Instax Wide Monochrome

Instax Wide Monochrome shipped November 1, 2017, after a Best Buy product page leak gave away the launch two weeks early. It was Fuji's second black-and-white Instax product, following Mini Monochrome from October 2016, and the first to use the larger 3 by 5 inch wide format. The market for Wide had been color-only for years before this, partly because the Wide cameras themselves had a smaller installed base than the Mini line.

The sheet runs roughly 99 by 62 millimeters in image area. That extra real estate matters in monochrome more than in color, because the grain structure is more visible and the tonal scale benefits from physical surface. A group portrait that would feel cramped on a Mini sheet breathes properly on a Wide. Group shots and landscapes are the format's reason for existing.

The emulsion runs at ISO 800 with Fuji's Hi-Speed designation. Tonality is neutral, with a long midtone scale and slightly compressed highlights. The look sits closer to a Polaroid 600 black-and-white pack than to anything in roll-film territory. Skin tones in flash render warmly enough to feel alive rather than morgue-cold, which is the failure mode of older instant monochrome stocks. Grain is finer than the original Polaroid Type 87 pack film.

The Wide bodies that take this film are limited to three options: the Wide 210, the Wide 300, and the newer Wide Evo from 2025, none of which give you serious manual control beyond a lighten and darken switch on the back panel. Rate the film at 800 and let the camera handle exposure, or override that switch when shooting against bright sky. The Wide 300 tends to underexpose flat scenes by about a half stop. Compensate.

Reciprocity exponent is 1.0. No correction needed past one second. Zone Light Meter applies metered time directly as the shot time. The Wide 300 will not let you expose past a couple of seconds anyway. Available in 10-sheet packs, single or twin, at most camera retailers.