Instant film photography with the Leica Sofort

First there was vinyl, then the CD happened and then vinyl virtually disappeared. Until it made a comeback. Mostly amongst enthusiasts to be sure, but there it is. Now it looks like the process is being repeated with photography. First there was film, then the digital camera and film virtually disappeared. But it’s now making a comeback.

Leica Sofort

It, also, is likely to remain a plaything for enthusiasts, and perhaps most strangely of all, one of its strongest areas of revival isn’t in the quality sphere, but with Polaroid-style instant camera. I guess that giving up the instant gratification of digital was too much. Anyway, famed German camera brand Leica is here to help with an instant film camera that delivers real quality to the medium.

The Leica Sofort comes in a variety of colours, and features a cute design, but uses serious photographic technology. The 60mm f/12.7 lens can focus down to 0.3 metres in Macro mode, and has a shutter speed from 1/8 to 1/400 available to the automatic exposure system. Exposure compensation can be applied. The view finder features parallax compensation when in macro mode. There’s a built in electronic flash.

Leica Sofort

The Lithium Ion battery pack is good for 100 pictures. ISO 800 Instax film is used.

The camera will be available from November this year for a recommended retail price of $399. The ten shot film packs cost $18 for colour and $21 for monochrome. A bunch of accessories are available including cases and straps.