But first, you need to know about your camera’s different brightness settings. The brightness of the picture depends on how wide the camera’s aperture opening is. If you aren’t too familiar with photography and how an aperture works, here’s a fairly simple explanation—the larger the opening, the more light it can let in. You will know when the Instax Mini 8‘s choice isn’t the best after you practice enough. When this happens, you can easily choose another setting. The Fujifilm Instax Mini series use a special film size. The image size is 2.4 x 1.8 inches (6.2 x 4.6 cm). And with the frame, it’s 3.4 x 2.1 inches (8.6 x 5.4 cm). It’s good to avoid using your film at extremely high or low temperatures. It’s best to use it at room temperature. But it works between 41 and 14 F (5 and 40 C). Focusing and Framing

Don’t expect professional quality prints from this camera – this is not a high-resolution, color calibrated digital printer. But that is part of the charm, the prints you do get are full of nostalgia and have a dreamy quality to them. Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 – New and slightly improvedYou will see a yellow mark on your camera when you open the door. You will see the same on the film. Just place the two signs together, and your film is in its place. Then close the door and start shooting. Do not cover the two windows located beside the flash, as doing so will prevent your camera from assessing the surrounding light and suggesting the correct setting for your photo. Turn the camera on and press the shutter button to eject the film cover (exposure counter will change from “S” to “10”) from the camera. It’s nice that you don’t need a lens cap. When turned off, the camera’s body protects the lens, and a cover closes over it. One other hindrance is the angle of view of the lens. It's pretty easy to frame yourself—just center the lens and shoot—but if you're trying to selfie with a friend, an instant camera with a wider angle lens and selfie mirror is a better choice. The Lomo'Instant costs nearly twice as much, but that's a small price to pay for the endless number of arm-length shots you can take of you and your bestie side by side. Film Format

The Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 is a relatively small camera. It’s 4.6 x 4.6 x 3.5 inches (116 x 118 x 88 mm) and 0.68 lb (307 g) without batteries.Naturally there’s a small mirror provided adjacent to the lens on this Fuji, thus allowing for users to perfect their ‘selfie’ game. But beyond that, the camera provides a selfie mode of sorts by advising users to pull out the front edge of the lens after powering the camera on. Press the button once to begin a 10-second countdown for the shutter. The LCD window will display the countdown, so you’ll know the self-timer has started.

There is a built-in flash. It is on and flashes every time, no matter how much light the light meter senses. So it’s important to pay attention and not cover the light meter or the flash. The Instax Mini 11 is the latest instant camera to join Fujifilm’s incredibly successful Instax Mini line. Replacing the Instax Mini 9, the Mini 11 is now Fuji’s most affordable Instax and the de facto entry-level option for anyone looking to get into instant photography.Over the last few years, Fujifilm has recaptured the magic of instant film photography with its fantastic range of Instax instant film cameras.

If you prefer a square format, you can buy, for example, an Instax Square SQ1. These cameras come with a more cornered design. The main difference is in the shape of the film they use. The Instax Mini 8 has a minimum focusing distance of 2 ft (60 cm). It means the camera won’t focus on subjects closer to the lens than 2 ft (60 cm). Gavin has over 30 year experience of writing about photography and television. He is currently the editor of British Photographic Industry News, and previously served as editor of Which Digital Camera and deputy editor of Total Digital Photography. Not only is the appearance of these cameras fun. But you can buy cases in any color you can imagine.

The Fujifilm Instax Mini 11 takes over from the Mini 9 as the most popular instant camera you can buy. But what's it like?

It is a rangefinder camera. That means that it allows zone focusing. You can’t set your focus automatically. You have to move the camera to find focus.