If there is one complaint about instant film cameras, it is that you can’t easily share your photos on social media with your friends. Fujifilm seems to be tackling that problem with the release of the instax SQUARE SQ10 Hybrid Instant Camera, along with instax SQUARE Instant Film, which allows shooters to shoot and print 2.4 x 2.4" prints. This hybrid camera is essentially a compact digital point-and-shoot with a built-in instant film printer that allows you to shoot, review, edit, and then immediately print out the photos you want. It uses a 1/4" CMOS sensor and 28.5mm f/2.4 equivalent lens to capture 1920 x 1920 resolution photos and provides a 3" 460k-dot LCD for composing images and then getting them ready to print.
Despite being a digital camera at heart, the instax SQUARE SQ10 shares a lot with its instax predecessors in terms of design. It does have a unique feature, in dual shutter buttons, and it also offers a built-in flash along with both internal memory and a microSD/SDHC memory card slot for saving images. Users will even have access to a variety of creative effects, such as double exposure and bulb shooting, ten filter effects, and brightness control. Additionally, it can produce thumbnail-style prints and runs on a single NP-50 rechargeable Li-ion battery pack.
2 Comments
Frankly speaking, I was excited and looking forward to the details of the announcement, but ended up being rather underwhelmed by certain product design/feature choices from Fujifilm.
My biggest gripes are the lack of wireless connectivity to print my iPhone pics after the fact (can't physically carry the SQ10 EVERY time/where), compounded by the fact that foreign pics can only be imported for printing purposes via an optional micro SD card, especifically labeling each picture with a very specific combination of all caps letters and numbers, which most likely will mean the need to use a PC/MAC for the whole renaming & saving process...
I just don't understand the thought process behind these choices. It mostly looks like intentional product constraining, as if there was another higher-end Fuji product of the same kind to be cannibalized, already in the pipeline...
I used to think instax integral film was the only way to go, but now that Fuji's making it a digital capture/analog printing hybrid, suddenly the barriers seem much lower for the upcoming Polaroid POP instant camera announced last CES 2017, which will use square ZINK paper, BUT reportedly it will connect wirelessly to a phone for what Fuji's SQ10 couldn't quite get right. The fact that I won't have to worry about ZINK paper and X-Ray machines at security check points in airports when traveling, is just icing on the cake.
A very interesting idea - as someone who uses only film this is a digital camera I would consider getting. I know Polaroid has similar products, but the pictures are the size of the Instax Mini & not really something I would consider. The only drawback is the price - I wouldn't buy one now but it is certainly something for the future. I really like the ability to save & print more than one picture (personally, I would only use the internal memory).