Fuji Instax SP-3 printer
I’m still loving my Fuji X-H1 that I bought recently. A sweet extra that I added was the Fuji Instax SP-3 printer (B&H / Amazon). This printer allows you to print directly from the camera itself, giving a 2.4” x 2.4” polaroid. But you don’t need a Fuji camera to use it. You can print from your phone as well, to create 2.4 x 2.4″ polaroid type prints.
This photo above is my first test print – the make-up artist for the photo shoot in the studio today. I know it’s old news for Fuji shooters, but it’s new for me, and I’m kinda excited about it. I can see how it would be very useful as an ice-breaker, especially if you do street photography or photograph strangers. Better watch out, Louis Mendes, I now have the technology too!
Another huge benefit of this instant printer – because you do it from the camera (or phone), you still have the proper RAW or JPG file. The instant print is now not just a one-of-a-kind photo – you can print the image repeatedly from the printer by hitting the ‘Reprint’ button. And of course, since you have the image in the camera, you can print it any time later on too.
The downside of this Instax printer is that the rechargeable battery runs down fairly quickly. If you’re going to use it extensively, you’re going to have to carry a battery pack with you like an Anker or Mophie to keep it charged.
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How to set up the Fuji Instax SP-3 Printer
Page 174 in the X-H1 manual explains it:
Go to ‘Connection Setting’, and enter the printer’s SSID and password.
The SSID is embossed in tiny letters on the edge of the printer, and the default password is 1111
Then, when you display the photo on the camera, hit the ‘Menu’ button,
and go to the 3rd page of the menu – the Instax printer should be an option you can select.
Hit ‘OK’ and from there the menu will guide you.
I keep mulling over a purchase like this but I start feeling stingy at the cost per print and/or the limited amount of prints per pack. I get the appeal, though.
I’m using one of these for a local community art project at the moment. A couple of things to be aware of are that you can only print using an Android/IOS app. There’s no way to use a computer or an SD card etc. The other is it clips bright tones massively. You will need to tweak brightness/contrast to retain any detail. It’s a shame that the native app doesn’t allow for independent highlights adjustment, as it does fine with the shadows.
I have one for use with our cell phones and also my DSLR. It works well with the cell phone app.
I guess Canon have been selling instant printers for a long time, do you feel this has Any special features that set it apart?
I have no idea – I’m not familiar with Canon’s printers at all.
Do you mean the Canon SELPHY printer? That’s not instant; that’s inkjet and needs to be plugged in. If you mean the IVY Mini, that’s a ZINK printer.
The main difference between an Instax printer and the ZINK printers is that a different technology is being used. Instax uses old-fashioned instant film and an LED/laser to expose the film from a digital file. ZiNK tech uses special embedded layers of inks in the paper where different colors are activated at different temperatures. Overall Zink media is cheaper than Instax media, but print quality seems to be lower.
The Canon/Polaroid/HP ZINK printers are still just printers. The Instax uses instant film, so you get the old-timey “watch the photo develop before your eyes” deal, which tends to instantly do a nostalgia thing for oldfarts who remember polaroids. It’s more hipster-analog, if you will. :) And the emotional impact is different. Most of the side-by-sides you can google up over the two types of printers prefer the image quality of the Instax to the ZINK prints from what I’ve seen. And that’s not really saying a huge deal, as the SP-1 prints at VGA resolution (640×480); the SP-2 and SP-2 at SVGA (800×600, 800×800). And all the prints are still roughly business card-sized.
I’ve carried an SP-1 around with me for the last three San Diego Comic-Cons, and it is, indeed, an instant ice-breaker and a surefire conversation starter, because most folks don’t know these things exist. I’ve also successfully used it to break ice while street shooting, and as Neil says, the big big advantage over the Instax cameras is that you retain a high-quality digital file. I’ve also found the “reprint” button on the printer to be more useful than I at first assumed it would be. Particularly at parties.
And the Fuji Instax printers are seriously cool in that you can print directly to them over wi-fi from newer Fuji cameras, without having to do the wi-fi/app dance that assumes you’re using your phone camera. Which you have to do *twice* if you’re shooting with a wi-fi enabled non-Fuji camera. (i.e., you have to connect your phone/tablet to the camera’s wi-fi and manufacturer app to get the photo from the camera to the device’s photos, and then connect to the printer’s wi-fi and the Instax Share app to print the photo; I also shoot a Panasonic GX-7 and have used it with the printer in this manner).
The main problem with the SP-3 is cost of the media. The square format is still much smaller than a traditional polaroid, and is similar in height to the mini format, but the film costs roughly twice that of the “mini” film (which also isn’t that cheap at around $.80 an image). If the square film were only slightly more expensive or the same cost, the SP-3 would probably make more sense for more folks. But the square format is undeniably more polaroid like than the narrower mini format.
Also, the Instax app on the phone is annoying in that it’s designed for social-media tweens, and there’s no way to create/save a template of your own design, so you could use prints like business cards, with boilerplate contact information.
I think you are mistaken concerning the Canon Selphy… its design uses Dye Sublimation technology. Not an inkjet printer.
Yup, you’re right. My bad.
I have used an alternative option before the new SP-3, but was more expensive. I used my X100t with a MicroSD card into an SD adapter to shoot the photos and after that use the MicroSd into the instax SQ10 to print the photos. Because i do not like the quality and the focus speed of the SQ10
I’m trying to figure out *exactly* what workflow looks like using it to print from a non-fuji camera.
Once I pair a phone and a camera to the printer, do I need to re-do this in practice every time I turn the printer off? Every time I turn the camera off too? Even if they’re both left on, every time I take a shot I want to print?
Hope you can help –