Instax Pal2 - Images and quirks
Hi Pals,
I went out today to share some more photos and quirks of the Instax Pal2.
I wanted to retest the 100 image limit (even with a large SDCard) and try different ways to hold the camera and shoot. The thing is a doozy but fun. Because I was trying to get to 100 shots I was moving and shooting fast.
It's all in the thumb
It's so odd to shoot with your thumb on the shutter. Even when shooting vertical, it's a thumb press. Cool, fun and weird.
Shooting with the thumb also has another benefit that it's easy to cup your off-hand over the screen in bright light.
Everything is Dutch angle
Forget the horizon line. In fact, let go of your grip on composition altogether. This sucker is a random shooter. I found that the 'straightest' shots were when I braced the camera up against a surface.
Hand held but not holding your hand
The camera loves to be shot, but it encourages you to hold it at the hip and shoot 'ala-Rolleiflex-style'. I had trouble raising the camera high, then I realised that you can shoot through the app. That's another quirky experience. There is lag all over the place, so embrace the randomness, but at least you can hold the camera at whatever height and angle you want and still sort of see what you'll get.
Stealth and good for your health
The tiny size is a huge plus in a sort of 'creeper-cam' style. Shooting by looking down to the top screen or even through the App and all are super subtle. I'm a shy person and not really comfortable in crowds. The only thing that sticks out with this camera is that you'll appear to others like you are chimping all the time, even though the screen is too small to chimp with. It's an experience. Tiny means it's with you. Easy to carry and encourages you to be out and about.
Vertical shooting will drive you up the wall
Shooting vertically is even more weird. At first I thought that I could just change the frame to Mini and I'd get a vertical image. Nope, if you export without the fame it's just a regular format.
If you tilt the camera be prepared to dance. Orientating the screen is an odd experience when looking at the top screen (on its side). That's the best way to gather as many vertical pixels as you can, but it's a conundrum for your brain to figure out to tilt away or closer to you to straighten the image, and rotate to frame up or down. Some people might call that fun, and I would watch those people closely.
To Zen and back again
Take your time when shooting because this camera will take your time from you. Slow filter select, slow shutter press, slow focus and a slow auto-chimp-preview before you can shoot again. Subjects will walk away from you. For the InstaxPal2 that's just called changing the subject. Fishing for a shot is like holding the worm in your hand and throwing your rod in the water hoping to strike down a holy mackerel. I watched a crippled old lady in a wheelchair roll away from me before my Pal took a shot of her dust cloud. That's what I call creative censorship at it's best.
100 image limit, with a quirk
I stuck in an 125GB ExtremePlus SDCard because you'd think you'd get a fair few shots on that. Except it caps at around 100 images no matter what card is in there. But, then it plays a game with you... If you transfer the images through the Instax app it resets your counter and you are free again to squeeze off another 100 images! I'm sure that this will be patched, but it's just another lovely little quirk to this thing.
Got to love the sucker
I love this camera, however, it's a toy, and as such it's no better than my phone or any other Fuji camera. It's better than a Charmera, and there you go.
Have fun and happy shooting with whatever you've got.
(I tried to include the 10MP images so you can see what it's capable of. Images are unedited. I uploaded the last two images at different megapixels, first is 10MP, then the second 1MP, so you can see the difference between the quality and strange crop that happens when you shoot at or transfer to 1MP)