Impractical Photography, Part 2 (or a Minolta Instant Camera?!)

I came upon the Minolta Instant Pro while searching for reading materials about Polaroid photography. This is supposedly a Polaroid-made, Minolta-branded camera that uses Spectra/Image/1200 integral film. Polaroid later introduced this camera as Spectra Pro.

Unlike previous Polaroid cameras, this model gives you quite a bit of creative camera controls; it supports multiple exposures, manual and programmed time exposures, fill-flash for backlighted subjects, and sequential exposures (intervalometer) along with the more traditional “lighten/darken” exposure compensation control. Oh, the controls are via an LCD in the back. You can manual focus but it’s pretty darn clunky as you have to manually enter the distance instead of focusing through the viewfinder.

The differences between the Minolta Instant Pro and the Polaroid Spectra Pro are external. I prefer the Minolta’s aesthetics that’s why I got this camera. There’s nothing wrong with the Spectra Pro and I would get one of those too if the price is right.

I’ll write more about the camera’s features as I use them but here are some sample photos for now.