for that if it was around when I bought this one, but definitely told myself I don’t need another Instax product in my house that needs another type of film. But worth checking out if you’re considering this product. If you have the Instax mini, the SP-2 takes the same film, which is a bonus if you’re into bulk buying film too.

Camera: £95.00

Price Per Shot: 75p

Polaroid 600

I think this is maybe my forth Polaroid 600 camera over the years, the first one was my Grandpa’s which I loved using as he thought Polaroid cameras were magical! However as I mentioned above, one by one they’ve died on me. I now know you can get them restored, but still it’s not a very readily available service, if you know somewhere that does this please let me know. This Polaroid 600 is Jack’s from when he was younger, and I just love how the photos turn out, nothing can beat the colours and warmth of the original polaroids. I don’t know how long I’ll have it for though, I know we are on borrowed time before something in it breaks. The photos are expensive, but Polaroid do still make the 600 film (be careful to not get i-type film for it, as this doesn’t work) so it only comes out every now and again. I don’t use it as much as I use my Instax wide, mainly for cost - but when I do I really love what comes out.

Camera: Really varies, Polaroid sell them £120 - £350

Price Per Photo: £2.30

Do you have an instant camera or instant photo printer you love? Let me know in the comments.