Review: Fujifilm Instax Mini 12

I have an affinity for the tangible that probably betrays my age more than anything, but nowhere does this hit me as hard as in photography. I love photo prints. I love photo books. I love instant images like Fujifilm's Instax prints. Thank goodness for Fujifilm, which stepped in to save instant film when Polaroid dropped the ball at the beginning of the digital era.

Since then, Fujifilm has turned out an array of Instax cameras and printers and I have been a sucker for nearly all of them. I still have the original SP-2 and SP-3 printers and use them all the time. The company's latest effort in this realm is the Instax Mini 12, which is the latest version of what I'd call the cheapest fun camera you can buy. It's an adorable little bubble of plastic and is the best way to get started with Instax.

Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

The Mini 12 replaces the Mini 11 and changes a couple of small things that turn out to be quite a big deal. The first is that Fujifilm has made parallax correction work in close-up mode (enabled by twisting the lens to close up). That correction means you don't have to guess where the center of the frame is for close-up subjects. What you see is what you get now, eliminating those terrible, ill-framed close-ups that sometimes happened with the Mini 11.

I also really like the new twist lens. This is both how you get into the close-up mode, and how you turn the camera on. I'll confess I had to consult the manual the first time to figure this out (after pressing the shutter button a dozen different ways), but once the dim little light bulb in my brain started working again, I came to appreciate a design that makes it virtually impossible to turn this thing on by accident.

Other upgrades include a new automatic flash control that detects brightness levels and only fires when needed. That's a step up from the Mini 11, which fires the flash for every photo. That said, the Mini 12 fired the flash far more than I would have liked, but perhaps my dream of a good low-light Instax camera is just that. Whatever the case, the Mini 12 is certainly an improvement when it comes to flash handling.

Some things remain the same. The lens is still a 2-element plastic lens (60-mm f/12 equivalent). There is no focusing. Everything is auto-exposure. If this camera had a motto it would be: Keep it simple. There's also still the little mirror on the front for framing your selfies.

Photograph: Fujifilm

The one thing I don't particularly like about the Instax 12 is the look. The body is in the same vein as the Mini 11, with a kind of Bob Ross, fluffy cloud vibe to both the shape and range of available colors. It's fun and playful and I can see why Fuji uses it—turning the camera into a friendly, approachable object. It screams This is easy and fun! For those like me, wanting something more, well, camera-like, there's always the Instax Mini 40. Or if you feel like splurging, the Mini 90. See our guide to instant cameras for more.

To go along with the Mini 12, Fujifilm has released a new free app called Instax Up. The key function is that it will "scan" (um, photograph) your Instax prints, allowing you to store and share them online. If you have photos in any other Instax apps, you can import them to Instax Up so everything is in one place.

Once an image is in the app you can edit it with a few simple controls, add notes, and even geotag it using a map. If you amass a sizable collection of scans, you can filter and search by Instax film type, date scanned, or any tags you've added. You can also share the image with any other app on your phone.

So yes, now you can post even your Instax selfies on Instagram. So much for the tangible. I get it, I get it. I am old and curmudgeonly. Fujifilm no doubt has a boatload of market research to prove the intelligence of this move. I, personally, deleted the app as soon as I had proved to myself that it worked as advertised.

In my world, Instax prints are something you stick on the wall, with tape. And they stay there until the sun bleaches those moments back to nothing, leaving only the cool darkness of evening and those moments we etched in our minds. Whatever the case, the Mini 12 is the cheapest, easiest way to enter the Instax world and it remains my top pick for anyone who wants a dead simple, affordable, and incredibly fun instant camera.