Instax cameras at O’Leary’s Camera World
Every summer, at O’Leary’s Camera World, our favourite Fujifilm Ireland rep calls us to take our Instax instant cameras order. The spiel is always the same “Buy loads, buy now”! Now to explain, this is the Christmas order and it is a balmy 24 degrees in Cork City.
Anyways, without fail, every year Fujifilm puts us down for all the colours, all the models, all the accessories. We go square-eyed staring at spreadsheets for days on end, but we know that in the end, they will make very happy kids (
So let’s take a moment to talk about what makes Instax cameras so special.
Instax : the “original” original
I was in a coffee shop, probably Dulce Bun House across the street, thinking about the resurgence of analog photography and the motivations behind it. We all have smartphones with way too many cameras and way too much storage (and somehow never enough…).
Sure the phone camera is always at hand and this is one of the main reasons for all the amazing mobile photography we see, but do we really need to take a 50-photo burst of Nana blowing out candles?
With an instant camera each print is truly unique!
In my opinion, one of the reasons people connect with film photography so much are the limitations (36 exposures and pricey film) and the fact that once the roll is handed into the photolab (you DO know we still process film right?) your job is done and you will end up with actual physical, irl prints.
Each print is special, copies are intentional and cherished.
But then it dawned on me, if we are being nit-picky, you ALWAYS have the negatives. Those brownish plastic strips that come back with your prints are the master to infinite reprints. Lost a photo? If you still have the negative and it was stored somewhat correctly, we can print that photo again as if it was 1999!
Which brings me back to the Instax cameras and notably the Instax print: it is the “original” original. No back-ups, no negatives, no press-bin-icon-and-redo. Wow, now that’s valuable!
In 2022, legendary fashion photographer David Bailey, who had documented his most iconic shoots (think Princess Diana, Damon Albarn, Mick Jagger and the like) on Polaroid instant film, put his collection of instant prints up for sale. Imagine having this unique, impossible to replicate, photo of Princess Diana!
So that’s reason one. Take a photo and cherish it as if there was nothing like it, because there isn’t.
The Mindful photographer
Everything old is new again and will always be a rebuttal of the norm. The faster technology gets, the more often we ask ourselves “wouldn’t slowing down feel nice?” and the more pictures we take the less time we spend giving them the attention that makes these captures special in the first place.
A single sheet of Instax paper is in fact a little pocket of chemicals that I will never understand. It takes the light bouncing off your subject and through chemical processes that might as well be magic, turns your composition into a print.
As we were saying, each print is special and what is special tends to be expensive. What is expensive tends to have us stop and think a bit more. You just have to be a parent whose child pressed on the shutter of the newly gifted Instax camera ten times in a row, to understand this.
When a camera makes you slow down, you usually get more meaningful pictures.
When you go out with an instant camera, you go out with a vague idea or direction of what you would like to come back with. You craft each shot carefully, composing it just right, waiting for that decisive moment and snap! You were engaged, you were focused, you were mindful.
And then comes the best part, the waiting. Another moment when time slows down. The chemicals are doing their thing and you are waiting in anticipation, curious to know how close the final photo will be to how you pictured it in your mind.
If it matches, happy days, pat yourself on the back and if it doesn’t it’ll simply grow on you and fine details will reveal themselves over time.
The gift of a moment stuck in time
We are constantly amazed by the creative ways people use the prints from Instax products and Fujifilm are always coming up with new features.
Small local businesses might use the Instax Link Wide smartphone printer to add a QR code on the photos they hand out. This nifty feature allows people to be easily directed to a website for example.
With the Instax Link Wide print a QR to direct people to your website!
Then you have the globetrotters going around the world, making new friends, crashing on generous hosts’ couches. What better way to thank your host on the way out than with a group portrait printed and gifted on the spot. Paired with a nice bottle of wine off course!
But we can guarantee that the gift of an Instax photo will still be pinned on the fridge a long time after the wine is drunk.
We know one customer who had moved to Ireland from abroad. Leaving family and friends behind can be extremely hard. Sure, there have been so many tech advancements to keep people closer than ever and most everybody is familiar with Zoom, Whatsapp and Messenger video calls by now.
This one fellow’s family was going to welcome a new baby, but he wasn’t going to make it back for a year or so. So into O’Leary’s Camera World for some advice and out he went with an Instax Square Sq6 instant camera and as much film as can fit inside the box to be posted.
A year goes back and he can finally jump on a plane and make it back to visit family and friends, including the cousin with the baby. Invited over for a marvelous dinner one night, our friend ends up sitting on the couch, and low and behold, staring back at him is the baby girl growing chronologically in front of his eyes in a series of framed Instax Mini prints.
What a great idea!
Don’t leave it for later! Print those special moments and hang them up 🙂
So there you have it, our take on what makes Instant cameras like the Instax so special and why, year after year, customers come to O’Leary’s Camera World to get started with instant photography or to try one of the many new releases.
Through the years we have become experts in the field of Instant Print cameras and proudly stock options from Fujifilm, but also Canon and Lomography.
Our only regret is not having kept a few of the Taylor Swift special edition cameras from a few years ago, but there you go, there is always something to learn.
Get in touch with us online or visit our camera shop on Oliver Plunkett Street in Cork City.