The New Era of Instant Photography
This entry was posted on June 8, 2016.
By Abby Swain-Mitchell
As a child that grew up in the height of the Instant era, I am so excited to see the new generation of cameras and the old cameras being brought back to life.
All those children’s parties where the camera was snapping away and the marvel that we could see our pictures instantly. Now, arguably we have that today with phones and digital cameras, but there’s nothing quite like having the print instantly in your hand, and the funny thing is that you straight away create that emotional link to the photo. Even the bad ones, you just can’t bring yourself to dispose of.
I recently got married and thought what better way to capture the mood of the day, and to make sure that we had a photo of everyone there, but to dot the instant cameras around the reception room. We created a board with everybody’s name on it and challenged them to find their name and replace it with a picture of themselves. Well, what fun everyone had!
Everybody engaged in the race to take the best picture, we didn’t just have one photo of everyone but lots. Everybody got involved and loved it. There’s just a magic about it, and today there are many more options than there have ever been to get creative with your instant prints.
After the demise of Polaroid, the inventors of instant a new company grabbed hold of the technology and rescued the old machinery and set about re-inventing the Polaroid classic camera by calling it Impossible. One might say it was an impossible task (pardon the pun), but Impossible rose to the challenge and went one step further. Not only did they re-invent the film, but they keep re-inventing with many more creative films available. From Black & White and Colour, the range now includes film with coloured borders, film with black borders, film with circular borders and limited edition films with very interesting results.
Taking the development one step further they have launched the first instant camera to be able to be used in conjunction with the Impossible app, allowing endless creativity and fun. Check out the funky design and once you get it in your hands, you won’t want to let go. The ring flash not only a great flash, but the lights show you how many images you have left on your film.
We’re even seeing the original cameras being refurbished by Impossible and come with a 12-month warranty. They are just so retro, you can’t not love them.
Fujifilm do a range of cameras that start from £59. There’s the Instax 210, the original beast – big and bold with large images, the latest edition of the Mini 70 boasting a selfie mirror & self-timer, they even have a Hello Kitty camera. What better way to get your children interested in photography?
The Polaroid name lives on in the Polaroid Snap & Z2300. Cameras that give you instant prints using a zink paper which allow you to save your images digitally as well as the choice to print your pictures instantly. It really is the age of instant and I for one can’t wait to see what they come up with next.
Take a look and see how you can enjoy the new generation of Instant and I hope you have as much fun and create as many memories as I have over the years.