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Fujifilm has bridged the gap between digital and film photography with its newly announced Instax Mini Evo. The innovative new camera is a film/digital hybrid that takes what Instax shooters love—namely, the old-school method of Polaroid-style instant printing—and blends it with the best of modern digital technology.
The Mini Evo acts as a sidekick to capture those in-between moments, thanks to its compact, go-anywhere design (it's about the size of a deck of cards, a lot smaller than old Polaroids and modern bubble Instax cameras). The new design features an analog-style lever for instant printing and a three-inch LCD screen on the back to adjust settings, view and edit images, and send images to your smartphone. You can even send photos from your phone to the camera, straight to print, using the Instax app.
The Instax Mini Evo camera also has a variety of internal lens and film effects, such as Soft Focus and Monochrome. There are 10 of each, allowing photographers the freedom to create up to 100 different combinations, each with a unique style. They're digital functions that beg for the comparison to Instagram filters, but they operate with a twist of the lens and a spin of a dial, giving the method a distincly analog element.
Despite the digital element, printing is still a core feature, and photographers can do that with the pull of a lever (just like those that cycle film on 35mm cameras). Fujifilm has also doubled the resolution quality of its prints, which will come as welcomed news to anyone who's ever used an Instax. The camera offers two options for printing—an Instax-Natural Mode for conventional image quality and an Instax-Rich Mode for more vibrant colors.
Fujifilm will release the Mini Evo in Japan on 3 December 2021, with more countries seeing it shortly after. For now, the Instax Mini Evo is scheduled be available in the US February 2022.
Price: $200
Published 11-30-2021