I went to get my new Polaroid Originals OneStep2 this past saturday:
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
This is no vintage Polaroid model, it's a brand new camera, made by the folks of Impossible Project who, obviously, finally managed to purchase the brand name as well. The OneStep2 is - mostly - as simple as it gets - a power switch (including a status LED for the rechargeable battery - more on that in a bit), an exposure compensation switch and another set of LEDs to indicate how many images are left. The lens is a 106mm fixed focus lens (no information is available about its f-stop, it's roughly a 50mm equivalent) that has a minimum focus distance of 60mm; it's got optical grade polycarbonate/acrylic lenses - like many people's glasses, in fact - and it's commendably sharp for such a simple lens (please note that the quick scans with Google PhotoScan on my phone don't do it justice in this regard ...).
But the three things I like most of the camera are a not immediately obvious:
- Firstly, you actually can suppress the flash - which is great because on my old Polaroid Impulse AF (Dan Finnen's favourite 600 camera), the flash always fires, which can lead to all sorts of unwanted effects, from overexposed foregrounds to annoyed subjects. You just press and hold a (sufficiently) conveniently placed button while pressing the shutter release - that's easy enough.
- Secondly, and very importantly, the exposure system is impressively accurate - that makes a huge difference not only compared to the Impulse AF, but also compared to the Fuji and Lomography cameras I own; the otherwise nice Fujifilm Instax Classic Neo 90 has a slight, but irritating tendency to overexpose, and the somewhat unsophisticated approach of Lomography means that you actually *can't* expose correctly - i.e. according to the Sunny 16 rule - in bright light but will *always* end up with images that are - at least! - one stop overexposed. That's because Fuji Instax film is ISO 800, but the smallest aperture on the automatic Lomography cameras is f/22 while the shortest shutter speed is 1/250" - if you do the maths, you'll see that such a system can't handle bright light (it's one stop out ... and that's with the sun behind you); you can try using ND filters, though it's actually pretty hard to get things right in one go, and even Instax Mini film's expensive if you need two or three frames to get one good image ...
- Thirdly, and that's also a very nice surprise, the exposure compensation works very effectively and predictively - in clear contrast to all other instant cameras and films I've tried; the only downside is that if you happen to get it wrong, it shows, but well, isn't that a given?
Furthermore, they also brought out a new version of their colour film - and finally, it's at least as good as the old Polaroid films and scores better than their previous attempts! Don't get me wrong, the old Impossible Project films (second generation, if I recall right) weren't bad as such, just not very punchy and accurate in their appearance. This new film is on par with what Fuji Instax film can deliver - if not better, but this impression may have to do with the performance of the camera as well. And oh, the new camera has its own battery - so no toxic waste in the packs anymore!
Here are a couple from the new film:
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
(Exposure compensation (-) on the second one.)
And now the old version in all its glory:
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
A little comparison (new on the left, old on the right):
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Just for comparison's sake, I also include a couple of Fuji Instax frames for comparison, first row from the Classic Neo 90, second row from the funky (and somewhat demanding) Lomo'Instant - the original this time, not the Automat Glass; I used a 3-stop ND filter to shoot those:
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
(Sorry, no really good way of correcting WB on these with the equipment at hand (don't know why it's off this much in the first place), but you "get the picture"
)
So, to sum up, I'm finally where I wanted to be with instant film cameras: Between the very nice, if a bit capricious Lomo'Instant Automat Glass and the OneStep2, there's nothing I'm missing anymore. I still appreciate the merits of the other cameras I own and will keep them (as well as use them occasionally), but I know that I have one reliable and one exciting choice right there that actually complement each other perfectly.
M.