If Instagram has let you down a lot (I can’t even find a big junk from my friend’s spam posts and “suggest for you” nonsense), Fuji might have the antidote you need. The company's new Instax Mini 41 is a tightly packed score-instant camera used to capture the moment and hand over the photography souvenir, which may mean you don't have to ask your friend if you've given up on your Insta account.
The Instax Mini 41 is a sequel to the 2021 Instax Mini 40 (not really launched until 2022), but it still has a large flash and a 60mm lens in the redesigned plastic case. The biggest improvement in this process is the introduction of automatic exposure, which will adjust the light level sensor when you press the shutter button. Fujifilm claims that this will lead to less explosive photos when enjoying bright spaces like Great Outdoors. The new design also adds parallax correction found in Instax Mini 12, which should automatically improve focus clarity when centering the frame on a friend’s cup.
Although it looks like literal tin can, the camera is also relatively lighter. It weighs 12.2 ounces (no two AA batteries) or less than a pound. The shell itself is 4.8 x 4 x 2.4 inches, which should be relatively comfortable for most hands. The camera spits out 86mm x 54mm “credit card size” Instax Mini Film, you have to buy $20 separately for $20.
Actually, this is more of what you'll get from your Instax camera. Its lens has a wide-angle view equivalent to 35mm, and only two manual focus areas can be used for upbonding or slightly away. There is no separate flash control button. If you want more of these features, you have to target last year's $200 Instax Mini 99, which also has mid-range zoom.
The best word I can use to describe Fujifilm's new Instant camera is “cute”, although it's not as “cute” as the Instax Mini 12. Its rounded corners and Gunmetal grey body aren't like bullets, it's more like grandfather's old-father's hip sintered, and your grandfather is still close to his pocket (well, maybe two hip hip flasts). This is the kind of camera Instagrammer used to like. Now, the rest of us can ask with smugness from: “Oh, are you still using numbers?”
Fuji's latest camera should be available sometime in the end of April, although the US has not yet made a product page available in the US as of Tuesday morning, we contacted Fujifilm for inquiries about pricing and we will update this post if we hear an echo. The camera weighs 95 pounds in the UK, so we usually expect it to reach a similar $100 MSRP in the US, although Fuji's latest speed cameras may become more expensive.
