So I've got my Malibu I've got my pineapple juice and I've got my lei
you can even hear some Hawaiian music in the background so you know what that means:
Instant camera roundup, obviously.
So the first thing you've got here is the Leica Sofort. Very pricey but very nice
looking camera I wanna see if that's worth the money now for Fuji we did
bring their basically highest-end Instax camera this is the Neo 90 it's got some
nice controls certainly has a nice look to it: more of a vintage styling now
I've also got the brand new Instax SQ6 now this is fully analog unlike their
SQ10, which is digital, this is a square format camera but a nice new
design we're gonna play with that: that's brand new. And last but not least, to round
it out we've got the TL70 from Mint part of their Instant Flex series this
is actually a twin lens reflex camera and has exposure and manual control so
that's going to be a lot of fun
[Jordan] I've got a special Sex on the Beach recipe which I, er, stole from the Internet: Pinterest
[Chris] Big smile!
[Party guest] Well I definitely like how the pictures turned out
[Chris - indecipherable]
[Music]
The [BEEP!]?
Are we serious right now? [Laughing]
[Music]
[Chris] Look at that! [Laughter]
We got our sippy cup lid on here because it fits perfectly I guess it'd be a
minus green filter
[Jordan - indecipherable]
[Hawaiian music]
Okay so it's the next day clean up we had some fun last night you know but
there's some interesting takeaways I mean first off what I found interesting
is that everybody really enjoyed using the instant film I mean there's
something about that process seeing the picture right away. See how instant it is.
[Boy] Dad it's not instant at all: it's still white [Chris] What are you talking about? You've just gotta wait
that's what 'instant' means. But it was good enough for me in my day, damn it! And
you know I think what I want to do next is just show the four cameras and really
talk about you know what are the differences between them you know why
would you choose one over another what can they do that the others can't do so
uh let's clean up this mess and get to that okay so first up is the Fuji Instax
Mini 90 and really what I love about the Mini 90 is its retro design, it's a nice
looking camera to carry around and it does have some nice upgrades
I like the rechargeable battery you know just to save waste
I like the viewfinder up here at the top-left it's really easy to frame I
prefer that and you get some nice advanced features here the 'Party' mode
for example is really handy if you want to get more light in, in a low light
situation. The 'kids' mode ups the shutter speeds it gives you a better
chance if you're not using flash outdoors to try to freeze subject matter
you can also add or decrease your exposure which is a lot of fun and by
far my favorite option: the double exposure mode we had a lot of fun with
that it's unpredictable and that could be expensive in the grand scheme of
things but it's also a lot of fun, and with some forethought you can do some neat
stuff with it. Now for notable downsides on the Instax
90: tripod thread on the side of the camera. Look where they put the tripod hole on this
[Laughter]
I mean if you're gonna use this on the tripod you better like doing a lot of
vertical shots because that's where you get the control horizontal it only goes
so far and you better make sure you got a ball-head
and the other thing here it's a good lens I mean I'm impressed by the
sharpness the exposures always been pretty accurate on these cameras but it
is an F12.7 lens and so that's really not a good light-gathering
lens what we found was in any sort of mid to low light situation if you're not
using the flash you're asking for trouble and by trouble I mean you're
wasting money so: a really nice capable camera we did have a lot of fun with this
And here's the Leica Sofort [Party guest] It's actually like pretty cool you know
like, aesthetically?
[Chris] It's a beautiful camera
[Party guest] Yeah, I like the colour, I like the trim and everything
[Chris] You know, it's a very handsome camera but effectively this is an Instax Fuji 90 in a different
outer shell so from a purely numbers game is this just basically a Fujifilm 90
for more than twice the price? Yes, absolutely, it is: that's exactly
what's happening here but at the same time we have to think that analog is to
some extent about design and when both these cameras on the table people
naturally gravitated towards the Leica it does have a beautiful design. Besides,
it's not the most expensive camera on the table so next up is the Mint TL70
and I think the first thing that you're obviously going to notice is this is a
twin-lens reflex: you're focusing through this lens but it's taking the picture
through this one and that immediately gives you a real cool factor you've got
the waist level finder with all the standard accoutrements there's a very
hard to pull out magnifier in there you've also got a speed shooting window
you can go through here for quick action I mean it's fun stuff the screen on this
particular version is the new bright screen is well we found it quite usable
now that also means that you're relying on a manual focus system now you can
focus right off the screen it works great and I guess my only complaint
there would be that it will intimidate some early users or beginners who just
want to get fun party photos especially as you start getting a few drinks in you
but for anybody creative that's the real pull of the TL70
having the manual focus having full aperture control and on top of that
being a 5.6 lens to give you the light-gathering that you're gonna need
having an exposure control function here minus or plus it is a full stop darker
or brighter but still it does give you some flexibility
you've even got right here a 'bulb' setting I do also want to mention that
anybody at the party who is familiar with manual cameras naturally gravitated
towards this you know not just the look of it but just the creative control and
having that flexibility and the images actually offered something very unique
as well not just having the depth-of-field control with that big aperture
range but also noticing that it wider apertures the lens has a lot of vignette
in which actually added character to it it has a different rendition of colour
and you'd often get some interesting ring-shaped flare spots so this was a
big hit visually you also have a nice exposure meter inside so it will help
you out if your exposures within range they'll give you a green light for go
and if it's not it will give you an orange indicator to say you're too light,
you're too dark that's overall the camera looks like a really fun and
powerful creative tool. But unfortunately that's where it kind of goes off the
rails so first off this camera is the most expensive out of the bunch and to
its credit there are some very novel design features I mean they made
basically a full-functioning TLR but the build quality does have a very cheap
kind of feel to it I mean you know the sides of the leatherette feel like
they're gonna start peeling off everything creaks and cricks and a lot
of these dials and buttons are quite plasticky: the flash, for example, when it
pops up it's a clever place but getting it to close again requires as you can
see quite a press in the right spot and there's a lot of other things where it
just kind of feels like it's not fully baked. We had some more issues beyond
that although taking pictures of the red button down here work great the eject
button over here often doesn't eject the film. I push the button and then I push this button
and nothing happens and then I push it again, nothing happens
and I push both, nothing happens [Party guest] So it's inconsistent?
or it feels inconsistent?
[Chris] Also if this viewfinder's you know closed in a little bit funny, or it's not quite open
you'll jam your film and just wreck it if it's a new pack of film so you know
there was a lot of stuff here that just doesn't totally feel well-thought-out in
the aperture controls as well they give you this fun little 'bokeh' Easter Egg
and that's what they call it because when you buy the camera you have no idea
what you're gonna get can you do out-of-focus interesting bokeh like
hearts or stars or diamonds it's kind of a crapshoot and we tested it here I
think it's supposed to be hearts but it wasn't cut very well maybe it's not
sitting properly in front of the lens but again it doesn't inspire confidence
in this tool okay so after a huge rant though let me just make myself clear I
mean where this is awesome is if you want to take instant photography into a
more creative place and for that I think the price of admission would be
worthwhile: you're paying for a unique shooting experience much like you would
have Leica rangefinder you know the money's not the issue anymore it's do I
get to do something unique and different in photography? And in this instant realm
I would say yes you absolutely get to do that I just wish it wasn't so flaky. Okay
well you can see there this thing has a terrible grip and I do want to talk
about that. [Beep] Okay so now we've got the brand-new Fujifilm
SQ6 and of course this square body design is there because this is their
first analog square shooting camera now this camera, although it looks very basic
and simplistic, to its credit actually has a lot of the fun features from the
Neo 90 series you've got things like selfie mode macro capability double
exposure you can go lighter and darker with your exposure and control your
flash as well so it was a very very fun camera to play with they did have a
little departure here going back to a disposable battery system but it's CR2s
so they should promise long lasting battery life
now the SQ6 has this interesting off on button at the top the only issue is that
most people will naturally pick up the camera and start hitting that as a
shutter and it doesn't work. You've actually got the shutter down here on
the grip and this is my main gripe with the camera the grip is terrible it's
really hard to hold on to this camera positively I feel like I'm gonna push
that shutter button by accident and I'm sure it has happened quite a bit at the
party. I wish that they had this off/on button click to on and then push down to
actually fire the photos that would have made far more sense the other thing I
didn't like for me personally the viewfinder appears on the top right that
means your face is mashed and behind the camera I like it on the other Fujifilm
cameras where it's off to the side on the left but those are minor gripes
we've got a nice flash up here at the top and they've actually included these
fun little color filters. We played with them some of them come out a little bit
dark but you know what they're a fun neat addition and you could certainly
have some creative fun just sticking those on so last couple things I want to
mention: parallax issue on the SQ6 is the worst and what I mean by that is if my
viewfinder is up here but the lens is down here I'm not exactly seeing the
same frame at a distance that's not a big deal but up-close, doing macros, if
I frame here in the square my shots way off to the bottom-left this is a problem
with all the cameras that we've played with here tonight but by far this one
has the biggest part of that issue the other thing I want to mention is just a
fun thing this lens is a little bit larger physically so what we did is we
stuck a sippy cup lid on the end and we took some truly horrifying photographs
which we can see here so you're welcome for that so in finishing this up I know
some of you might have had the time to think about it and say well hey Chris
you dummy why don't you just turn the camera on its side like this because
it's square and then you can have the viewfinder where you like it you
prima donna but then the problem is that the label at the bottom of the square
photo is now on the side and it's gonna look stupid on my fridge. Ha! So I think
their big take away after playing with these instant cameras of the party was
that they're just a lot of fun I mean that's the key thing everybody had a
good time and it's great to see people getting excited about photography again
and I guess the only thing I want to say is the cynic and me kind of things that
it's fun but it's only fun for a short time and the novelty kind of wears off
because after you get those pictures and then you know you want to maybe look at
them again or post them on Instagram or share them
with other people that weren't there well then you get into the obvious
problem of analog photography and that's where you might just wish I thought I
could just take those on my phone and share them with you right now that'd be
so much more convenient but again your experience can be very different the
only other thing I want to get across is that although it was a very fun
experience it's also kind of an expensive experience, no doubt. I mean on
that one night we must have burned through a $150 Canadian
worth of film and that's gonna add up every time you have a get
together alright so the last thing I want to mention I know we only played
with four cameras here we just tried to choose a cross-section in the smaller
formats but Dan Bracaglia at DPReview.com is working on an awesome article
it'll be up shortly and it's gonna be a rundown of a lot of the instant cameras
out there on the market it's gonna give you a ton of information so don't miss
that. The other thing I want to say is if you really did enjoy this video let us
know and then maybe we'll do the larger formats that could be a really
interesting thing to talk about as well don't forget check us out on Instagram
go to our Twitter accounts let us know comments below what do you think about
instant analogue photography and where it's going to go in the future?
Maybe share some of your experiences with it we would love to hear that
otherwise we're gonna have a great new video coming out very soon until then
see you soon [Music]