AT MY BEST...: SP1 Printer

Review: Fuji SP-1 Instax Share Printer

7:30 AM

For all of my Fuji instax lovers, this post is for you!

I have had mine for about 18 months now and this post was drafted when I first got it. After a really good (and long) trial period, I can now share this review.

I stalking the internet and Australian stores for the brand new SP1 printer to arrive around the time of its release date. After many phone calls to stores such as JB Hifi, Domanye and Harvey Norman, I realised that not only did no one in the industry know what I was talking about, they were not getting them in and were all very dismissive about the idea of helping me get my hands on one. The only helpful company was Myer and although they didn't have stock yet, they were still able to advise on price and that they would be getting them in.

Next step.... Take to internet shopping! I found a store based in Hong Kong selling these to the Australian market that wasn't trying to take you for a ride on the price. I ended up purchasing from www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au. The service and price was fantastic, it was shipped with a reputable company and I had my goods in my hands within a week from ordering. In saying this, I guess we take the risk that if something goes wrong, we don't know how they would go with repairs/returns/warranty.

Fast forward 18 months and everywhere has them!

Now to the printer...

A friend of mine and I had a ball playing with this baby over the last little while and I love it.

Let me fill you in on what this great little printer is all about. This printer is designed to print photos directly from your phone (the app is available for both apple and android) onto the instant film the same as the instax camera. The reason this printer is such a hit is that you can now view a photo, centre a photo, edit a photo (turn to B&W or sepia) and add text to the photo, all before it is printed. This will also give you the chance to reprint the same photo... how handy would this be for a baby shower, a kitchen tea, holiday with friends or a birthday?!

It is a sleek design and is relatively small considering it takes the mini film cartridge the same as the camera. It comes with 2 batteries that power this little beauty, but it will also take a power supply (which you can purchase separately). This printer is not bulky or heavy and will fit into a handbag or overnight bag perfectly. It is about the same size as the instax camera itself. Personally, I took mine on my last overseas holiday and it was the smartest thing I have done!

The batteries are CR2 lithium batteries, which sell for around $12-$15 each. The most reliable place to find them is Bunnings in Australia. I was recently in New Zealand when the batteries ran out, and I was able to get them easily. With use I have been getting around 12 months out of mine, or about 150 prints.

The app is easy to use and really straight forward.... And bonus, it is free. The only down fall is that you may need to keep connecting to it through your wifi settings as it will turn it self off after a short amount of time sitting dormant.

One of the filters on this app is the Fuji intelligence filter. I have not really seen a big difference with it but in this case one photo is a bit darker than the other. An example is below. This may also be the film depending on the age of it and the conditions that it has been stored in.

Both the app and the printer give you the option to 'reprint' the same photo more than once, which is a great way for everyone to share the same memory.

Using this method of printing photos was great for my New Zealand trip (you can see the end result here). I embarked on my first full size project life album from a previous holiday, and my Documenting December albums, and this photo size gives a great variation to the normal. I love the effect of the Polaroid look and we don't always have our instax cameras on us, but we all have a smart phone these days readily available to snap away.

Now there is one negative to this printer.... You will loose the uncentered under/over exposed photos that these cameras are so famous for. Those ones where when taking the photo with the traditional instax camera, we forgot to over compensate for the lens being in a different place to the viewfinder! But I am sure with a little bit of effort, if this is the effect you are going for, this can be replicated! :-)

Price point - retail for around $200 in Australia.

For a really good look at how this baby works, check out Elizabeth Kartchners (Dear Lizzy) video on YouTube below. Please keep in mind that this is American so the film costs are usually more substantial in Australia.

family holiday

New Zealand Holiday Journal - Midori Travellers Notebook Style

9:30 AM

After putting up the post (which can be found here) while I was on holidays about the mini kit that I took with me, I have been asked by a lot of people to share the end result. The mini kit consisted of the journal, ink pad, stamps, washi strips/rolls, scissors, pen, stamp blog, adhesive, instax film and my SP1 Share Printer.

I loved this project as it was a great way to document the daily activities and the trip, but also to feel like I have achieved a form of scrapbooking without having to add it to the never ending 'to-do' list on my return home.

I have been watching a lot of Amy Tangerines YouTube videos.... Who am I kidding, I think I have watched just about everything I could get my hands on... And I have realised that even the pros make mistakes and have to cover them up. They are just as normal as each of us, so I have been spending a bit of time stamping on cards and planners, so this book wasn't going to be any different. The only challenge with the stamping is that once it is in the book, I can't go and tear out the page if I didn't like it or it didn't work. I think I was so excited about this project that that last thought never even crossed my mind. It was purely a thought process that I would be able to simply cover it over with a piece of washi tape, or move items around to make the page work.

And work it did :-)

This note book is a passport size rather than the full Midori Travellers Notebook size, which worked, but I would like to try this same style project with the larger size to see if I liked it better.... Looks like I need to plan another holiday!

All of the photos have been simply printed from my iPhone or iPad onto the instax film through the SP-1 photo printer (which is super small and portable).

This project was also a great way to incorporate small bits of memorabilia, as you will see throughout the notebook.

Using available items on hand such as the luggage tag for the airline is a great item to incorporate into any travel album.

This album became all about good placement of stamping and washi tape, but worked so well.

Memorabilia items such as serviettes and tour group stickers are perfect elements for a travel book this size.

I have used a straw packet from Wendys to help identify where we were at when that photo was taken. The ticket to the Agrodome was the perfect addition rather than photos and helps identify the date and time of the event.

Using rub-ons were a great addition as they were flat and could be overlayed onto the photos as well as the paper.

Where there are no photos that help tell the story, use business cards such as the above, in a full or partial manner.

Entry tickets and passes are perfect memorabilia to include.

Drawing a page outline can help isolate different days in the journal.

I will give you the tip, instax photos are hard to photograph well for blog posts!!

Spelling mistakes, stamping mishaps and all, this journal/album tells the basic details. When I travel I tend to write pages full of detail and get halfway through the holiday and then don't have the time to keep up. This one was different. But the only thing different is essentially this is a dot point version of each day with a main event photo. This method worked well and I will be trying it again on my next holiday.

If you have any questions on this project or process, please leave them below and I will give you all of the tips and techniques that I can to help you achieve something similar for an event in your life.

12x12

'Best Adventure' - Delights Retreat Layout #12

6:30 AM

When the challenge arises to take a polaroid selfie for a challenge, I resort to finding a different 'selfie' rather than my face. And when you have a SP-1 Instax printer, why take a hit and miss shot with a camera! Yes, yes I cheated. I took the photos on my iPhone then chose the best to print. In my defence, if I have to look at the page, I'm not scrapping something I cant stand.

So that is how this selfie challenge became two photos, not one. And how I was able to use the light to fade out the head shot :-)

The centre paper and the 'selfie' chipboard were part of the kit to go along with this challenge, but I wanted to try a few new things again and I wanted to use the chipboard 'selfie' as an addition to the page, rather than the title.

Best Adventure

The chipboard has been painted with a black Tim Holtz distress paint and placed in the memory area on the page.

I found this stamp a little while ago in an old kit, and have been looking for the right page to use it on again. I wasn't sure about this one, but thought if I gave it a go and it didn't work, it wasn't the end of the world.

Also, only gluing in specific parts of diecuts will give extra dimension.

I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos at the moment, and the confidence that they have brought me is amazing. If I every think of hand writing any part of a title, I usually snap out of that thought very quickly. These videos have shown me that even the well respected names make consistent mistakes, but they own them and either work with the or cover them. I wouldn't say that hand writing this part of the title was a mistake, but I will own it. Its about it and this is my handwriting, like it or not!

I just love the KaiserCraft flamingo (they were my favourite thing to look at at the zoo as a kid). And that flair from {A Flair for Buttons} worked perfectly.

I didn't want to just journal anywhere on the page and let it sit out in the open, so I tried the idea of a half stamp so that it gave the journaling a specific place to sit. It closed it and gave it a place to belong. I think it worked as I was thinking.