Dan & Honor the Pit | Instax 210

Dan of DDIYHOUSE adopted Honor the pitbull! He drove all the way to Texas from Gilroy, CA to pick up this little one.

I missed shooting with the Instax, so this was perfect time and place for it. After all, Instax does shine in bright, direct light.

Instax 210 | Poolside

Hot summer day, a quick backyard pool dip, and the Instax 210.
For occasions like these, I love that Instax prints don't need to be so carefully handled like Fuji peel-apart film. After I shot these frames, I'd leave them right next to the pool and they'd get water splashed on them. I simply wiped them dry afterwards.

Instax 210 | Pinnacles National Monument

A few Instax frames from a day at the Pinnacles National Monument. I'll be uploading more images later once I get my rolls developed.

Instax 210 | Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay

A few instax frames Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay a while ago.

Let's Talk About the Instax 210

Let's talk Instax 210! It's my favorite instant film camera right now. It's inexpensive, the film for it is pretty cheap as well, and it gives me the same consistent results. I tried to get into instant film with the Impossible Project film and the Polaroid SX-70 camera, but I found that it was too expensive and the film was really, really finicky. I love that the Instax 210 develops in just a few minutes and is SUPER fun to use.


I also have the Instax Mini, but I don't really use that one anymore. Sure, it's smaller, but that's about it. The bigger Instax 210 lets you have a bit more control over the image. For example, you can change its focusing distance, set the image to be lighter or darker, and force a flash. Also, you can't beat having a bigger photo!

Here's an example of when I used all the options to have more control over the image. I set the distance to 0.9-3m, set it to "lighter" exposure since automatic cameras with fixed tiny apertures tend to underexpose, and forced a flash to bring some light back to Peanut's face since he was backlit. Peanut was moving quite fast towards the camera, so unfortunately he moved right out of focus, but I still like how this came out.

Seriously loving this camera. It works best in bright sunny light and you often have to compensate the exposure by setting the option to "L" for "lighter." After a day of exploring the fields of northern California or going to the San Francisco, I love having a nice stack of little prints to pin up to my wall in my room. I just sometimes forget to digitize it as well!

Point Lobos | Fujifilm Instax 210

Beautiful Point Lobos coastal waves as captured by the Fujifilm Instax 210.

I picked up this nifty instant camera because I loved instant film, but using the Polaroid SX-70 with Impossible Project film was too expensive ($25 for 8 frames) for all the unfavorable quirks it had. So for just $65 for the camera and 20 frames for $16.99, I've been really happy with the images it gives me. I also don't have to shield it from light immediately after ejecting from the camera or wait half an hour as I have to with Impossible film.