Fujifilm’s Instax Wide format never really got the love the Instax Mini format did, but with the announcement of the new Fujifilm Instax Wide Monochrome film, photographers are getting another option. The film follows in the footsteps of Fujifilm Instax Mini Monochrome in that it’s essentially the black and white version of the emulsion and designed to be used with Instax Wide cameras. The most advanced option on the market is the Lomography Lomo’Instant Wide, which we gave a lot of praise to and that other photographers modify. You can even shoot it in Land cameras.
Oddly enough, Fujifilm hasn’t announced the new Fujifilm Instax Wide Monochrome film on their website of the USA division or even the Global division. However, we’ve confirmed with reps within Fujifilm that the film is indeed real. According to reports over on R/Polaroid (which I’m a mod for) Fujifilm Taiwan leaked the film.
Fujifilm Instax Wide Monochrome, which at the time of publishing this article is only available at Best Buy, comes in packs of 10 per cassette. Like the others, Fujifilm Instax Wide Monochrome is an ISO 800 film and shoots approximately at the 3×4 inch size format. It also has that massive area underneath that is used to hold the emulsion. When the film goes through the rollers, that emulsion gets sent through the image and onto the exposed area. Then your photo appears. Unlike options from the Impossible Project (which is now Polaroid Originals), it won’t go sepia after a while if they’re using the same emulsion in Instax Mini.
This announcement is a pretty odd one to me. For a while, I’ve been under the impression Fujifilm was going to kill off Instax Wide due to declining sales vs Instax Mini and Instax Square. Square arguably competes more with Polaroid Originals’ film. However, it’s still pocketable and easy to carry around. Instax Wide, on the other hand, is huge. Fujifilm Instax Wide is mostly bought by, wait for it, the US Prison system and the Catholic church. But if you’re a photography who truly cares about the imaging area on a film plane, then you’ve probably shot on it. I’ve taught classes on how to use this film in a studio setting and I’m going to have even more fun using Fujifilm Instax Wide Monochrome.
We’ve got loads of tutorials, stories and guides to Instax cameras by the way.
News via Photo Rumors, Fuji Rumors
