Mo Stuff!

I was a bit non-plussed while reading the Photokina reports this year at the strange things that were being introduced. Some of them seemed a little odd as marketing choices. Now I have had a chance to see one of them in the shop and I am somewhat reconciled.

The Sofort camera from Leica seemed a strange departure for a company that had always been known for extremely professional and extremely expensive cameras and lenses. It was, after all, an instant camera with some sort of connection to the Japanese Fujifilm Instax line. If the designers were not the same people, they at least did lunch together. Sushi and sauerbraten?

The actual camera in the shop is really rather nice, and the colour decision for the blue and brown panels is delightful. Very Germanic in a high fashion way. The operation would appear to be pretty near that of the Instax line and the resultant print very much so. Note that Leica are wisely not re-branding the film packets.

What they are doing is providing some fun accessories with the basic system...designed around the storage and display of the instant prints. As there are no accessories to add to the basic camera and it works away undisturbed, you get to spend your extra money downstream with the picture albums.

None of it, from camera and film to albums and display frames, is break-the-bank prices. You can afford to give or get one as a gift this year and have a lot of fun with it.

Instant Leica....never thought you'd say that, did you? Wonder what old HCB would have thought of it all...

An Instant Night Out - At the Leica Club

I went to the Leica Club at Shoot Photography this week and was greatly entertained...

The entertainment included good things to eat and drink, of course, and a chance to see some of the newest Leica cameras and lenses...and the chance to try out a novelty; the Leica SOFORT.

We've mentioned it here in the column before but this was the first time to get it into action... I was chosen as first experimenter...and I discovered that there is more to the SOFORT than meets the eye.

To start with, the name. SOFORT is rendered as " immediately " in the Google translator. Immediately turns out to be about 5 minutes...but " fünf Minuten " does not look quite so well rendered in the font that Leica uses for their cameras. In any case the camera does eject the newly-shot picture immediately and you just have to wait the 5 minutes for the full picture to develop.

To be fair, what is happening under the pure white outer case of the Fujifilm Instax film that you are holding in your hand has been described as a silent tornado of chemical reaction, so we really should be respectful of both the Fujifilm people and Dr. Edwin Land.

Okay, back to using the SOFORT. Point it and shoot and it delivers a good on-camera flash result. As the flash is situated on one side of the lens there will be a bias as to where it goes - remember this when you position people near reflectors. No.3 in the composite shot shows that I should have reversed my position to get away from the wall

The interesting thing that Connor McGill, the Leica Area Manager, pointed out is that the flash can be altered separate from the exposure of the shutter. This was tried by Don with a no-flash shot of the drinks tub to see what the dynamic range of the result can be. See No.4 in the composite shot. Pretty good.

The other thing that was evident was that the Fujifilm Instax film that this is loaded with has a very good skin-tone response. Even under the quizzical white balance of the Shoot premises there was a good colour to it.

Of course the SOFORT is intended as a fun camera - you will get a lot of that out of it in shooting give-away shots at events. And you will make more useful contacts and more friends doing so than just banging away with a standard digital camera and then taking the results home. People like having you take their picture when they can take that picture away themselves.

Part of the fun with this is selfies. Now I am not the sort of person who stands in front of famous buildings or objects to have a selfie - if I see something and take a good picture of it I think it evidence enough that I was there. And there are a lot of places in the world that I do not want to have evidence about...but there are those who like to take them.

To this end, Leica have put a small mirror on the front of the SOFORT to help you compose the result. It is just large enough to encompass two maniacs, as the No.1 picture in the composite will prove. Maybe a Godzilla or and Eiffel Tower in the middle...I'll leave the aesthetics up to you. The point is you can get a selfie in 5 minutes that is as good as any digital one. and you need not do it on a stick.

One thing, though, note that N0.1 and N0.2 on the composite are both upright pictures. But one was taken facing back - one facing out. The pictures both look good, but they are orientated 180º to each other on the paper. You'll need to remember this if you are intending to put the result into a special Leica album for display.

Thanks to CE and Connor for a good entertaining night and to Don and Mark for being good-humoured models.

See more about the Leica SOFORT here

A reminder that CE's 12 days of Christmas sale is happening right now! Day 5 is 25% off Fstop, Ona, Lowepro, Pelican and Think Tank bags. See the full list here. 

Vale FP-100C

Trolling through the internet this weekend I found a DP Review post saying that the Fujifilm company will discontinue their packs of FP 100C instant film. These are the packs with 10 exposures inside that fit into the Hasselblad, Rollei, Polaroid, and other holders - the 100 series size. They got rid of their production of of the 4 x 5 packs a couple of years ago.

I am saddened, but with no involvement in the HB or 4 x 5 world at present, I cannot say that I will be injured by it. Those people who still take preliminary exposures with their Hasselblad film cameras or proof out other things on other cameras will be stranded eventually. The small newsagents and others who use the Polaroid four-lens cameras to take passport photographs will be hardest hit.

Mind you, they were hard hit even when supplies were readily available - the business of getting a picture with a chemical instant print that satisfies the computer whizz kids of the airport passport controls - and the grey sleeveless minds of the DFAT - was proving pretty fraught. The chart of do's and don'ts was based upon making a robot image of real people and failed badly most of the  time. I watch the same job being done in post offices with something that looks like it a Sony specialised system and wonder if the results even come up to the old Polaroid shots.

Well, if you need the FP-100c there will likely be some floating about at the end of production, and as it keeps pretty well, you would be advised to get it while you can. It is unlikely to be reproduced in any usable form in Holland.

Talk to the sales staff at CE and see if there is a schedule for end of supply. And if you need a passport photo remember that the shop has a dedicated little digital system and printer that can turn out a pretty reasonable product to satisfy the unreasonable ideas of DFAT.

Note: This in no way affects the Fujifilm Instax cameras or the film for that. That's a different system entirely, and by the reports we see, is going like Gangbusters for Fujifilm.

For all Fujifilm Cameras available to order and in store please visit our website.

The Instant Phenomenon - Fujifilm Instax

Did goe to a sales conference on the weekend and was greatly amused. Salesmen selling to salesmen is always a fun spectacle. And I like the fact that most of these conference places have bowls of mints on the table...I always wear a coat with big pockets...

Well, one of the topics that passed briefly was the Fujifilm Instax cameras and film. It would appear from what the retailers were saying that these cameras have become one of the necessities of life in Australia - a little behind air, water, and food, but in front of shelter and medical attention.

I am delighted - the Fujifilm company makes a good product in these modern instant cameras and their film is excellent - far better than that other instant product that we used to get in the 1970s, 80's and 90's. Fujifilm colours pop instead of flop, and they last as well - I know this from personal experience - there is a studio fish bowl full of test shots taken on Fujifilm FP 100C packs over the last 20 years, and the colours at the bottom of the bowl are as good as to ones at the top.

It would appear that the Fujifilm Instax cameras are big in the big retailers - they cycle through billions* of them each Christmas, and everyone else who wants to sell them needs to get their orders in early. So they do, and so we do, and you can snap away happily all bthrough the holidays.

The very success of the devices tells us that there is a reward that people feel from having a real photo in their hand. Seeing your face on a screen is all very well, and with a bit of care that image can be seen all over the known world - but we still treasure a picture of ourselves and our nan in a little frame on the bedside table.

Which accounts for the success as well of the Fujifilm Instax Share. It is a printer that converts a mobile device image to a real Fujifilm Instax Mini print. There are instructions with it that explain using the wireless transfer and help people to make the best use of whatever they have on their phone.

Of course some phones are better than others...my old Nokia does not actually take pictures but if you press the right buttons on it, people will deliver pizza to your door. I have always accounted this an advantage over just taking pictures - I have Fujifilm X-series cameras for this task and they perform it well - but they would be poor instruments to make pizza with...

Mmmm. Pizza...wonder how close we are to lunch hour...?

* It might not have been billions. I was busy eating mints at the time...

Whole Lotta Snappin' Going On...Instax Film

Our warehouse prospecting team has discovered a seam of Fujifilm.

A rich horde of Fujifilm Instax Mini film in the economical twin-pack has come to light and the Instax cameras ( and Polaroid 300) that you gave or got for Christmas can start putting out party pictures again.

It's fresh so get in while the getting is good.

Fujifilm Go Instantly Wide... The Crowd Goes Wild!

Well, if you're going to toot a trumpet or beat a drum you might as well do it loud!

Fujifilm have a fascinating range of Instax cameras that use the instant-film technology to deliver finished analog prints in your hand in 90 seconds. There are several modls ranging from tiny to medium sized...and now there is a wide version. We just took delivery of some of them.

It's known as the Fujifilm Instax Wide 300 and has its own film pack. The pictre in your hand is 11cm x 8.5 cm and 10cm x 6cm of that is picture area - hence the wide designation.

There's automatic flash, rangefinder focusing, a usefully large hand grip, and auto exposure on the camera. The close-up range of the camera gets down to 40-50cm. And thank goodness they have put a standard tripod socket in the bottom so you can use it for big groups.

Highly recommended.

Save the Christmas Lunch Party With Fujifilm

I don't want to depress you, but Christmas lunch is coming. You will be required to bring a plate - with food in it.

 Apart from the beer fridge, and possibly the pudding, there will be few other saving graces. Time will slow to a stop about 3:00 in the afternoon and only the start of a roaring sibling's fight will enliven the day.

It needn't be this way. This year arm yourself with a Fujifilm Instax Share printer and some packets of film and step into the breach. Become the family hero. Get invited back next year. Here's how you do it:

The Fujifilm Instax Share is a magic little printer that will take the images that people put on their smart phones and print them out onto Fujifilm Instax instant film - it scoots out of the printer and develops in your hand in 90 seconds. The novelty of it and the fact that everyone will have been drinking will ensure that a number of memorable selfies will occur. With the Fujifilm Instax they can be printed in hard copy - far safer than firing them onto Facebook.

We've got plenty of them so take the opportunity to buy yourself a present.

Calling All Girls - Fuji Instax In Stocks

Stop wincing. It's actually a charming little camera. If you've got daughters or grand-daughters they would love one. And Christmas is only 6 months away. And it's only 99 bucks!

The Fujifilm Instax cameras produce a credit-card size instant picture in 90 seconds. Just like the old Pola...d cameras. But with nicer colours. And a lot more automation than we had in the 60's and 70's.

This version is in pastels - pink, yellow, blue, white...and black as well if your daughter is a Goth. They run on Instax 10-pack films and a couple of AA batteries. They are slickly designed and work well.

Surprisingly they have an adjustable aperture for different light conditions, and have also included a high-key option for the arty types. There's an in-built flash for indoors shots and an AF system.

If you're into higher-tech instant there is also a big black and silver version but these are the ones that will come out at parties and school. Buy some extra film too, and make yourself popular.

The 15-Second Wonder From Fujifilm

If you are the owner of a Polaroid ID camera camera, or the Polaroid instant back that mounts to a Hasselblad, Mamiya, or Bronica camera, you can score a cost-price bargain right now.

We have an embarrassment of Fujifilm FP-3000B Professional film packs. These have 10 shots each of an 8.5 cm x 10.8 cm size inside them. The film is ISO 3000 black and white instant type.

In this case it really is almost instant - 15 seconds from pull through the rollers to peel-apart. Super good contrast and fine grain.

The fridge is full of fresh packs - and we need room.They are normally $ 35 a pack but we're sending them out now for $ 28 per pack. If you need instant ID photos for your job site this is the cheapest you're ever going to see for film. Also good for low-light work.

Four Packs Of Fun - Polaroid Is Back

Edwin Land would be proud of the place - we have Polaroid instant cameras and film back in stock.

Take a gander at the pack shots. You'll note that we can provide a new Polaroid 300 camera and film - both the cameras and the film are in colour. Now your selfies can be in print as well as on everybody's Facebook.

Also note that there is a new formula for the Impossible Project films. We have 600-series black and white and colour film for Polaroid cameras as well as SX-70 film. We have been assured that the Dutch manufacturers have got it right this time.

If your dear old 600-series Polaroid has been sitting sad and lonely, perhaps this is the time to take it out of the cupboard and load it up. You could be 90 seconds away from art...