How does instax film work

The small print itself is a combination of liquid chemical developer, a positive emulsion on cellulose, and color dyes. The film is exposed when the shutter is pressed.

It begins to develop as soon as the camera ejects the print. In a very unique design, the developer packs which are sealed off from the film are broken open by small rolling pins when the film ejects. Think of the film like dough and the rollers like a French rolling pen. When you roll the rolling pen over the dough, the dough flattens out and is squeezed into a small sheet. The process is the same for instant film. When the film ejects through the rollers, the small packs of developer, which are housed in the white border of the print, are squeezed through the roller pens and the packs are broken.

This releases the developer and spreads it evenly over the film, thus developing the image. Instax images are not low resolution because they are not digital. They are analogue prints with a resolution of 12 lines per millimeter. More on that in a moment. This is because there is no digital file, no SD card, and no internal memory. There is no digital file saved. When an image is captured that picture is unique and one of a kind. If you want two, take two.

Instax is daylight balanced K film rated at ISO Instax film is a Direct Positive Sigma Crystal Emulsion print developed by Fujifilm with a soft grain structure and enhanced saturation curve.

This is a reasonable result considering that this film mimics slide film in the perspective of a positive image. The Sigma Crystal Emulsion technology expands the limited dynamic range of traditional slide film from about levels to the roughly 10 I have experienced with Instax Color.

So, my number is from my own testing and experience. Your mileage may vary. This means that when photographing with Instax , you must be careful to keep highlights and shadows balanced. Too much shadow and highlight detail will be lost, same for too much highlights. These are all situations which will result in a black spot on your film representing the completely over exposed area.

Instax performs quite well compared to contemporary films, such as Fujicolor Pro H. In this instance, we have some great hard data to compare directly in lines of resolution per millimeter. As I said before the Instax provides 12 lines per millimeter of resolution. The pro H provides 50 lines per millimeter on subjects with a low contrast ratio 1.

The key difference between the Instax and Pro h is that the h is a negative film designed to be enlarged and the Instax is a positive film designed to be developed instantly and not enlarged. The Fuji Pro h is a professional film and as such has a much wider exposure latitude, as any negative film would, however, for the size and expected viewing conditions, the Instax renders an excellent image.

Without knowing the technical exposure data that Fuji provides with its other traditional films, I am left to make some assumptions based on what we do know. The Mini 90 is published to have a light value LV range of Do Instax cameras have a timer? Can Instax cameras save pictures? Do Instax cameras need batteries? Which Instax camera is the newest? Are Instax cameras worth it?

It depends. Some bundles include just the camera body and the relevant accessories while others include a pack or multiple packs of film. Yes, Instax film does expire and on each pack you can find an expiration date. Fujifilm advises that you do not use Instax film beyond the expiration date because the photographic properties of the film can change over time, causing adverse changes to colour balance. Some users have also complained that very out-of-date film can leak , spreading chemicals across the rollers of the camera.

Having said that, many photographers do shoot with expired film — just be prepared for the risks. Any exposure to light will instantly overexpose the remaining film , causing it to turn white. That being said, I did successfully transfer a half-used pack of film from one camera to another by closing myself off in a dark room and throwing a blanket over my head so that no light could reach the cameras.

Absolutely not! All you have to do is lay it face-down on a flat surface out of the sun, or inside a flat coat pocket, and let it work its magic. The only kind of Polaroid film that works with Instax is the Polaroid film.

It has been specifically designed for use with Polaroid and Fujifilm Instax Mini cameras. Other types of Polaroid film are not compatible.

Personally I only ever use Instax film with Instax cameras, not least because it is usually less expensive. I tend to keep mine inside an album or a box. Putting them on display or leaving them out in the sun can cause the colours to fade over time. It is also best to keep the prints away from heat and humidity. If the film is unused, you must not tear, puncture or cut Instax film.

One developer chemical turns the exposed particles into metallic silver. The film is then treated with three different dye developers containing dye couplers. The three dye colors are cyan a combination of green and blue light , magenta a combination of red and blue light and yellow a combination of green and red light.

Each of these dye coupler types react with one of the color layers in the film. In ordinary print film, the dye couplers attach to particles that have been exposed. In color slide film, the dye couplers attach to the non-exposed areas. Developed color film has a negative image -- the colors appear opposite of the colors in the original scene. In slide film, the two dyes that attach to the unexposed area combine to form the color captured at the exposed layer.

For example, if the green layer is exposed, yellow and cyan dye will attach on either side of the green layer, but the magenta dye will not attach at the green layer. The yellow and cyan combine to form green. The instant camera developing process combines colors the same basic way as slide film.

It has the same layers of light-sensitive grains as traditional film, all arranged on a plastic sheet. The film also contains several additional layers, however. These layers contain all the necessary chemicals for the development process.

Underneath each color layer, there is a developer layer containing dye couplers. All these layers sit on top of a black base layer, and underneath the image layer , timing layer and acid layer. This arrangement is essentially a chemical chain reaction waiting to be set in motion. The component that gets the developing process going is the reagent as in re -agent , a mix of opacifiers , alkali , white pigment and other elements. The reagent sits in a layer just above the light-sensitive layers and just below the image layer.

Before you take the picture, the reagent material is all collected in a blob at the border of the plastic sheet, away from the light-sensitive material. This keeps the film from developing before it has been exposed.

After you snap the picture, the film sheet passes out of the camera, through a pair of rollers. The rollers spread the reagent material out into the middle of the film sheet, just like a rolling pin spreading out dough. When the reagent is spread in between the image layer and the light-sensitive layers, it reacts with the other chemical layers in the film. The opacifier material stops light from filtering onto the layers below, so the film isn't fully exposed before it is developed.