I was going through my camera collection the other day, as you do. Nothing serious, I just had an hour to spare and thought I’d give ‘em a dust and clean.
It’s not a large collection by some standards; a Canon 5DS, a Fujifilm X-S10 mirrorless, a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro, a bunch of GoPros including a MAX 360, a couple of DJI OSMO Actions, an OSMO Pocket 2, OSMO 360 and an old, old Hitachi camcorder.
It got me thinking that over time, I have just about owned every possible type of camera made from Rollieflex to Leica, Pentax to Minolta and Canon to Nikon. And more.
But then I corrected myself in that I have never owned, or even used an original Polaroid camera.
The “Digital Age Polaroid”
Precisely 30 minutes later, I received a press release from Fujifilm about the launch of the Instax Mini 13, which to all intents and purposes, is the ‘polaroid’ camera for the digital age. So I asked for a review unit.
It turned up the other day, and while for me personally, it has limited usage, I can see why it has become popular.
Ease of Use
For one, it is so easy to use. Pop the 2 x AA batteries in the side, drop the paper cartridge in the back and pretty much point and shoot.
By rotating the lens assembly, you switch modes from close up to selfie, both a 2 second and 10 second self-timer are built in, as is a flash, and after the shot is taken, following a few seconds, the 8cm x 5cm print appears out of the side slot and develops before your eyes.
The drawback of course is there is no digitally stored version.
Having said that, the Fujifilm Instax Mini 13 is the epitome of easy photography it has to be said.
A Perfect Use
And I have found the perfect use for it in fact. My granddaughter has picked up an interest in photography, but of course entrusting a 5 year old with a $1000 mobile phone to play with is a stretch too far for many, and besides, at this stage she doesn’t need all the controls the modern phone camera offers. What she does need is to learn the basics of composition, and the $139 Instax Mini 13 (available in 5 different fashionable colours including pink of course) is the perfect foil for this.
The “film” is not exactly inexpensive at $20 for two cartridges of 10, making each shot cost a $1, so some supervision would be necessary, at least initially.
Resurgence
Some time back I also wrote about the resurgence of film cameras amongst teenagers, specifically the throw away camera type, and I can see the Instax Mini 13 appealing to this market too. Indeed, Fujifilm in its initial press release describe it as a “fashion statement”.
The story from the original press release is here, or you can get more information direct from Fujifilm here.
There are other Instax cameras in the range too if you want more control.