Being Square – The New Cool

Square Instax

Ok, for everyone who is going to tell me that Fujifilm announced their Square Instax in September of 2016,…I know. But since the official release is not until Spring 2017, I didn’t think it was such a big rush. Especially as the video giving us a “sneak peek” only showed the shutter button. Not much of a preview. I’m still waiting to see the ‘camera’.

I never liked the size of the the images of my Fujifilm Instax Mini,….so I went for an Instax Wide. (Wide 300) The images are quite nice. However, the ergonomics of the camera are horrendous. I can live with this Rube Goldberg monstrosity,…but, I’d rather not. Especially that viewfinder. The placement and subject view leaves a lot to be desired. And the “wide” part is only 35mm focal length in 35mm parlance. Which I like.

I guess the Mini was Fujifilm’s consumer interest polling method. I know Fujifilm is quite a large company, but an instant camera, (and instant film), in a digital age was quite a brave move. It could have taken off like a lead balloon. But happily, it was quite a success. In fact, a super success, coinciding with a burgeoning film explosion.

So now the square format. That means new cameras, and gearing up the production line for another format. But it’s the format that should have been the standard from the start. Sort of a new Polaroid. Now the Polaroid does have a similar square format to fit the original Polaroids models. (Bigger) They also have up to 8×10 instant film. Which is awesome!

The original press release was at Photokina in Germany. The Fujifilm president, Kenji Sukeno, made the announcement with great glee. But what are the cameras in development going to look like? Well, we only can hope for less Hello Kitty and more Fuji X100. Not that I really expect a solid hunk of metal, but hopefully an ergonomic attempt which at least “looks like a camera”.

The Fuji Square Format Size

Image size: Height 62mm x Width 62mm
Photo size: Height 85.6mm x Width 72mm

Certainly large enough to make a 100MP scan on any Epson or Canon flatbed.

Polaroid 600 or SX-70 film had a 79mm x 79mm image. So, it’s a bit smaller. And, of course, the batteries are separate on the Fuji. But how cool would it have been if they produced a film that was backward compatible with the old Polaroid cameras? Well, that’s not going to happen.

I doubt Fuji reads anything I write, but if they did I would hope they would think about Polaroid 55, 665 and other films to use with old Polaroid backs. Or even 4×5. And maybe a clone of Polaroid positive/negative film that gives both a paper print (black and white positive) and a black and white film negative that can be used for enlargements.

Now I’m just meandering. I think Fuji would be all the rage if they started fulfilling my dreams! But I’ll settle for a really good camera to go with the new square film for now. I’ll keep my dreams to myself. Look for my short review on the camera when it’s released.