The originator of the instant photography genre is the American company Polaroid, which grew from a garage startup into a popular cultural phenomenon of the 20th century. The first instant camera under the brand name was announced in 1948, and already in the 1980s, the brand name was known to everyone and was firmly associated with the technology of momentary production of ready-made images. In domestic latitudes, the "Polaroid" boom happened in the 90s, when the "Iron Curtain" was destroyed and the market was saturated with products from abroad.

The Polaroid Phenomenon

Polaroid has brought a new concept of taking prints to the photography genre. Its basic thesis is the capture of an episode from life “here and now”. We saw an interesting plot, aimed at the subject, pressed the shutter button and voila - after a few wonderful moments we are already holding the finished picture in our hands. Although not of perfect quality, since photographs cannot be processed before printing, the very principle of printing photo cards “on the spot” is important here.

Instead of film, instant cameras used (and continue to use today) cartridges with light-sensitive photographic cards. When you press the shutter button, the camera lens projects light onto the card, the layer of organic dyes on it is oxidized, then chemicals are included in the work, which fix the print on paper.

The format of Polaroid photo cards remains recognizable until now.

At the beginning of the 2000s, Polaroid experienced two “clinical deaths”, unable to withstand the advance of the digital camera squad. But after the bankruptcy proceedings, she got back on her feet every time and is still alive today, delighting brand followers with recognizable products in a new way.

Legacy of former greatness

While things were frankly not going well with Polaroid, the palm in the segment of "printing" cameras was captured by Fujifilm with its Instax line of cameras. Their popularity was ensured by a winning combination of a tasty price tag, ease of operation and high-quality output.

The Fuji Instax family of cameras is divided into three subspecies, which differ from each other in the size of the photographs used:

  • Mini - cards 62x46 mm;
  • Square - square paper 62x62 mm;
  • Wide - photo cards 62x99 mm.

Also paper for the Instax series is used by Leica and Lomography devices.

Fuji's basic instant cameras have the simplest fixed-focus design and cost mere pennies. Vivid examples of this are the Mini 8 and Mini 9 models with an additional selfie mirror and support for macro mode.

Seemingly toy camera Fuji Instax Mini 9 is presented on store shelves in an abundance of bright colors.

More impressive cameras have on board a switchable focus, a self-timer, a flash with fill lighting and “tricks” in the manner of a double exposure (pictures where one scene shines through another). All this can be found on board the Fuji Instax Mini 90 DSLR camera with a protrusion under the right hand for a comfortable grip.

Visual difference between Fujifilm Instax instant camera photo card formats.

But what about the company that pioneered the genre? The impetus for her renaissance in the industry of instant photography was the strengthening of the position of social networks. Take, for example, the Polaroid Socialmatic model, which is the embodiment of the Instagram icon. The camera takes photos with insta filters, allows you to share them on social networks via Wi-Fi, and prints 5 x 7.5 cm cards on self-adhesive paper. A close relative of the model prints pictures in a similar format - an instant camera with a 10 MP image sensor called Polaroid Snap.

The appearance of the Polaroid Socialmatic camera is easily recognizable as a social network icon.

Instagram

Well, for those who want to be nostalgic, the Polaroid range has a vintage OneStep 2 camera - the successor to the cult camera of the same name from the 70s. The model is equipped with high-quality optics, built-in flash and works both on cassettes of the 600th type and on cartridges of the new era I-Type.

The Polaroid One Step 2 brings the iconic instant camera back to life with a modern twist.

The notorious giant of the photo industry Canon also took part in the "arms race" of instant printing - at the dawn of 2019, two cameras of the Zoemini series (C and S) were released under the wing of the brand. In the spirit of modernity, digital photography and ZINK printing are used here: one cassette contains 10 sheets of 5 x 7.6 cm photo paper with adhesive back. Taken pictures can either be printed immediately or saved to a microSD card.

Canon entered the arms race of the instant printing sector at the dawn of 2019 with the Zoemini C and S series models.

In light of the fact that today the lion's share of photos is taken on smartphones, the future of instant cameras seems to be vague. However, with a high degree of probability, they can be reborn into something else. And the process of transformation has already begun.

Popular Instant Cameras

Pocket photo printers

A new word in the segment of instant printing devices - mini-printers designed for constant wear and use in conjunction with smartphones via a wireless connection. They often fit into a woman's handbag or outerwear pocket and rely on ZINK's thermal printing technology to work. Instead of ink, these pocket printers use special photo paper with layers of crystallized dye that reacts to heat.

The vast majority of mobile photo printers allow you to print pictures in A8 format(52x74 mm). Also on the market there are models for A6 paper, the sheet size of which is as close as possible to the popular standard print format of 10x15 cm.

Pocket size photo printers are the next step in the evolution of instant printing.

The arena will be the same: the production of pocket form factor printers is established at the facilities of Polaroid ( Zip model), Fujifilm ( Instax Share SP-2 and Instax Share SP-3 models), Canon ( Zoemini PV123 and SELPHY CP1300), Kodak ( Photo Printer Mini and Photo Printer Dock). Recently, the ranks of "portables" have been replenished with a couple of ambitious "guests" from China: Xiaomi Xprint Pocket AR Photo Printer and Huawei CV80 photo printers.

Bright colors and unforgettable impressions!