Fuji Instax Wide as "scouting"

[Oren Grad]

Full disclosure: I don't feel much need for a scouting tool, so apply whatever discount you feel appropriate to what I say.

I have the Fuji Instax Wide 300. Two large strikes against it as a scouting tool are a) it's quite bulky and b) its combination of primitive lens, narrow latitude "film", narrow exposure adjustment range and erratic meter makes the yield of decent captures pretty low. A small digital camera would be less expensive, more convenient and far more reliable if the purpose is simply to bring home with minimum hassle a clear rendering of something you might want to consider for later revisiting.

[Tin Can]

Full disclosure: I don't feel much need for a scouting tool, so apply whatever discount you feel appropriate to what I say.

I have the Fuji Instax Wide 300. Two large strikes against it as a scouting tool are a) it's quite bulky and b) its combination of primitive lens, narrow latitude "film", narrow exposure adjustment range and erratic meter makes the yield of decent captures pretty low. A small digital camera would be less expensive, more convenient and far more reliable if the purpose is simply to bring home with minimum hassle a clear rendering of something you might want to consider for later revisiting.

Good to know it is not a great camera. I have not seen any impressive pics from any Instax. I really want a back that uses Instax, but I don't want the recent KS offering. Mostly because it was a hack of an already bad product.

[Vaughn]

So you never plan images? Come back when conditions are different, weather, seasons changes, better or different light, etc? Ever walked around somewhere (I don't know about you but I don't always carry my 4x5), saw something and think, that could be a great picture.

I rarely plan photos. When I drive to my favorite redwoods spots (about an hour away), one of the questions I ask myself, is where I will start my hike today...and I usually do not make the actual decision until I get to where ever I park the car. Since I have been photographing along Prairie Creek for over 35 years, 'scouting' is not needed...I already know the Place.

But I do return to places, and I certainly do not discard, or disregard, my previous experiences I have had in those places. But I photograph to translate what I am experiencing at that moment - how I am seeing the light on the landscape at that moment. So when I return to a place, perhaps Golden Canyon in DV, the Eureka Valley Sand Dunes, Indian Canyon in Yosemite Valley, Alabama Hills, or the Yolla Bollys, I can draw on my previous experiences, but rarely preconceive the images I want to make.

I spent 3 months hitch-hiking around New Zealand with a 4x5 -- but a light leak (where the metal back attached to the wood) pretty much ruined all my images. It took 5 years to save the money to return for a 6 month bicycle trip with a new and lighter 4x5...I drew from my experience with the NZ light and landscape (after all, on the previous trip I did take those images) and was able to photograph with much more success, both technically and emotionally -- but I did not have a list of places or images that I wanted to repeat.

So 'scouting' sort of goes against the grain of how and why I photograph. I just want to be there.

Tolaga Bay Wharf, North Island, NZ (16x20 silver gelatin print from 4x5, 150mm lens, TMax100, red filter)

[FredrickSummers]

Full disclosure: I don't feel much need for a scouting tool, so apply whatever discount you feel appropriate to what I say.

I have the Fuji Instax Wide 300. Two large strikes against it as a scouting tool are a) it's quite bulky and b) its combination of primitive lens, narrow latitude "film", narrow exposure adjustment range and erratic meter makes the yield of decent captures pretty low. A small digital camera would be less expensive, more convenient and far more reliable if the purpose is simply to bring home with minimum hassle a clear rendering of something you might want to consider for later revisiting.

Thanks Oren, not what I was hoping to hear, but I'm glad to know that now then after buying the camera and film.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Noah A]

I've thought about this, but it's hard to beat a phone for flexibility. The best part is that my phone lets me instantly find the location where I took the scouting photo on the map, so I can be sure to get back to find it again.

As Daniel mentioned, you can always print out your phone photos, either with an instax printer or any other kind of printer for that matter.

I've thought about a small mirrorless camera with a zoom that corresponds to the lenses I use, but the phone is just so convenient and I'll never use those digital snaps for anything other than scouting anyway, so it seems like overkill.

Install does seem fun as its own medium, or as a way to give an instant print to a portrait subject. And the only way to know if it'll work for you for scouting is to try it! I do know some photographers who use it for that purpose, so it's obviously possible.

[Joshua Dunn]

I have the LomoInstant wide, made by Lomography and shoots the Fuji Instax Wide film. https://shop.lomography.com/en/camer...o-instant-wide I don’t use it for scouting shots, it’s just fun to shoot with and has several lenses. For me it’s a break from the very technical work I normally do and just keeps photography fun. You can see a few examples of my Fujiroids shot on that camera on my Instagram account #joshuadunnphoto

-Joshua
www.joshuadunnphotography.com

[Oren Grad]

FWIW, Instax Mini is far easier to carry than Instax Wide. The cameras and film packs are much smaller, exactly as one would expect from the relative size of the prints. The higher-end models like the Mini 90 are still inexpensive, but can make a reasonable print under a wider range of conditions than the Wide 210/300 models. But the prints are, of course, very small, and even when the focus and exposure are on target, they don't record fine detail. When all goes well the Mini cameras make lovely little impressionistic sketches of the subject, otherwise it's 60 cents into the trash with each exposure.

[Oren Grad]

I had a Lomo'Instant Wide briefly. I found the results utterly unusable for any purpose, documentary or artistic. Given how inexpensively the thing is built, it's certainly possible that there's substantial sample variation and that I got a lemon.