When The Impossible Project made an Kickstarter for their Instant Lab I jumped on it. I love the idea of a camera that allows you to make instant pictures from your iPhone! There have been so many times that I've wished I had one of my SX70's with me and made due with my phone. Now I can have that physical print!
The Instant Lab's creative possibilities don't stop there. Since you are able to control when the film ejects, a whole new world of creative opportunities unfold including double exposures, printing mixed media art, and hacking the lab to use it as a camera itself. I can imagine someone making a pinhole camera out of it for instance.
The lab is easy to use, I've roughly outlined the steps in the pictures above. It can take any integral film (except Spectra or PZ films)- you can use the free Impossible Project companion app to make adjustments to your digital image before printing it, including telling the app what kind of film you are using. The app is pretty cool, it has a built in "scanner" that does a pretty good job at getting a square picture of your image so you can easily share it or upload it to the Impossible Project gallery right from your phone.
Speaking of which, The Impossible Project Gallery is an amazing place to get inspiration from. The app allows you to view the gallery right from your phone. You can like and comment on people's photos as well as follow your favorite photographers.
The packaging is amazing. I'm definitely a sucker for good packaging / boxing and I was not disappointed with this. The USB powered charger even came a velcro cord wrap! How is that for attention to detail?!
I have no complaints about the lab at all. It's easy to use, beautifully packaged, seems to be well made, and produces some fun images. There is a learning curve to getting images the way you want them since the films have an aesthetic of their own, but I found a few settings I liked in just a few tries. (Less contrast seems to work best for me).
So. GO GET ONE!
I've made a set on Flickr for my instant lab images. Let me know what you think!
XO
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