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instax Mini 11 Camera Accessory Kit, Sky Blue

£9.995£19.99Clearance
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About this deal

There's no way to manually disable the flash, which fires automatically with every shot – whether it's really needed or not. Again as before, the camera can focus between about half a meter to infinity, but twist the lens into selfie / close-up mode and the range adjusts to between 30 and 50cm. The INSTAX Mini 12 is the latest instant camera to use Fujifilm’s enormously popular INSTAX Mini film. Launched in March 2023 and available in five pastel colours, the Mini 12 produces small prints using a fully analogue process that eject straightaway and gradually develop before your eyes in roughly 90 seconds. And finally here’s the latest Mini 12, showing-off its less curvy grip, and switching the push power button for a twisting mechanism similar to the INSTAX SQ1. As I twist the lens barrel to the selfie / close-up mode though, notice how the viewfinder changes, showing the subject now shifted to one side. I’ll now move the subject to recentre it in the viewfinder and take another shot. Now while the final print is still not perfectly centered, it’s an improvement over the previous version and allows you to be more accurate with your framing at close-range with fewer wasted prints.

Those can appear far more dream-like, while Instax appears more natural. Darker scenes and shadows appear much more dramatic than real life, though. To show it in action, I’ve filmed the view through the Mini 12’s viewfinder where you can see the old SQ1 camera positioned in the middle. This is with the lens set to the normal distance, but here’s the actual photo taken with this framing, where you can see the subject is off to one side. This is due to the parallax effect at close range where the viewfinder and lens are not showing the same thing. Let’s now switch out the Mini 40 on the left for Fujifilm’s most recent INSTAX Square camera, the SQ1 which is obviously much wider. The main difference between them is of course the shape of the prints, square for the SQ1 and tall for the Mini, and since each INSTAX camera or printer can only take one type of film, you should choose a model based on your preferred print shape. At first glance this would appear no different to the Mini 11 before it, but in a useful upgrade, Fujifilm has now added parallax correction to the 12 where the viewfinder adjusts when you have it set to close-up mode. This allows you to more accurately frame subjects at close range and avoid them appearing off-centre. The twisting control comes from the earlier SQ1 seen here, and makes the Mini 12 easier to use than previous models.

Summary

As for exposure, the Mini 12 remains fully automatic, like the 11 before it. Both employ a fixed aperture and automatic shutter speeds between 1/250 and half a second. Instax film tends to produce pastel-like colors and soft-focus details, giving your photos that unmistakable instant feel, though they tend to be more true-to-life than rivals including Polaroid or Lomography.

The Fujifilm Instax Mini 11 improves on the previous generation Instax Mini in meaningful ways, making instant photography more accessible than ever with a largely accurate auto exposure system and an adjustable lens that works for close-ups and selfies as well as portraits and landscapes. As for the lens, it’s the same as before: 60mm which on the Mini format delivers coverage equivalent to around 34mm, capturing a mild wide angle, that’s ideal for general use from portraits and selfies to buildings and landscapes. To frame your shot, you can either use the simple optical viewfinder when you’re behind the camera, or a small mirror to the left of the lens when you’re shooting selfies. It's an issue we've seen in other instant cameras, though, so it's more of a learning curve for the photographer than a failing of the camera.

Instant converts have a new favorite starter camera

Switching the camera into selfie / close-up mode also reduces the power of the flash to minimise over-exposed subjects. Here’s two selfies I took, with the older Mini 11 on the left and the new Mini 12 on the right. The difference is subtle in this comparison, but the Mini 12 selfie on the right is definitely a little less washed-out, showing better skin tones and more detail. Anecdotally I found most of the selfies I took with the Mini 12 looked better exposed than those from earlier models, and since that’s a key use for the camera, it’s a useful upgrade – unless of course you like the washed-out look. Push the lens barrel release and it extrudes using a spring mechanism, with the built-in flash activating automatically. The front grip is narrower, and there's now a ridged thumb grip on the rear for easier one-handed use. Beyond the lens barrel release, which also acts as a power on switch for the built-in flash, the only other button is the shutter release.

But for anyone who still finds the Mini 12’s styling a little too frivolous, here’s the earlier Mini 40 on the left with its more serious looks, a little like a vintage film camera, albeit much the same as the Mini 11 inside. I also like the twisting barrel which makes it easier to power-up and enter close-up mode. On the downside though, you will still suffer from over-exposures under bright daylight conditions, but the upgrades are still worth spending the extra tenner over the previous Mini 11 if you mostly photograph people. It's because the auto exposure system can now vary the shutter speed between 1/2 and 1/250, so it should be able to capture the right amount of light in all shooting scenarios. This is a big step up from the Mini 9's fixed 1/60 shutter speed, and helps massively when shooting indoors.Fujifilm skipped the number 10, so the next model was the Mini 11, seen here with its slimmed-down grip, and while the push power button remained, the exposure was now automatic, and you no longer needed to remember a clip-on adapter for selfies. Speaking of selfies, now giving the lens barrel an extra pull extends the lens ready for close-up shooting. It's a much simpler system than the Mini 9's easily forgotten clip-on attachment, though you have to grip the lens barrel awkwardly to close it up again, otherwise you end up turning the camera off completely. Overall the INSTAX Mini 12 becomes the best budget INSTAX to date, especially if you’re into selfies or portraits. The print quality may be essentially the same as previous models but by reducing the flash power and adjusting the viewfinder when set to close-up mode, the 12 minimises washed-out subjects and inaccurate framing. With all three side by side, from left to right, the Mini 9, 11 and 12, you can see how Fujifilm’s evolved the styling, and I have to say I really like the look of the latest model which moves away from the almost toy-like bubble appearance of the earlier ones without losing its cuteness. Which do you prefer?

Compare it to the previous Mini 11 seen here, where you’d push a large button to extend the lens and power up the camera, before then manually yanking out the lens further for selfies or close-ups. The photo quality is unsurprisingly similar to the models before it, albeit with the benefit of better-exposed selfies and more accurately framed close-ups. These in turn should reduce wasted prints. Fujifilm INSTAX Mini 12 verdict With no need to manually adjust the exposure settings every time the lighting situation changes, the Fujifilm Instax Mini 11 has a much greater hit-rate when it comes to correctly judging a scene than the Mini 9, although the nature of Instax film means overblown highlights are still common. The fixed focus lens manages to keep the majority of portrait and middle distance shots looking crisp, while landscapes can appear softer and more dreamlike.Constant firing flash (automatic light adjustment), recycle time: 6.5 seconds or less (when using new batteries), effective flash range: 0.3 to 2.7 m

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