Instantly print the images you take or send them over to your smartphone for sharing on social media. The choice is up to you.

Inside it's a very modern device, though, pairing a 5 megapixel digital camera with an inbuilt Instax Mini printer and sporting two shutter release buttons, 3-inch LCD screen, accessory shoe, selfie mirror, flash, a charging port and a micro SD slot. Announced in November 2021, the Instax Mini Evo is the latest hybrid instant camera from Fujifilm, sporting a classic, vintage retro design that recalls old-fashioned cameras from yesteryear. Once an image has been printed out, you’ll need to allow some time for the Instax film to develop - in other words, don’t be alarmed when it pops out completely white. After a few minutes, the colours should have fully rendered. On the bottom of the Instax Mini Evo is a hidden slot for inserting a microSD memory card. The Mini Evo comes with an inbuilt memory which can store approximately 45 images, while up to 850 images can be stored per 1GB of memory on a Micro SD card - so it’s well worth investing in one of those unless you want to frequently delete your images.

Ease of Use

Whereas 2019's Instax Mini LiPlay sported a fun design designed to be attractive to a younger audience, the new Instax Mini Evo is a much more serious affair.

You can still get a sense of the frame in bright, glare-inducing conditions, but it's tough to really see what's happening. As such, you need to trust the Evo to focus on the right subject. In practice, I found that it does a very good job—it only misfocused a couple of times. The mirror filter splits the frame in half with a mirrored reflection effect—it's a good tool to get creative shots with perfect symmetry Your feelings about the Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo may say more about you as a photographer than about the Evo itself. Casual snappers are more likely to forgive the rather clumsy controls, while photographers who typically use high-quality interchangeable lens cameras may take more issue. We'd love to see a more polished take on this concept with a better display and a built-in optical viewfinder. Charging takes up to three hours. Also not supplied here is a microSD card for the storage of images, for which a slot is provided adjacent to that for the USB lead at the camera’s base. But then we don’t get a memory card provided when we buy a dedicated camera or phone anyway, so it’s hardly a deal breaker. As it is, the camera boasts an internal storage capacity for up to 45 images to get us going out of the box.

The Instax Mini Evo is the latest and best hybrid instant camera that Fujifilm have ever released, successfully combining old and new, vintage and modern to create an easy-to-use, well designed and above all fun all-in-one Instax camera and printer. Express your creativity with the Fujifilm instax mini Evo. This hybrid camera and smartphone printer invites those with a passion for analogue and digital to share their story. With over 100 ways of expression, the instax mini Evo hybrid camera brings what you love to life – instantly.

There are more external buttons than the average instant camera too. Not only do we get a shutter release button on the top plate, but also a second one on the faceplate, next to a built-in mirror for the selfie obsessed and a small lozenge shaped window housing an integral flash. The transfer works both ways. Every image that you snap on the camera is automatically saved to the mini Evo. Simply transfer your shots onto your smartphone for sharing with the digital world –the instax frame even transfers too! You can also use the Mini Evo to print images from your smartphone (or indeed any image file found on your smartphone), too. The small 54x 86mm (2.1 x 3.4in) paper prints emerge from the slot in the side of the camera and gradually fade into view 90 seconds after you first pressed the shutter button. Despite the dials, snapping photos with the Instax Mini Evo is a push-button experience. The camera has two shutter releases—one at the top, for when you hold it in landscape orientation, and a front button to use when you hold the camera vertically for portraits or selfies. A mirror next to the lens helps you frame self-portraits. Controls feel a little cramped, but get the job done. Also if you're hoping to use the Mini Evo as your main digital camera, you'll be sorely disappointed. While the 5 megapixel camera provides more than enough detail for Instax Mini prints, it doesn't compare well with virtually any smartphone from the last few years, flagship or otherwise.

The camera is primarily designed to be used in portrait-format orientation, so that when the Instax prints are revealed, the larger part of the frame will be at the bottom.

When you’re ready to print one of your shots, pull the delightfully retro Print lever on top of the camera - sure, the same thing could have been achieved with a simple button, but where's the fun in that?! Use your smartphone to control the camera. Get your shot set up then release the camera shutter using your phone as a remote control. You can choose to ignore this and shoot in landscape orientation if you prefer, but the text on the camera will be the “correct” way up only when holding the Mini Evo in the portrait orientation. The Mini Evo isn't just a camera, it's also an Instax film printer—it features Bluetooth 4.2+LE connectivity for easy connections to smartphones. I tried the Instax Mini Evo companion app with an iPhone. The remote control interface sizes down the live feed from the camera Inside the Fujifilm Mini Evo is a 1/5-inch CMOS sensor which is capable of producing digital images of 2560x1920 pixels. The fixed lens offers a 28mm equivalent focal length, with an f/2 lens.Shooting with the Instax Mini Evo is, by far, a lot more fun than any Instax camera — I'm not exaggerating when I say I've tried them all and own many of them. (I might have a small addiction; there are worse vices.) Where as the LiPlay is designed for one-button operation, the Mini Evo leans heavier on tactile controls. It takes advantage of the retro aesthetics, too—a control ring around the lens swaps through different lens filter effects and a dial on the top plate applies different color profiles. It even features a dedicated lever for printing, styled after an analog camera's film advance. The soft focus filter smooth details and adds a glow to images You get a little bit of internal memory (enough to store about 45 photos), but you need to add a microSD or microSDHC memory card to save additional ones—about 850 images per gigabyte. Memory cards are inexpensive enough, but a more useful amount of internal memory would have been nice. Instax Mini Evo in the Hand