High fashion meets the lo-fi (but super-popular!) Fuji instant camera world with the Michael Kors Mini 70
posted Thursday, September 22, 2016 at 6:03 PM EDT
Fuji Instax cameras are all the rage these days, and are selling like hotcakes as the old familiar saying goes. They're selling so well in fact that Fuji has partnered with famous fashion designer Michael Kors to introduce a sleek and sexy model known as the Michael Kors x Fujifilm Instax Mini 70.
As you may have noted in an article we posted last year, the popularity trend of this instant camera line has taken on an exponential sales growth pace over the past few years, thus allowing this simple instant film camera to out-sell even its popular X-Series digital siblings. While the line has been around since the late 1990's and has grown steadily through the years at a nice pace for the company, it's only been the past few years that have seen a relative sonic boom in worldwide sales. Thus the impetus we suppose (and the deep pockets) for teaming up with a famous fashion designer for this new model.
Dubbed the "Pinnacle of style and substance" by Mark Yamamoto, President of Fujifilm North America, this model is obviously aimed at adults and certainly distances itself from the typical instant film use-case: young teenagers. Fuji references Michael Kors' "Jet-set aesthetic" in reference to the camera's gold metallic shell, and Fuji places his signature prominently on the rear of the camera as well for that added touch of panache.
For those of you not up to speed on this latest craze, the Instax Mini film is about the size of a credit card, but the printed image is only about 2.4 x 1.8 inches total (that's 62mm x 46mm) so it's a good bit smaller than the old polaroids we all used to shoot way back when. Still, in a world where everything seems to be about smaller these days, the size doesn't seem to bother people at all. Nor does the $1 per shot that it roughly costs in film for that matter.
The film is rated at ISO 800 to better allow for low light situations, and the camera sports a flash, retractable lens and a standard tripod socket. The supplied CR2 lithium batteries are rated capable of shooting roughly 300 images (30 ten-packs of Instax Mini film). There's also a 10-second self-timer, a selection of shooting modes to choose from, and plenty of selfie-friendly options as well including a handy mirror on the front below the lens for composing.
More from Fuji N.A. President Mark Yamamoto: “We are seeing an explosion of excitement in instant photography today, and now consumers can make a stylish statement with the combination of INSTAX and the luxury of the Michael Kors brand.” Indeed!
How about it, enthusiast photographers? Once you've put your primary rig on the shelf for the day, are you willing to be the Instax hit at the party that night? I've now had the chance to shoot with a previous Mini 70 model from 2015 and can say that it was a LOT more enjoyable than I'd anticipated, and that the camera itself is quite well-made, not the least bit chintzy as one might expect of an "instant" camera but quite solid and well-built.
Available in late October for US$149 just in time for the holidays, the Micahel Kors x Mini 70 will sell bundled with a package of Instax film and the needed CR2 lithium batteries, while that gorgeous red case and the gold chain above will be sold as optional accessories.