Anyone else use a Lomo'Instant?

[pvdhaar]

Seems like the Lomo'Instant doesn't get a lot of praise over here.. so I was wondering, am I the only one using it?

By the way, this first shot with the Lomo'Instant suffers quite a bit from uneven exposure due to very strong sun from the left and reflections, so I decided to sacrifice it to the gods of experimentation and took it apart. Peeling off the white border on the front does indeed show a nice effect, but it also makes the back plastic cover of the Instax come off, exposing the gunky mess inside..

 

[Ezzie]

I actually shot with it a bit initially, but the exuberation wore off pretty quickly. The vignetting is just too much really, at practically all apertures. And unsharp, I know I shouldn't be expecting much, but I think mine is an order below the worst lens I have ever used, plastic or not.

Some of my shots:


Nyhavn by Eirik Russell Roberts, on Flickr


Kiosk #1 by Eirik Russell Roberts, on Flickr

With close-up lens

Smena Symbol by Eirik Russell Roberts, on Flickr

 

[pvdhaar]

I actually shot with it a bit initially, but the exuberation wore off pretty quickly. The vignetting is just too much really, at practically all apertures. And unsharp, I know I shouldn't be expecting much, but I think mine is an order below the worst lens I have ever used, plastic or not.

Nice images Ezzie! And when it comes to sharpness, especially the second one doesn't seem all too bad. I'm not sure that you can expect much more than that given the 12 lines per mm maximum resolution of Instax..

 

[aeturnum]

I was really excited for the Lomo'Instant when it was announced, especially given the lackluster update to the Fuji 210. Once I got the Lomo and tried out some shots, I found it to be really uneven. The Fuji body is boring, but its results are so much more consistent.

 

[mpaniagua]

I actually shot with it a bit initially, but the exuberation wore off pretty quickly. The vignetting is just too much really, at practically all apertures. And unsharp, I know I shouldn't be expecting much, but I think mine is an order below the worst lens I have ever used, plastic or not.

I actually like your photos Ezzie 🙂 Has some "old look" charm to them.

 

[RLG]

I got it trough a Kickstarter campaign. The camera and all lenses. A huge disappointment. From the first film only one picture was acceptable. It was the one I took outdoors and used a light meter for correct exposure. Flash pictures are horrible. I tried a second film outdoors with light meter and again acceptable but the lens has strong vignetting. That's where it ended. I took the filmpack out and placed it into my Fuji Instax mini 90. Never used the Lomo'Instant again. This is my experience.

Best

 

[pvdhaar]

Flash pictures are horrible

I'll agree to that.. The flash is a joke indeed, and the only way to get an even halfway decent image with flash as a main light source is to optically slave an SB800 (now that's a flash)..

The light meter's a good suggestion by the way.. The exposure latitude of Instax isn't great.

One redeeming feature of the Lomo'Instant though is how it lets the colors of the Instax pop.. Some images are near impossible to scan, but the colors are nothing short of amazing when you hold the original in your hands..

 

[RLG]

Nice picture. Perhaps I should give it one more try.

Best

 

[Jhausler]

I'm tempted by the new Kickstarter for the Lomo Instax Automat, but mainly because of the f/8 lens vs the f/12.7 of the fuji mini90.

It sounds like the lomo instax cameras are kinda hokey. Do both lomo instax and fuji instax have plastic lenses or just the Lomo?

Any other thoughts for someone deciding between the two? There are surprisingly few used mini 90's available for sale on camera forums or even ebay...

 

[jsrockit]

Tried it, but prefer the Fujifilm cameras.

 

[lxmike]

l quite like the images in this thread

 

[pvdhaar]

Any other thoughts for someone deciding between the two? There are surprisingly few used mini 90's available for sale on camera forums or even ebay...

I chose the Lomo for the Bulb and Multiple exposure options. Never used them so far however..

 

[RLG]

I'm tempted by the new Kickstarter for the Lomo Instax Automat, but mainly because of the f/8 lens vs the f/12.7 of the fuji mini90.

It sounds like the lomo instax cameras are kinda hokey. Do both lomo instax and fuji instax have plastic lenses or just the Lomo?

Any other thoughts for someone deciding between the two? There are surprisingly few used mini 90's available for sale on camera forums or even ebay...

The Lomo'Instant Automat inspired me to get the Lomo'Instant Wide. The Wide also has an f/8 lens. It uses f/8 or f/22. The only problem is that the camera decides the f/stop. I brihgt sunny light it chooses f/22 but when it becomes cloudy it chooses f/8 although the is plenty of light. The result is overexposed, washed out pictures. I hope that Lomography corrected this in the Automat. When I took the same picture with my Instax mini 90 it was correctly exposed. Conclusion for the Wide: only usable in sunny situations with no dark subjects in the frame or indoors with or without flash.

Also the lens of the Lomo Wide shows more distortion and also some vignetting. I do not see this with the Instax mini 90.

Best