Instax - Fujifilm Instax Film

Instax is a brand of instant still cameras and instant films marketed by Fujifilm since the late 1990s. There are two formats of Instax film and cameras âˆ' the original "wide" format which gives an image approximately 60 mm x 99 mm, and a "mini" format of 62 mm x 46 mm. Other manufacturers also make compatible cameras and camera backs.

Format characteristics

The films and cameras are based upon the improvements Kodak made to Polaroid's SX-70 instant film system in the Kodak instant film cameras it sold in the 1970s and 1980s, namely the ability to expose the film through the rear of the photograph, and the reversal of the order of the dye layers so that development in the blue layer is visible first. As a result of these changes the image does not need to be taken via a reflex mirror in order to reverse the image (as all Polaroid integral film cameras do); and colour balance and tonal range are improved over Polaroid integral instant films. As well Fuji's decision to integrate the pressure plate springs and electrical power sources into the camera bodies rather than the disposable film pack itself helps make the Instax system more economical per exposure than Polaroid's equivalents.

Although Kodak itself ceased production of instant film cameras when it was successfully sued by Polaroid for patent infringement, the Instax cameras were made and marketed under an agreement with Polaroid that specified they could not be officially distributed in certain territories such as the USA, until the original Polaroid patents expired in the mid 1990s. With Polaroid ceasing production of instant films in 2008, the Instax system was the only integral instant film system in production until The Impossible Project launched their integral film in early 2010. The Instax Mini system is also sold in some markets by Polaroid itself through the Polaroid 300 and Polaroid 300 Film brands (in reality an Instax Mini 7S and Instax Mini film).

Instax Mini

Instax Mini is an ISO 800 credit-card-size (86x54 mm) integral daylight color film designed for use with Fujifilm instax mini compatible cameras. The Mini film and camera systems are also called Cheki (チェキ) in Japan; the Cheki moniker derives from the English "check it".

Film specifications

Instax Mini cameras

Instax Mini printers

Digital Instax Pivi

The Digital Instax Pivi line was intended as a digital/analog hybrid. The original intention was to produce a new format to feed a series of digital instant cameras similar in approach to the Olympus C-211, a digital camera with a built-in Polaroid 500 film printer. Fujifilm delivered on that premise but did so in the form of the FinePix PR21, a digital camera with a built-in Instax mini printer released in 1999.

Instax Pivi film looks physically identical to Instax mini, but it takes a different formulated film producing an inverted image when used in a mini camera, making them deliberately incompatible to a fault.

The original project did not end with the launch of the FinePix PR21. A stand-alone printer was planned from the start but was not the primary focus, but it turned into one with the advent of mobile devices, making it to market in 2004 after 5 or so years in limbo.

• Digital Instax Pivi film (film size: 54 (W) x 86 (H) mm picture size: 46 (W) x 61(H) mm) - incompatible with Instax mini film -
  • 800 ASA

Instax Wide

Upon introduction simply called Instax without any suffix (making it the normal, not mini, Instax film), Fujifilm gradually embedded the "Wide" moniker into the name of the product. That rebranding pattern can also be seen on the Instax 210 which is now described on the Fujifilm web site as Instax Wide 210, despite not being referenced elsewhere in such a way.

Film specifications

Instax Wide cameras

Instax Square

Instax Square is a new 1:1 size of Instax film, to be released with an accompanying camera in spring of 2017.

Film specifications

Reception and growing popularity

Fujifilm originally wished to release the Instax series worldwide including North America and Europe simultaneously, but chose to work with Polaroid on the mio camera based on the Instax mini 10/20 for the US market. The mio product was discontinued after a few years.

In 2014 it was reported that the Instax Mini 8 was outselling flagship models like the Fujifilm X-T1 and Sony α7R.

In 2016 it was reported that sales of Instax cameras had risen to 5 million units the previous fiscal year, up from 100.000 units in 2004.