Instax SQ1 Camera Case - Glacier Blue

Product Information

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. That’s not to say the instax process can’t make great-looking prints of very bright or very dark scenes, but you’re unlikely to be using an instax analogue camera to take them. Ok, here’s some shots I took with the SQ40. The simple lens delivers mild wide-angle coverage that’s suitable for general-use from portraits and selfies to buildings and landscapes. Exposure is again automatic with the camera able to access shutter speeds from half to 400th of a second that, with the fixed aperture and film sensitivity, should cover you from fairly bright scenes to dim interiors. As before, selfies in medium light seem to work best of all, and I was pleased to find my pasty skin tones not becoming washed-out.

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.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. Like the SQ1 before it, beware of framing as you get closer to your subject, as the viewfinder will become less accurate due to parallax. In both of these shots, the donut sculpture on the left and the coffee cup on the right were placed in the middle of the viewfinder. The former has come out how I expected as it was a few meters away, but the coffee is well off-centre as it was shot at much closer range, so be warned. But hey, not quite knowing what you’re going to get is all part of the analogue charm, right? Very bright scenes are however still likely to over-expose with washed-out skies becoming a familiar sight on all the analogue instax cameras I’ve tested. But at least the SQ40 remains an improvement over the Mini 11 and 12 which have a fastest shutter speed of 1/250 and especially the Mini 9s and earlier models which stopped at 1/60 and over-exposed in even mild brightness. That said, I still think Fujifilm should boost the top shutter speed to 1/500 or maybe faster still on future models to better cope with very bright conditions – after all, surely many instax cameras are taken on Sunny holidays.

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. 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. Again like the fully-analogue instax models before it, composition is with a small optical viewfinder when you’re behind the camera, or a tiny mirror to the right of the lens when you’re in front of it taking a selfie. 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

So SQ40 is not a follow-up to the earlier SQ10 and SQ20 models which employed digital sensors and screens. Instead, 40 in the instax lineup now refers to an analogue camera with a vintage retro look and feel, which means maybe we’ll see a Wide 40 in the future. C’mon Fujifilm, it’s time for a new Wide camera, can I get an Amen in here?