The Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 is a small, handy and lightweight camera, which produces photos instantly. With a hint of Eastman colours, it takes us back to the age when we created photographs, literally and figuratively on photo plates.
In layman language, the Instax Mini 9 is a simple point-and-shoot camera, which clicks instant photos and develops them like an old school Polaroid. In a world where Instagram takes precedence, all coupled with serious hipster appeal, and retro picture look.
So, like a simple point-and-shoot camera, the looks are pretty much basic too. The camera is available in four colours — white, blue, pink, yellow and black, looks simple and is very easy to operate. With its matte-grey finish, there are just two buttons on the camera— a shutter, and a lens lock.
Design is ergonomically sound and makes sense even though the camera looks weird in its entirety. There’s a viewfinder and flash above the lens, and a slot for two AA batteries.
For photos, you have to simply switch on the camera, check exposure mode, and click away. Images can take some time to fully develop and results can be mixed.
Shooting pictures from this camera works on a very basic principle which is to let you shoot with the right level of brightness. There are five different levels to choose from; Indoors, Cloudy, Sunny, and Sunny and Bright. Also, there is an additional High-Key mode to shoot photos with very high levels of brightness and a softer atmosphere.
As you might have guessed, there is zero room for error, and if you get it wrong, exposure levels and colours can look weird. Also, you have wasted one of those films.
Autofocus is non-existent — with a shooting range of only 0.6m to 2.7m, so you need to be up and close to your subject. The built-in flash has a recycle time of 0.2 to 0.6 seconds and the shutter speed is fixed at 1/6 seconds.
The lack of autofocus makes it a challenge to nail the pictures in the first time. However, if you get it right, images look impressively detailed and produce the soft colour effect to create that aged, Polaroid-style look. Taking photos of people looks good, but when we tried landscape or object shots, we found the pictures over exposed or under exposed.
The Mini 9 only uses Instax film plates by Fuji and comes in packs of 20 plates each with a hefty price tag of Rs 1,020. This makes the camera pretty expensive in the long run — i.e Rs 5,999 plus the additional cost of plates. Each photo ends up costing you a whopping Rs 50. This camera in comparison to any regular digital camera or a good smartphone may not be cherished by all.
However, this is a novelty product and a refreshing break from all the megapixels, CMOS sensors, Vibration, lens, bracketing and the entire DSLR lingo that we can work up. This camera will give you decent photos, runs on regular batteries (found almost everywhere), and tends to become very expensive if you happen to mess up your shots. However, this camera is a hit of nostalgia from the past, a cool retro styled camera, which everyone will love.
