Party pics - the Fuji Instax cameras and prints

The Fuji Instax cameras are one of my favorite ways of making party pics, sharing something fun and different, in a little throwback to the analog days. Maybe I’m tipping my hat here to reveal my age but the first camera I ever owned was a polaroid flip up camera, and believe it or not, that camera’s images are still a part of my visual history. Now why, with all the tech we have at our disposal, would we want to mess with analog instant film? It’s fun… really that’s the heart of it. There is something fun and magical about making and sharing these little prints and I thought it would be worth a short primer on them in case you’re unfamiliar.

Five things to know:

1. Instax cameras and corresponding film comes in three sizes mini, square, and wide. You’ll have to buy the right film to match your camera. The mini size is set to vertical so the chin of the print is at the bottom, while the square and wide prints are made to be held horizontally.

2. The cameras for the most part are point and shoot, there are some controls based on the model for brightness, double exposure, and flash but that’s usually it.

3. Every pack of film holds 10 frames and there are both color and black and white options. Also note, there are a variety of different variations on the color films border which is usually white, so you might see a pack of rainbow framed color film or polka dots.

4. Most of the cameras have a small mirror on the front which is supposed to be used for selfies.

5. There are a lot of prebuilt frames and albums that you can buy to hold your prints that you can get on Amazon. We love giving our photography clients these framed images as a thank you.

Bonus: If you don’t fancy a camera there are also Instax printers that will connect to your phone and allow you to print anything from your camera roll. By going the phone-printer route, you can have a chance to take a few frames, pick the best, and even edit before going to print (although this does make it seem like a lot more work).