The Polaroid Flip is a great camera – it really shows how far we’ve come in terms of a brand that almost disappeared from existence. If you don’t know the history of Polaroid film, then look up the Impossible Project, which eventually grew enough success to buy the Polaroid name, and then became Polaroid, risen from the ashes, bringing back the original inventors of the instant camera.
The Polaroid Flip is really quite excellent, with a premium focusing system, lovely design, and impressively compact camera body considering the size of the prints. In comparison, Fujifilm’s Wide Instax cameras are like GIANTs, with just a slightly larger print.
The only hesitation I have is regarding the film, priced at roughly $18.99 / £18 for only 8 prints, it really does stick in the craw, when Instax Wide film is $19.99 / £17 for 2 packs of 10. It irks even more when one or more of those prints fails. It feels like throwing money literally in the bin.
But if you’re lucky with the prints, then you get a lovely camera, that gives you real tangible images that stand out more than any other photo taken all year. In fact, this is one thing I always wish I’d done more of, printing photos, and since I never actually print digital photos, the only answer is to take instant photos. So, here’s another reminder to myself (and perhaps you) to take some real photos that you can put up on your fridge. Just so long as you’re prepared to pay the price, at roughly $2.37 per photo from Polaroid, or 99c per photo from Fujifilm. (If I took a photo a day, that would be $865 a year or $361 a year, enough to buy a budget digital camera!)
If you don’t already have an instant camera, then at least the cameras are refreshingly affordable, especially in comparison to the price of digital cameras. All that’s left to do is to choose between Instax vs Polaroid and if you go for Instax, then there’s a choice of Instax Mini, Square, or Wide.
Related reading
- Fujifilm Instax Mini 12 Review – photography fun in an instant
- Fujifilm Instax Mini 41 Review – I’m a sucker for instant photos
- Fujifilm Instax Wide 400 review: best wide camera
The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of Amateur Photographer magazine or Kelsey Media Limited. If you have an opinion you’d like to share on this topic, or any other photography related subject, email: [email protected].
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