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Instax Mini Puts Fun Back In The Photos

Instax Mini 90 Neo Classic
My Fujifilm Instax Mini 90 Neo Classic

I love taking pictures, so I recently bought an Instax Mini 90 Neo Classic to add to my repertoire and cannot but totally appreciate the quality of the results, that reminded me of the days when I was shooting with my 35 mm manual Pentax MX SLR (results below). Back in the day, it meant that I had to wait a good 2 weeks before I could see the results of my labour and the only help I received from the uncertainty of the picture I was about to take was a green LED indicator from the viewfinder that blinked if I had the shutter speed and the aperture matching with the ISO of the film roll. Phew! Then one had to deposit the exposed 35-36 shot film roll at a studio and await the results. Eventually, it was fun to arrange the prints into albums that consisted of memories accumulated over a period of time.

Faith Under Fire
Pentax MX photos from my trip to Northern India.

Before Instax Mini & The Digital Age

The digital cameras brought the convenience of looking at the result at the same time as we are shooting the picture. Another big advantage of the digital cameras was the comfort of adjusting the ISO settings during the shoot. So, while taking pictures became easier and cheaper it took away our ability to essentially take photo prints since storage was convenient on the cloud or HDs. The manual cameras gave us the prints and the option to scan & digitize them, however, the Instax range of cameras have not only brought back the fun of point-of-shoot photography it also prints the picture instantly like the good old Polaroid, but notwithstanding the smaller print size. The Neo is a smaller camera and need I say, retro-styled, and it also makes it easier to lug around. With the only drawback (if you will) being that the film cassette can only accommodate 10 colour or BW shots.

I’m ecstatic by how quickly one could navigate the techniques and get along with capturing memories on the Instax Mini, and since the cassettes are inexpensive I could shoot without the headache of worrying about the creativity or the outcome. The prints look really trendy & they have definitely put the fun back into the photos. Not the albums, here’s looking forward to a wall overflowing with beautiful memories!

Flickr Has Changed Hands Again!

An active user of Flickr, I was astonished to read that it is being acquired by SmugMug. The email said, “We’re excited to announce that Flickr has agreed to be acquired by SmugMug, the photography platform dedicated to visual storytellers.” This would be the third time in over a decade that Flickr has changed hands with its owners since its launch by the Vancouver-based Ludicorp in 2004. It was in early 2005 that Yahoo! decided to buy this image hosting company for $35 million. Then in 2017 Verizon acquired Yahoo! and all its assets in a $4.48 billion deal, and now it’s SmugMug acquiring Flickr from Oath Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Despite its base of over 90 million users, I think it’s becoming harder to sustain itself in competing with the established photo-sharing social networks, although it’s one of the few places where professional photographers (the folks who experiment with DSLRs) still venture out. I’m not sure what the future holds for Flickr, I adore it, to be honest, but I doubt that it has a long way left now. Given that mobiles are adept at capturing & sharing incredible photos & videos at higher resolutions, only time will tell if the era of image hosting platforms is entering its last lap.

Goodbye Yahoo! Photos

Current users might want to take note of this latest development. Yahoo! has decided to shut down it’s photo sharing service Yahoo! Photos and focus on its other twin, Flickr. I read this bit of rather surprising news on the Yodel blog. Curtains will formally come down on September 20, 2007 and the all the current users will be moved to a photo sharing service of their choice – Flickr, Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly, Snapfish, or Photobucket. For a complete list of the FAQs, you can click here or visit this page.