Instax cameras by Fujifilm and printers have kept instant film alive in our digital world, but it’s not just Fujifilm that makes Instax cameras, in fact, some of the best instant cameras you can buy come from Lomography, like the company’s new Lomo’Instant Wide Glass.
As the name suggests, the Lomo’Instax Wide Glass captures Instax wide prints and has a glass lens. At $279, it’s not cheap, but the quality of the photos from this camera is the best I’ve seen from any Instax camera I’ve tested.
The Glass Is Completely Full
Lomography has long made Lomo’Instax Wide film, which, like Fujifilm’s updated Instax Wide 400, prints Instax wide photos shot with a plastic lens. Plastic lenses are standard on Instax cameras. The plastic wrap keeps the camera in the more palatable sub-$150 range. Plastic lenses like those on Fujifilm’s popular Mini 12 are ideal for many unusual, condensed situations. I have two plastic Instax cameras and I’m happy with them most of the time.
Photo: Scott Gilbertson
That said, glass lenses produce arguably better results, which is where the Lomo’Instant Wide Glass comes in. The photos I’ve taken with this camera are far and away the best I’ve taken with any Instax camera. They are sharper and have better, more accurate color.
The first thing you should know about the Lomo’Instant Wide Glass is that it’s a big camera—it’s 7.3 inches wide and 4.6 inches high and deep. It looks and handles like the 6×9 film cameras I’ve used in the past (Fujifilm’s GW series cameras come to mind), which makes sense because the Instax widescreen film surface is very close to a 6×9 negative. It’s hard to get around the laws of physics. The good news is that even though it’s quite large, the Glass isn’t overpowering and would feel right at home as an additional camera during studio photography, which seems to be where Lomography has it.
