There’s also a third option to consider which in theory gives you the best of both Worlds: going for one of Fujifilm’s digital instax cameras, which employ a sensor, built-in memory and screen, allowing you to not only take lots of photos and apply various effects to them, but crucially view them on the screen before deciding whether to print them or not. Place them side by side and you’ll notice the functional parts, like the lens, viewfinder, flash and shutter buttons are all in the same places, confirming the SQ40 on the right is simply the SQ1 with a different finish. Same features, same photo quality, but more serious looks for those who find the SQ1 on the left a little frivolous. To help compose your selfies, the SQ40 has a tiny mirror on the front of a lens as a visual guide, but given its size it’s only moderately helpful. Fujifilm Instax SQ40: Performance

The fixed angle of view is slightly tighter than that of a phone’s main camera – around 35mm in photography terms – and in general you’ll want your subjects to be between 0.3m and 3m from the camera; any further away and they’ll be too small in your prints. In theory this approach sounds like a no-brainer, but I actually find them the least compelling in practice. If I want predictability, I’d prefer a instax printer that’s designed to work with my phone. If I want the fun, the analogue instax models will give me something genuinely different in operation and results to a digital camera. In fact I’d say there’s an argument for having both a wireless printer and an analogue camera. Fujifilm instax SQ40 verdict Next to the light meter is a Flash Light sensor for the always-on flash. I’d like a button to deactivate the flash for the times when I don’t want the foreground subjects brightly illuminated, and without that feature I often opt to physically cover the flash as a workaround. Digitizing your prints is as simple as taking them, courtesy of the 'Instax Up!’ app. All the pictures in the sample gallery were digitized using the app, which includes guides for all film types, including the SQ40’s square format, and handy features like Remove Reflections. Fujifilm Instax SQ40: Price and release dateThere’s a viewfinder for composing pictures. This isn't physically aligned with the lens, but it has parallax correction, so what you see through the viewfinder is pretty much the composition you’re going to get. Instant photography doesn’t end with the cost of the camera of course, and there’s no such thing as cheap instant film. However, you won’t find better value than Instax.

Meanwhile at the other end of the scale, access to longer shutter speeds allows the SQ40 to capture more of the surroundings in dim interiors.Auto exposure parameters are 1/2 sec with slow sync flash, which is ideal for flash portraits indoors, and up to 1/400 sec, which gives more headroom in bright sunlight than the Instax Mini, which tops out at 1/250 sec and washes out (overexposes) more often. The sample gallery (above) shows the sort of aesthetic quality you can expect from any Instax camera – that's a lovely desaturated vintage look, and the SQ40 is no exception.

Meanwhile those who never want a wasted print and like the idea of making instax photos from their larger cameras should get an instax Link printer, again available in any of the three print formats.

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Fujifilm’s done this before with the Mini 11 and Mini 40, which explains the naming of the new SQ40. The Mini 11 and Mini 40 again share the same features and print quality, but the 40 sported more of a retro-finish for those who wanted an instant camera, but weren’t fond of chunky bodies and pastel colours.