The Instax Evo Wide supersizes Fujifilm’s hybrid instant camera
Expansive prints, either on device or from your phone
It’s no exaggeration to say Fujifilm had a major hand in making instant cameras cool again – yet scan the firm’s Instax line-up and you’d be forgiven for thinking the film only came in two varieties. There’ve been a bunch of Instax Mini and Instax Square cameras, while the larger format Instax Wide hasn’t seen nearly as much love. The new Instax Evo Wide aims to put that right.
The retro-styled hybrid scales up many of the features and functions seen in the Instax Evo Mini, letting you snap directly through the widest lens of any Instax instant camera, or print pics wirelessly from a paired smartphone over Bluetooth. It leans fully on the fun and throwback nature of instant film, with a bunch of filters and photo effects to style up your snaps with, and a print lever similar to a classic film camera rewind crank. There’s a push-down shutter lever instead of a button, too.
A 16mm wide-angle view is enough to squeeze expansive landscapes into each shot, while the 28mm ‘standard’ view will be a better choice for portraits, closer subjects, or when using the front-mounted mirror to line up selfies. Composition is handled through the 3.5in LCD viewfinder (which doesn’t support touch inputs). As with Fuji’s other hybrids, you’re actually shooting digital images; here it’s using a 16MP sensor about as big as the one seen on most smartphones.
Filters and effects are the order of the day, with dedicated dials to adjust the colour cast, mimic the look of analogue film, or add things like double exposure or light leak. A control ring around the lens lets you control the strength of each effect.
Battery life is rated for 100 prints per charge, though keep in mind that much Instax Wide film will set you back about $90/£85. A good job it’ll let you snap away without printing every picture, then. A microSD card slot supplements the camera’s modest built-in storage, which is enough for about 45 pics.
The Instax Wide Evo is on sale now for $350/£320. Fancy pairing it with the official camera case? That’ll be another £38, please.
To coincide with the launch, Fuji has also let loose a new Instax Wide film pack. The Brushed Metallics film swaps the usual white border for ones that mimic gold, bronze, silver and other precious metals. Expect them to set you back around $18/£17 a pop.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
