I caught up on the Apple keynote for the launch of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus recently. While Tim Cook and his tribe were enthralling (boring?) us with their trademark Apple-speak about all the ‘revolutionary’ tech in iPhones, I couldn’t help but be impressed with at least one aspect there.. the camera, and the stunning “shot on iPhone” photos. They’re taking the iPhone 7 Plus’s (already uber-cool) portrait mode to the next level on the soon to be launched new iPhones. What ostensibly takes professional photographers millions of dollars of equipment to achieve, is being bundled into a few simple swipes.
Of course, we’ve been seeing dramatic improvements in digital cameras and camera phones for years now. Photography is surely an area where tech is taking over, and turning companies – and skillsets – redundant.
Now I’m not normally one to diss modern life and it’s many advantages just for the heck of it. But all these fancy digicams do sometimes overwhelm, and nostalgia tends to wash over for the good ol’ days of physical photos. When the camera reel had a limited number of shots, and each click was planned meticulously. Before the digital click-check-delete made it so easy to capture each and every moment of our lives. Taking thirty-seven shots of a moment and picking one ‘candid’ capture for that Instagram and/or Facebook post somehow doesn’t feel the same as taking a single shot that captures everything you want.
The physical photo forced a certain frugality on the photographer and the photographed. Each good photo back then felt like an achievement of sorts! And there’s a bit of that excitement which I’m getting to re-live now with the reemergence of instant photos thanks to FUJIFILM’s Instax family. (Trust the Japanese to bring retro-cool back like no one’s business!)
We got the Instax Mini 70 as an anniversary gift recently, and I was quite excited to take it along for our holiday to Mauritius. With the little kiddo, my main worry was that he wouldn’t stay still or pose properly for any decent click. But of course, kids always do the unexpected – the best shots of the lot are the ones with Baby H in them! We had a “reel” of 10 which I wanted to use most efficiently, so the first day my eyes were peeled for all the backdrops and frames that I’d like to capture. Each location was discussed with the hubby, and then the time of the day picked so the lighting was just right. The quality of the photos, to be honest, is not exceptional (or perhaps we need more practice); and it is clearly meant more for close-ups rather than taking in scenic panoramas. But trust me, the Instax is an exciting new holiday tradition to start!
From digitising the print for a charming addition to the holiday album to re-learning how to frame a photo through the viewfinder; from people’s bemused/befuddled expressions when you ask them to click for you, to the stylish head-turner accessories you can spruce up the camera with.. all this bundled with the funky wall art you are creating instantly. This is one seriously fun fad to indulge in. I know I’m definitely going to pack this gorgeous little piece of non-tech gadget in all my holiday bags now!
The technical specs:
FUJIFILM Instax Mini 70 (priced at around ₹10,000) takes credit card sized photos (62mm x 44mm). The film (sold separately for around ₹800-900) gives you 10 prints per loading and is available on Amazon.in in various bundles and deals.
The camera comes with a built-in flash and photos can be taken in auto-mode, selfie-mode (with a front mirror for convenience), macro-mode or portrait-mode. It comes in 6 funky colours – Moon White, Canary Yellow, Island Blue, Midnight Black, Passion Red, and my pick – the classy and elegant Stardust Gold.
Other variants of the Instax are the Instax Wide 300 (photos are 2x the size), the Mini 9 (more plasticky and teeny-bopper look), the Mini 90 (improvements in features and a classic black/brown colour), and the newest Instax Square SQ 10 (smaller & cuter still). They also come out with some special editions once in a while like the Hello Kitty or the Michael Kors versions.
And now the not so good news… All models and colours are not readily available in India. And even more unfortunate is the not so competitive pricing. The same models can be picked up, for example in the US at nearly half the price; so it may just be worth waiting for a travelling relative or friend to get one for you!
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