Taking photos with instant film is a hobby that has once again grown in popularity in the past few years, and I thought that this week I would show you a comparison of a few different types of instant film that are still available for purchase today! I like to collect cameras, and I think that it’s very cool to see the differences in the photos that they produce.
Below are the cameras that I will use for my comparison. From left to right these are the Polaroid 600, the Instax Wide 300, and the Instax Mini 70. These are all cameras that I use quite often!
Before I talk about the film that these camera’s use it is important to know that the technology featured in the Polaroid 600 is much older when compared to my two Instax cameras, but the film that it uses is still being produced today. Also, although you may have heard Instax cameras referred to as “Polaroids”, they actually aren’t owned by Polaroid. Instax is owned by Fujifilm, an entirely different company that produces their own film and cameras.
Although the photos are what I would like to focus on most here, I feel like the prices of these types of film are also very important! The film that I buy for my Polaroid 600 is around $20 a pack, and that is for only 8 photos. This is quite expensive, considering when you do the math each photo you take costs about $2.50. My poor wallet…
Instax film is much more cost efficient. If you were to buy a four pack of Instax wide film, which would include 40 photos, you would have to pay around $34-$40. This ends up being closer to $1 a photo. The smaller and more well known Instax film that the company offers costs even less. A 50 photo pack of instant film of this type would only cost you $30. Instax film is also often on sale on Amazon.com as well, so you may actually be able to get it for even less.
When comparing these photos I found that Polaroid 600 film has much less contrast in its photos when compared to the others. The photos that it produces look more “creamy” and soft. They also usually have more of a vintage look to them. This film is also very sensitive to light. If you don’t shield this film from light when it comes out of the camera you may end up with white streaks on your photo. You can see this happening on the bottom of mine.
When it comes to the Instax wide and normal sized Instax film you can see that there is much more contrast, and the colors seem to be brighter. I have found that all of the photos that I take with these two cameras seem to have colors that are more true to life when compared to Polaroid film. I think that where the Polaroid has an advantage is with its size, this camera produces much larger photos when comparing it to the other two options.
Overall, I think that it depends on a person’s person preference when deciding which film looks the best. I personally use my Instax cameras more frequently considering the film costs less, and use my Polaroid for more special photo opportunities. I like the more vintage look of the Polaroid, but also love the contrast and colors produced from the Instax film.
I also took another photos of the same subject with my digital camera as well. I find it interesting how different cameras and camera formats can take such different photos!
