PaulJ
Regular
Apologies if this isn't the most appropriate forum in which to post this thread, so please feel free to move it, as appropriate.
Anyway, has anyone else got a Sofort?
My wife has just bought me one - ostensibly as a Christmas present - but I'm getting to use it straight away. I've always had a soft spot for instant photography and used to have a Polaroid SX-70 which was great until the demise of Polaroid and subsequent paucity of film. TiP didn't do anything for me in the early days, so I traded the SX-70 and sort of gave up on instant.
The advent of the Sofort rekindled my interest in a way that the Fuji Instax never did. I'm not sure why but the Instax just didn't look or feel right to me and I never got round to buying one. The Sofort isn't what you could call ergonomically shaped but it has a certain something (and not just a Leica badge, I hasten to add). They come in white, orange and mint. I went for mint.
The lens is a 60mm f2.7 which, as the film is ISO 800 is no slouch. There's a few "scene" modes to play with, the lens has two focus positions that operate over and above the scene modes and flash can be forced or suppressed. There's even a back-lighting compensation mode.
Film comes in two options - colour and mono. For some reason, the mono is slightly more expensive (in the UK?) and the colour film can be bought in twin-packs. Each pack contains 10 shots and, unlike SX-70, the battery is not in the film pack - it's a rechargeable unit. the charger comes with the camera but for some reason, no mains cable is supplied. They're not expensive (standard kettle cable will do the trick) but it seems like a mistake, given that the battery is essential and not everyone will have a spare mains lead.....
As the film is standard Instax Mini size, I'm led to believe that Fuji film is compatible. I have no idea whether the film is identical but the packaging of the Leica film says that the border is a creamy white whereas Fuji is brilliant white. I'll run some Fuji film through it and see what, if any, difference it makes.
The camera comes with a perfectly serviceable black neck strap but you can buy trendier, colour-coordinated versions if you want. I didn't. There's also a never-ready case which, as it's a plastic body and there's a built-in lens cover when turned off, I also left on the shelf.
Well, there you have it. The two photos I've taken so far have come out well exposed and sharp and I'm looking forward to using it more over the coming months and when I'm on holiday. I would recommend the Sofort on the basis of my experience to-date. They're not cheap but what Leica product is? It does have some useful features and the quality of the output certainly seems top-notch.
Anyway, has anyone else got a Sofort?
My wife has just bought me one - ostensibly as a Christmas present - but I'm getting to use it straight away. I've always had a soft spot for instant photography and used to have a Polaroid SX-70 which was great until the demise of Polaroid and subsequent paucity of film. TiP didn't do anything for me in the early days, so I traded the SX-70 and sort of gave up on instant.
The advent of the Sofort rekindled my interest in a way that the Fuji Instax never did. I'm not sure why but the Instax just didn't look or feel right to me and I never got round to buying one. The Sofort isn't what you could call ergonomically shaped but it has a certain something (and not just a Leica badge, I hasten to add). They come in white, orange and mint. I went for mint.
The lens is a 60mm f2.7 which, as the film is ISO 800 is no slouch. There's a few "scene" modes to play with, the lens has two focus positions that operate over and above the scene modes and flash can be forced or suppressed. There's even a back-lighting compensation mode.
Film comes in two options - colour and mono. For some reason, the mono is slightly more expensive (in the UK?) and the colour film can be bought in twin-packs. Each pack contains 10 shots and, unlike SX-70, the battery is not in the film pack - it's a rechargeable unit. the charger comes with the camera but for some reason, no mains cable is supplied. They're not expensive (standard kettle cable will do the trick) but it seems like a mistake, given that the battery is essential and not everyone will have a spare mains lead.....
As the film is standard Instax Mini size, I'm led to believe that Fuji film is compatible. I have no idea whether the film is identical but the packaging of the Leica film says that the border is a creamy white whereas Fuji is brilliant white. I'll run some Fuji film through it and see what, if any, difference it makes.
The camera comes with a perfectly serviceable black neck strap but you can buy trendier, colour-coordinated versions if you want. I didn't. There's also a never-ready case which, as it's a plastic body and there's a built-in lens cover when turned off, I also left on the shelf.
Well, there you have it. The two photos I've taken so far have come out well exposed and sharp and I'm looking forward to using it more over the coming months and when I'm on holiday. I would recommend the Sofort on the basis of my experience to-date. They're not cheap but what Leica product is? It does have some useful features and the quality of the output certainly seems top-notch.