We love playing with Instax cameras, snapping a picture and getting to hold it in our hands instantly, getting prints autographed by celebrities we stalk, putting up our shots on the fridge, corkboard or walls, or sticking them between the pages of our favorite books.
But we love taking photos with our phones, too, going for multiple shots so we can choose the best one, cropping, Snapseeding our way to awesomeness and playing with filters before deciding what to share.
Fujifilm put together these two things in one package by creating Instax Share, a handy little gadget that lets you turn any picture in your smartphone into an Instax photo.
Different designs
“Instax Share was created for consumers who want to print photos stored in their tablets and phones,” said Nelson Perez, Fujifilm Philippines’ division manager of photo imaging and electronic imaging.
“With Instax Share, anyone with our smartphone app can print photos from their smartphone using Wi-Fi direct.”
Instax Share uses Instax Mini film packs. There are different designs available including plain, rainbow, polka dots, stripes, stars, comic, air mail, Hello Kitty, Winnie the Pooh, Monsters Inc. and Little Twin Stars.
We got the chance to play with Instax Share at a scrapbooking event hosted by Fujifim and Wonder Photo Shop at Café Shibuya in UP Town Center recently.
We were encouraged to print photos from our phones and create scrapbooks using the supplies from Wonder Photo Shop that covered the table: washi tape, colored paper, pails of stickers, letters cutouts, tags and more.
Instax Share acts as its own Wi-Fi hotspot, so connecting it to your device is a breeze. The Instax Share app is also easy to use, and allows you to take a picture or select photos from your phone, Instagram or Facebook account.
Template option
There’s a real-time template option that allows you to take a picture and adds the date, time, location and temperature to your print. You can also create limited-edition numbered prints. Once you’ve chosen a picture you want to print, you can edit exactly how it will look as an Instax photo by enlarging the photo, adding text and designs and using filters (we love the Fujifilm Intelligence Filter) until you’re happy enough to click “print.”
We timed the Instax Share and found that it finishes printing our pictures at an average of 17 seconds. Photos are then ejected to develop before our eyes. The reprint button on the side makes it easy to create duplicates.
Printing is just the beginning. The next step is finding fun ways to use your Instax photos. Scrapbooking is just one (and, we realized, something we can do for hours). Some people turn them into gift tags, business cards and souvenirs. Others use them for journaling, travel diaries, organizing shoes or toys and even planning outfits.
“The only limit is your creativity,” said Nelson, who uses his Instax Share to print photos of his children.
Instax Share Smart Phone Printer SP-1, cameras and film are available at Wonder Photo Shop in UP Town Center and dealers nationwide (https://instax.ph/dealers/). Customers who purchase Instax Mini 8 and Mini 90 instant cameras will get a free Twin Pack of film from authorized sellers nationwide until October 15.