Last November I purchased a new camera. Of course I have enough cameras, but after seeing a few too many wonderful tweets with instax images, I couldn’t resist anymore. Actually, I was considering it for quite some time, when I was finally pushed to go for it when someone on Twitter mentioned that I would probably be too serious for this type of photography. That triggered me, because I want to be/have fun too! You see, the instax camera is all about fun, and I wanted in on this. In the end I am just a girl, and girls wanna have fun (right? 🙂 ). I decided to go for the Fuji Instax Mini 90 Neo Classic (quite the mouth full!), because it has the looks, and it has the option of double exposure.

The Fuji Instax Mini 90 with my first photo, a double exposure.

When I purchased the Mini 90, Fuji had just released a monochrome version of the instax film, so I started with some experiments in black and white:

Some grass with flowers on a cold morning.
Two trees in morning light.

Shooting with the Instax is obviously quite different from shooting with a leica. Where I am used to shoot in whatever direction suites me, preferable against the sun, this will lead to some problems with the cheap and plastic lens. However, I found that it is possible to shoot against the sun if I am careful, for example with the image below I hid the sun behind the tree. It still leads to an overexposed part with black spot, but a reasonable result non the less:

My most photographed canal with a rower in the morning.

With more or less perfect light, sun at noon, almost from behind, you can get quite some detail, like in the image below that I took in Utrecht (click on it to see a larger version). I like this image a lot. To have this in your hand a few minutes after shooting, is magic. The small size only adds to that, in my opinion.

A canal in the city Utrecht on a sunny day around noon.

A few more from Utrecht:

Church tower in Utrecht on a sunny late-morning.
Church tower (the ‘Dom’)

Another one showing quite some detail:

Green house with cactuses.

A few experiments with double exposure (I really need more practise to nail this):

Double exposure of my office building and me.
Double exposure of two campus buildings.

On to some colour photos. I am really not disappointed, in some circumstances the colours can be a bit dull, or de-saturated, but I’ve got a few results with really nice colors. It all depends on your personal taste, of course!

As I often photograph in the morning, on my way to work, I have quite a few photos from the same canal:

My most photographed canal in evening light. It looks a bit darker than it was, but some good colours, I think!
A couple of trees along the canal, on a quiet sunny morning.
My usual spot for commute photos, in morning light.
When there is not much light, the images turn more blue.
Wind-free afternoon at the canal.

Sometimes I do get to a city 😉 :

Rotterdam on a foggy afternoon.
Rotterdam view on a grey and foggy afternoon.
Van Brienenoord bridge (Rotterdam) on a cloudy afternoon. I took this from within my car, while driving.

But mostly I hang out in nature:

Frosted landscape on a cold morning (no sun!)
Frosty flowers on a sunny morning.
Fall leaves in the sun.
Grass photographed with backlight: this will always give you such a black spot.

Again two experiments with double exposure. Not really successful, but they are a lot of fun!

Double exposure of a statue and leaves.
Double exposure of a house and trees along the canal. It was a bit too dark, which will give such blue colors. I don’t think the subjects work very well, but I do like the colors!

I took this last one outside, I liked the clouded sky. It is still difficult to frame well, the balloon is quite large, covering the sky, but I like it. I think the colours on the balloon would have worked better with flash, which I turned off. I got some learning to do here!

Balloon against a cloudy sky.

As you may have seen, I also started a commute project with the instax, making photos at the same spot every time I go to work. But I also want to continue trying other stuff. Like I mentioned in the beginning of the post, I want in on the fun, but I have to admit that I have to be careful not taking it too serious. It will be an exercise in letting go of control, and excepting that not everything will work equally well. And channeling the inner little girl who just wants to have fun…

All instax photos were scanned on an Epson V800 scanner with minor adjustments in Lightroom (I do have to get more consistency in white balance, but alas).

Thanks for reading!

2 thoughts on “Fuji Instax Mini 90 Neo Classic”

  1. Hi Aujke. You’ve got some very nice shots there. I got the Fuji Wide just over a year ago, but didn’t really get into it. Probably because it’s a bit bulky, and you can’t control the flash.

    You’ve inspired me to give it another go though, thanks. And I must invest in some black and white film – I think that’ll suit what I’d like to do with it better.

    Reply

    1. Thanks, Graham. I considered the wide, but decided to go for the normal mini because of the size of the camera, although I never held one in my hand. And it’s a bit hit and miss with instax, I still cannot read the light in every situation so some turn out all wrong. But it’s definitely fun., and when it works the little photo feels like magic 🙂 .

      Reply

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