When we shot on film, we had to print our images in order to see them. We used to take family time on weekends to arrange them in photo albums, and kept them on a book shelf in our living room for everyone to see and page through, anytime they felt like it.
For many, these are activities of an era gone by. But they shouldn’t be. Surely there is a reason why we take a particular photograph and surely we would like to remember the moment or place or the person in the picture. And the best way to do that is by printing that photograph. Right? Right!
Well then, let’s do exactly that! It’s never been easier, more accessible, more instantaneous than with the range of instax printers that are now available on the market.
We now have the most sophisticated “One-Step” photography technique at hand that ever existed. With the help of film simulation recipes (by Fuji X Weekly), we can create a great looking image in camera, send it to our smartphone within seconds and print it with an instax printer in a matter of minutes.
(Print) Life has never been easier.
instax prints tend to have their own look, so it takes a bit of practice to get colours and contrast in an image to look exactly the way you intended.
In the latest broadcast of SOOC, Ritchie and I tried out a few of the Fuji X Weekly recipes and chose three that work particularly well for instax prints. Check out this sound bite from Episode 5 of Season 2 of SOOC to get our take on this.
The three recipes we recommend are Kodak Ultramax 400 for users shooting on the latest X-Trans IV cameras, Vintage Agfacolor if you are shooting on a X-Trans III or IV camera and Fujichrome Sensia 100 if you are after a distinct Fujifilm analog look.



Kodak Ultramax 400
The fabulous Kodak Ultramax 400 delivers amazing, punchy results that give your images a beautiful film look. I have no idea why this recipe hasn’t been on my radar much. It is so good. And it is incredible how awesome instax prints look with images shot with this recipe.









Because it makes use of “Color Chrome Effect Blue”, it is a recipe for the latest X-Trans IV cameras. So if you are shooting on an X100V, X-Pro3, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4 and X-T30II you can use this recipe. If you are shooting on an X-S10 you can even print directly from your camera to the instax mini Link, Link WIDE and now also the mini Link 2 without needing to download the image to your phone first. This “One-Step” workflow just keeps getting better and better!
Vintage Agfacolor
If you shoot on an older generation Fujifilm camera, you should try Vintage Agfacolor, which is another fantastic recipe and a lot of people will love the results they will get. Your images will be somewhat desaturated, nice and contrasty, skies will turn distinctly cyan and will definitely carry a film-like look that translates beautifully onto instax prints.










Fujichrome Sensia 100
We also recommended this recipe that emulates the Fujifilm film stock which delivers fantastic results as well. Fujichrome Sensia 100 has a definite analog look, but the general feel is quite different from the two recipes above. It’s a nice alternative if you are looking for something with a little more of a “Fuji” feel. I’m sure you will enjoy turning your jpegs into instant prints with this recipe too!











So, how about you? Do you print your images? There are certainly more recipes that will turn your images into awesome (instant) prints! I’d love to hear from you! Please drop me a comment with the recipes you use to get great-looking instax prints.
And now, one more time, in case you didn’t get the memo – check out this video I created a few years back:
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