Events
Photobooth instax: set up your photo corner
A successful photo corner cannot be recognized by its decor but by one thing: it runs without you. The guests grab it for dessert, the stack of prints rises on the table by itself, and no one comes to pick you up in the middle of the floor because “it doesn’t work anymore”. This is what needs to be resolved before the evening to get there.
The format matters more than the decor
A instax WIDE print measures 62 × 99 mm of image part, compared to 62 × 46 mm for a mini format print. On a comparative basis, that’s more than double. This is not an aesthetic detail: it is what decides whether three people fit in the frame while remaining recognizable, and whether the print supports a signature or a word in its white margin. A photo guestbook can be built in large format, or not built.
Distance, light, background: the trio to adjust above all
The instax WIDE Evo is equipped with a 16 mm 24 × 36 equivalent lens, aperture at f/2.4. It's very wide — the widest ever fitted to a instax, according to Fujifilm. A wide angle forgives tight groups but quickly distances faces: beyond two or three meters, your guests become silhouettes in a setting. Place the mark on the ground about five feet from the device and hold on to it.
For light, a useful reference: Fujifilm announces on the instax WIDE 400, the entirely film model of the range, an effective flash from 0.9 to 3 m. This is the usable depth of an instant photo corner. Everything beyond it—the room, the floor, the people passing by—will appear dark. You might as well make a choice: a plain background stretched just behind the guests is better than a pretty perspective which will turn black.
The bottom line, in fact, comes down to fixation. A sheet that slips during the evening ends up on the shoulders of the guests. Two tank clips or a few top and bottom adhesive pads, and the matter is closed.
Flow: sixteen seconds and one crank
Each print comes out in approximately 16 seconds, after the image has been validated on the 3.5-inch screen and the print crank has been activated. This gesture is the best and worst features of the WIDE Evo: the best, because it avoids wasting film on a failed photo; the worst, because it creates a waiting point if no one takes responsibility for it.
The solution can be summed up in one sentence: separate the shot from the print. A referent – a witness, a designated friend – triggers the action, lets the group move on, prints in series and places the prints on a separate table. The line moves forward, the table fills up, and in the early morning you retrieve a guest book that no one has had to look after.
Three devices, only one can be rented
We might as well say it frankly: of the three models that come up in all the searches, only one is in the Fox Rider catalog.
| Model | Functioning | Draw | At Fox Rider |
|---|---|---|---|
| instax WIDE Evo | Hybrid: screen, we choose what we print | 62 × 99mm | For rent |
| instax WIDE 400 | Fully film, 4 AA batteries | 62 × 99mm | Not proposed |
| instax mini Evo | Hybrid, but small format | 62 × 46mm | Not proposed |
The WIDE 400 remains an excellent vacation device, very simple, which swallows around ten cartridges on a set of four alkaline batteries. But he prints everything he photographs: over the course of an evening, each closed eye pays for itself. The mini Evo offers the same hybrid intelligence in a print run half the size – perfect in your pocket, frustrating in your guest book. The WIDE Evo combines the two qualities that matter here, the screen and the large format, and that's why it is the only one we rent.
Assembly, in ten minutes
- A stable table at chest height, or a tripod if you have one: placed on a tablecloth, the camera ends up slipping.
- A catch less than two meters away. The WIDE Evo's battery is internal, holds around 100 impressions per charge and takes 2 to 3 hours to recharge: you don't recharge in the middle of the evening, you leave it plugged in.
- A mark on the ground at one meter and fifty, in gaffer or chalk.
- A tight plain background, not draped.
- A second table for prints, with fine markers and, if you want the guest book, an open pocket album.
- A short sign with three instructions maximum. Beyond that, no one reads.
What this photo corner won't do
Two copies of each photo will not be released: each print consumes one view, and a duplicate costs the price of a new photo. It won't serve as a full self-service terminal either, because the device also prints images sent from a phone via Bluetooth - a nice feature that ten enthusiastic guests will quickly get the hang of. And it obviously won't print video: if you also want movement, it's another device, placed elsewhere in the room.
For the rest, it is probably the best ratio between the souvenir produced and the time you will spend there. As long as you rent rather than buy: a high-end instant camera that is used for just one evening then sleeps in a drawer.