Fuji Instax Mini 90 Neo Classic

Having splashed the cash in a somewhat reckless fashion a month or two ago – I’ve finally gotten around to shooting more images with the Fuji instant camera – the Instax Mini 90 Neo Classic.

This camera takes a small sized cartridge of Fuji instant color film (ISO 800 Daylight) – and produces a Polaroid style instant color shot from a fixed 60mm f/12.7 lens. You get 10 frames per film pack. (86x54mm)

Fuji data sheet for Instax film: http://www.fujifilm.com/products/instant_photo/pdf/instax_mini_datasheet.pdf

The camera looks retro – but it’s a plastic fantastic, with little or no metal in it’s exterior construction.

The lens pops out when you power-up, and the camera has a point & shoot style optical viewfinder for lining up the shots. It has a rechargeable battery for all camera functions including flash.

It does have some electronic trickery built in – allowing for macro (really just close-up) work, double exposures, fill flash compensation, party mode (provides free drinks and food – or maybe just exposes for ambient lighting with fill flash balanced), kids mode (high shutter speed), Landscape Mode (hyperfocal zone focus), brightness adjust, and a bulb shutter mode for long exposures (max 10 sec).

It’s easy to use, but does suffer from parallax errors when shooting close-up – although bright lines are provided in the viewfinder to try and assist with this.

In use – a kid could drive this camera! Well this kid can any way – it’s definitely not difficult to use – just keep your hands away from the film exit slot, as the print is ejected from the camera after each frame is taken.

IQ – well, it’s artistic rather than detailed – the prints are small, so your landscape shots will have an artistic feel to them rather than stunning detail. For portraits, it really shines – this is where the camera is aimed I’m guessing – a party fun machine!

I do like the colors produced by the Fuji Instax film – and the whole look and feel from the prints. It’s very exciting to get instant hard copy in these digital days – I can see why these Instax cameras sell well.

Here is one of the images from the camera/film -from my Gold King Mine visit last month.

Orange Truck

And here’s an early evening seascape shot near Encinitas CA – a 10 sec exposure in BULB mode.

Moonlight Beach

The Instax MINI 90 is fun to play with – All images were scanned using my old Epson flatbed scanner to get them into the digital domain. You could PP them from there for more effects etc.

I’m going to keep experimenting – even at over $1 a frame – it’s a real get away from digital

My FLICKR Instax set is below: