This is not a comprehensive list of all instant cameras we’ve tested. We have removed any cameras that have been discontinued or that do not meet our current requirements.
Available for about the same price as our upgrade pick, the Fujifilm Instax Mini LiPlay and the FujiFilm Mini 99 offer fewer creative options and less control over exposure and the final image. While they are smaller than the Mini EVO, they feel more plasticky and lack the vintage charm of the EVO’s aesthetic. If you’re going to spend that much on an instant camera, you’re better off choosing one that offers the most creative effects and controls, and looks and feels premium.
The Nons SL660 is an SLR-style camera that uses Instax Square film packs. With the SL660, you can use vintage lenses—specifically Canon EF-mount, but the company also sells adapters for Nikon F-mount, Pentax K-mount, Contax/Yashica CY-mount, and M42 screwmount.
During testing, we encountered several issues with the SL660, including a loose circuit board for the film eject button that we had to push back into place. The camera is also bulky and heavy—even before you add a lens. For comparison, the Nikon F2 (a legendarily brick-like film SLR) weighs 730 grams, while the Nons SL660 is 850 grams. Carrying the SL660 with multiple lenses means lugging around a significant amount of weight.
Considering this camera’s high price, its heft, and the requirement to have a collection of old lenses, we don’t think it makes sense for most people.
The Polaroid I-2 Instant Camera has a premium build and is fun to use, but our results were mixed. We liked that it was easy to adjust settings, and switching from full auto to manual is as easy as pressing one button a few times. A light meter in the viewfinder is intended to help you make sure your images are properly exposed, and it was easy to dial in the settings. But images from our testing were inconsistent, with some shots coming out overexposed even when the meter indicated proper exposure. Other shots came out oddly cropped or out of focus, despite using the built-in parallax guide (for close-up shots) or half-press focus lock.
These same complaints apply to all of Polaroid’s new cameras. And in the case of the Polaroid Now, getting blurry and over- or underexposed prints at $2 a pop feels especially frustrating. The new Polaroid film also needs to be shaded from light for 15 minutes as it develops, so forget shaking it like a Polaroid picture. The camera spits out a thin black shield of plastic over the image as it emerges from the camera, a design that makes this camera a bit nerve-racking to share. (You’re always worried that someone will tear the shield off and inadvertently waste that precious i-Type film with their impatience.) You also won’t know if you’ve got a decent shot until those 15 minutes are up, so the likelihood of recapturing that decisive moment again is slim.
Vintage Polaroid cameras, such as the beautiful SX-70, need to use old Polaroid film, and unfortunately, production of real Polaroid film ended in 2008. New versions are now being made by the new Polaroid, but photographers we’ve talked to have also found this film to be unreliable, with questionable long-term storage results.
The Fujifilm Instax Mini 11 doesn’t offer the same balance of image quality, usability, and value as our picks do.
Zink prints have disqualified quite a few other cameras and printers in this category in the past, and has led us to dismiss Canon’s Ivy Cliq+ and Ivy Cliq cameras, too.
Kodak has also tried its own 4Pass Photo Paper in the Kodak Photo Printer Mini 2 and Kodak Mini Shot 3 Retro. Although the credit-card-sized prints you get from these models are sharp and vibrant, the process is slow, and the final output is missing some of the nostalgic softness of an Instax print that harkens back to Polaroids of old. The wide angle of the Mini Shot camera also distorted our images for some unflattering results.
Lomography’s Lomo’Instant Automat series cameras look cool, and they use Fujifilm’s readily available and reasonably priced Instax Mini film packs. Features such as endless multiple exposures are interesting, but controls are marked with difficult-to-decipher hieroglyphic symbols. Aimed at the advanced instant shooter, most of the cameras in this series are bundled with fish-eye, wide-angle, and close-up lens attachments, which we found more cumbersome than useful.
Lomography’s Lomo’Instant Wide cameras are designed to shoot on Fujifilm’s Instax Wide film. They have the same three shooting modes as the Lomo’Instant, plus a shutter remote in the lens cap. Our big problem with the Lomo’Instant series are its clunky controls and strange layout, and the Lomo’Instant Wide offers more of the same, making this series an easy dismissal.
This article was edited by Phil Ryan and Erica Ogg.
