FUJIFILM makes available on the market the brand new Instax Mini Evo Hybrid, hybrid instant camera between analog and digital that we had the opportunity to try. Here is our review!
Fujifilm launched a new instant camera, the Instax Mini Evo Hybrid. This camera blends analog-based digital technology with a vintage look. A new entry in Fujifilm’s Instax department that is expanding more and more with products aimed at an increasingly wider audience and which from time to time contain new features and elements that were previously missing.
FUJIFILM Instax Mini Evo Hybrid review: the technical characteristics
The Instax Mini Evo Hybrid is first and foremost a feast for the eyes: a beautiful vintage-looking camera that most of all recalls the typical Fujifilm design, a bit like the Instax 40 mini did, even if totally analog. A camera that fits in one hand and is reminiscent of the XT series. In this incarnation we have a structure mainly made of plastic but with a weight that, compared to the dimensions, is evident and synonymous with quality. Its dimensions are indeed 87mm × 122.9mm × 36mm and a weight of approximately 285gwith a screen 3.0 inch LCDa 28mm lens with a dial that allows you to change 10 different effects directly from the lens by turning it.
After shooting, having digital technology, the photos can be viewed, so you can choose whether to print them. Printing takes place using the winding wheel typical of the original analog film cameras. A real pleasure of use, to get a mini-size print, then credit card with the type of film you prefer. For example, we were able to try the Instax Mini macaron film, with a colored frame that adapts to the type of shot and blends with the colors of the photo. But of course, all FUJIFILM Instax Mini films can be used.
Instax Mini Evo Hybrid: what happens when we shoot
When we decide to use the machine, it is clear that it is an ergonomic and immediate product in responding to our needs. Additionally, there are many presets that provide creative shooting modes: first of all the package of 10 effects on the lens ring. Among them are the most typical such as the fisheye, mirror effect, glitch and vintage, but also some welcome surprises such as double exposure. To these are added 10 other effects on film, which can be chosen from the control buttons above the LCD screen and are useful for inserting film filters already at the moment of shooting.
Alongside these presets, there is also a manual mode. With this mode the camera allows you to choose the settings before shooting, for example switching the exposure, while the other settings go into automatic switching according to the following characteristics:
- Aperture: F2.0
- Shutter speed: 1/4 second to 1/8000 second (auto switching)
- Shooting Sensitivity: ISO 100 to 1600 (Auto Switching)
- Exposure Control: Programmed AE
- Exposure Compensation: -2.0 EV to +2.0 EV (in 1/3 EV increments)
Using this new machine reminded us a lot of the Instax Mini Liplay, which we had the chance to try recently and which offered pure instant fun in digital format. Here, we have an analog and vintage look that provides a value added to the car not only for a matter of aesthetics. Furthermore, this machine is also aimed at a higher age group, perhaps nostalgic, and therefore further amplifies the target audience for the Instax family.
The potential of a Bluetooth printer
Another fundamental aspect of this machine is the ability to connect it via Bluetooth and app to tablet and phone and then directly print the photos we have already taken digitally on our devices. The idea that a machine so pleasant to use can also be transformed into a printer it is certainly another added value that makes it a very complete and irreplaceable snapshot for lovers of the mini format.
The Instax Mini Evo Hybrid is presented on the market at a slightly higher price than the other products, or € 199.99. Price that is actually in line with the potential it possesses, above all because it looks like an analog camera, which uses digital technology and also transforms itself into a printer. Buying this Instax could bring you the famous ultimate camera (of its category), which contains in a single product everything a passionate user could want.
Digital with vintage taste
An instant camera like the Instax Mini Evo Hybrid is difficult to leave at home, precisely because nothing is missing: refined aesthetics, creative modes, return to analogue manual skills. Of course, all this unless you prefer different instant formats: who knows if Fujifilm, in the future, could bring a similar model with a wide or square format. Surely, Instax Mini Evo Hybrid is a very valid product, which aims far beyond the ambitions of any competing product in the same price range. A new way to relive the world of photography? Yup. The missing link, the camera that combines the best of both worlds (instant analogue and digital) is here among us: a unique product that you absolutely must have.
The ultimate instant machine
Points in favor
- Vintage Aesthetics
- Lens and film effects preset
- Immediate use
- Possibility of printing from external device
Points against
- Price slightly above average