Fujifilm instant photography

Polaroid instant photography was available in Japan at a very early stage, it was not as popular in Japan as expected.

Instax Wide is twice the width compared to Instax mini image by studioesper (Image rights)

Recent History

With the discontinuation of Polaroid instant film in 2008, Fuji started to export more of their instant film product to overseas markets. They started with having more variety of pack film available. In November 2008 the Instax Wide format was introduced in the US with the Instax 200 camera. Instax mini series of cameras and films were reintroduced and became available in the US during the second half of 2009, with the mini 7s, also an updated Instax 210 replaced the Instax 200. Fujifilm's FP-100b45 was announced in Sept of 2009 for the US market. FP-3000b45 arrived in the North American market in Jan 2011, after Fujifilm Japan stopped manufacturing FP-100b.

History

Instant photography in Japan

Fujifilm started preliminary research on instant films in the early 1970's after Polaroid released the SX70. Meanwhile, Kodak had also released their instant photo products in 1976. In the late 1970's Japan still had under 5% market penetration compared to western markets of 25% or more. Fujifilm determined that Japanese people were not entirely happy with the results of Polaroid and Kodak instant prints. They felt the images were inferior in quality and generally prefer images with less of a red orange tone. Preferring a more realistic look compared to the Polaroid look. They also felt that Polaroid's square image were unusual and made images hard to reproduce. Preferring a traditional rectangular shaped photo. The Kodak Instant rectangular prints were generally favorable but the preferred print quality was still an issue. They also felt that the price for the quality of print was not good. Fujifilm wanted to change that.

Fotorama

Fujifilm introduced their own line of instant photographic products in 1981 starting with a line of instant film products catering to the consumer, industrial and scientific customers. Integral films, packfilms and instant cameras have all been branded as Fotorama. The name Fotorama came from photograph and panorama, as the film was a wide format compared to the square Polaroid SX70/600 films. A network of photolabs were established to make it easier for consumer to make reprints. The Fotorama F10 and F50s were the initial cameras released.

These Integral films developed similar to Kodak's with the back layer first. This presented a major problem for Fujifilm because of the ongoing litigation between Kodak and Polaroid. Polaroid also has a separate suit with Fujifilm and their instant film patents in Japan. When Kodak lost, Fujifilm was able to work with Polaroid to allow their cameras and films to remain in the market, provided that they have a technology sharing agreement. Polaroid was interested in branching out to magnetic media in the boom of the video tape era and had acquired a company called MagMedia Ltd. Fujifilm has a long history in magnetic media dating to the mid 1950's. This led to Polaroid having access to Fujifilm's extensive electronic, video tape and floppy disc magnetic products.

F Series film ISO 160. Discontinued in the mid-1990s. FI-10 (91x69mm) FI-10LT (91x69mm) 4x5 instant for MS-45 back FI-160 ISO 160 (89x114mm)

F series instant cameras Fotorama F-10 Fotorama F-20s Fotorama F-50s Fotorama F-51s Fotorama F-55v Fotorama F-60AF Fotorama F-62AF

System 800 and InstantACE

Fujifilm System 800 GT film image by studioesper (Image rights)

By the mid 1980s Fujifilm introduced the higher ISO Fotorama System 800 series followed by the Fotorama InstantACE series in the mid 1990s. The introduction of the System 800 broke compatibility with the Kodak Instant film systems by a slightly re designed cartridge as well as a higher ISO film that made it hard for Kodak's instant cameras to expose the film properly. Instant ACE is nearly identical to System 800, the only difference is the design of the plastic cartridge in the ACE do not contain the spring mechanism, the spring is in the camera. Most of these products were available only in the Japanese market, that is until the Instax series.

System 800 film ISO 800 (discontinued June 2010) FI-800GT (91x69mm) FI-800G (91x69mm) FI-800 (91x69mm)

System 800 cameras Fotorama 800AF Fotorama 800S Fotorama 800x Fotorama 850 Fotorama 850E Fotorama 880 Fotorama MX800 Fotorama Mr. Handy Fotorama Mr. Handy AF Fotorama Mr. Handy MF Fotorama Mr. Handy MF Date

InstantACE film ISO 800. (discontinued June 2010) InstantACE film (91x69mm)

InstantACE cameras Fotorama 90ACE Fotorama 91ACE Fotorama Mr. Handy ACE Fotorama MX900 ACE Fotorama Slim ACE Fotorama Robo ACE

Instax series

Fujifilm Instax Wide Twin pack image by studioesper (Image rights)

In 1999 the Instax series of cameras was released. Fujifilm originally wanted to release the Instax series worldwide including North America and Europe simultaneously, but decided to work with Polaroid on the mio camera based on the Instax mini 10 for the US market. The mio product was was released in 2001 and was not a success. It was discontinued after only a few short years. Instax was official a dead product in the American consumer market, but flourished in the Japanese market. Instax did not return the US market until 2008. Two camera film formats of Instax became available with the wide format and the mini format. Fujifilm Japan also introduced a crossover product with the Digital Instax Pivi line of battery powered portable printers. It was made available for those who wanted to print from their mobile phone via IR and later models with USB and Bluetooth. Digital Instax film is physicality identical to Instax mini but takes a different formulated film.

Instax series films ISO 800. Instax Wide (99x62mm) Instax Mini (46x62mm) Instax Digital Pivi (46x61mm)

Wide cameras Instax 100 Instax 200 Instax 210 Instax 500AF

Mini cameras Instax Mini 55 Instax Mini 50 Instax Mini 30 Instax Mini 25 Instax Mini 20 Instax Mini 10 Instax Mini 7

Digital pivi printers MP-70 MP-100 MP-300

Instant pack film

Fujifilm FP-100c NA and FP100b. Images by studioesper. (Image rights)

Fujifilm makes pack film for their passport camera systems, and had been available outside Japan since the mid-1980s. No legal issues arose with Fuji's peel apart instant films as Polaroid's patents had expired. Polaroid compatible 3¼ x 4¼" (85 × 108mm) and 4x5 (102 x 131mm) films are available. It was generally not too well known elsewhere due to the dominance of Polaroid in most countries. In 1994; a "Super Speedy" FP3000b was released able to finish development in 15 seconds. In 2000; Fuji was making some improvements to FP-100c, they also decided to change the way they manufacture pack films, by making the entire pack out of plastic instead of a metal plastic combination. A new FP-100C was released in 2002. Fujifilm announced at PMA 2003 that pack film would be made available to the North American market.

Instant packfilm 3¼ × 4¼" (85 × 108mm) FP-100C, ISO 100, color glossy finish FP-100C Silk, ISO 100, color FP-100B, ISO 100, black and white (Discontinued) FP-400B, ISO 400, black and white (Discontinued) FP-3000B, ISO 3000, black and white 4x5" (102 × 131mm) For use in the Fujifilm PA-45 or Polaroid Type 550 series film holders FP-100C45, ISO 100, color glossy finish FP-100B45 Super, ISO 100, black and white (Discontinued) FP-500B45 Super, ISO 500, black and white (Discontinued) FP-3000B45 Super, ISO 3000, black and white

Professional Series instant cameras FP-1 Passport FP-14 II (4 exposures at once) FP-12 (2 exposures at once) FP-41 (4 exposures at once) FP-452 (2 exposures at once) FP-UL (2 exposures at once)

References

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