Now more than ever, it seems that
people are too comfortable lying and misrepresenting. From the
president on down, lying is seen as a convenient tool to re-write
history. Marketers have always done it, but it seems that the claims
are becoming more outlandish. Enter Fuji and their new product.
Many- I dare say- most articles
reviewing the Fuji Instax Square camera bill it as the first hybrid
digital and analog camera in one. Those of us who have instant film
in our blood know this to be at best misleading, and at worst an
intentional deception. The earliest version of this hybrid technology
I am aware of was made by Olympus in collaboration with Polaroid in
the year 2000. It does almost exactly the same thing as this new
Fuji Square , and in many ways was a superior product! Fuji is good
at appealing to popular market and perfecting existing products-, but
they are not an innovator in instant photography.
The Olympus c-211 had a resolution of
2.1mp- surprisingly high resolution for a consumer grade camera in
2000, while 17 years later the Instax Square has a resolution of
3.7mp- worse than many smart phones. The Olympus shot through some
good glass with 3x actual zoom, while the Fuji is limited to digital
zoom. Also, and I thought this was a great innovation that would be
just as relevant today, the olympus let in sunlight behind the screen
to make it easier to see the screen outside!
While arguably not the same thing,
there have been countless digital to analog printers that use analog
film, several made by Polaroid (like the Colorshot and the P-500) and
a few by Fuji. The idea has also been explored with cameras that use
Zink technology, and they have better cameras attached. The z340 was
released 6 years ago and featured a 14 mp camera.
I know that Fuji is not the only
company to misrepresent their product, but I don't think my silence
does any service to those who don't know the facts. Lying has just
become too pervasive. There is nothing new about trying to wed analog
and digital- every analog film company has given it a try!
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