I’m a senior updates writer at Wirecutter covering hobbies, cameras, powering, and work-from-home equipment. I’ve worked on guides to the best tripods and instant photo printers. I’ve been using instant cameras for years to capture or create special moments of my life, including highlights from vacations.

For this guide:

• I spent over 10 hours researching and testing five new instant cameras.
• Wirecutter contributor Erin Roberts covered instant cameras from 2017 to 2020. Her reporting appeared in a previous version of this guide.
• Like all Wirecutter journalists, I review and test products with complete editorial independence. I’m never made aware of any business implications of my editorial recommendations. Read more about our editorial standards.

In accordance with Wirecutter standards, I return or donate all products I’ve tested once my assessment of them is complete, which may involve longer-term testing by my colleagues and me. I never hang on to “freebies” once testing is done.

Instant cameras are for everybody because they’re fun and easy to use, and they create a unique aesthetic that can’t be perfectly reproduced by a smartphone camera. Most models don’t have any built-in memory or accept memory cards, so the images you take and the prints they make are truly once in a lifetime. They’re durable enough to accompany you on random outings, simple enough for anyone to pick up and use, and cheap enough to hand to friends to use during big life moments like weddings.

The prints you get from Instax cameras are the right combination of soft and saturated to give you an instant sense of nostalgia. They don’t have the crisp, color-accurate look of inkjet prints made from fancy digital cameras, and that’s why we love them. You can keep the prints in a photo book, string them up somewhere visible, or (in the case of our budget and upgrade picks) stow them away in your wallet.

If you’d prefer to snap photos with your phone and print them later, you might want an instant printer.

In searching for the best instant cameras, we compared models based on the following criteria:

• Easy to use: This should be a fun camera that can be enjoyed without much instruction. We believe part of the allure of an instant camera is being able to pass it around at any social gathering.
• Reasonably priced film: No instant film is cheap, but if the price is significantly more than $1 a print, you have to get a really nice photo to warrant that expense.
• Widely available film refills: If it’s hard to find more film packs for the camera, you’re less likely to use it, so we picked cameras with refill packs that are easy to find just about anywhere.
• Decent battery life: You should never have to bring more than one set of spare batteries when you take your instant camera out for the day. We looked for cameras that are rated to let you shoot at least 100 photos with a set of batteries, and we gave extra points to those that were able to shoot many more than that.

Since 2013, we’ve compared instant-camera usability, image quality, and features by shooting in a variety of indoor and outdoor conditions. We’ve also put the cameras through the most appropriate real-world examination we could think of: the party test. What happens when a novice shooter picks this thing up at a gathering? Is it fun to pass around and shoot with at a company holiday party or a family dinner?

While capturing hundreds of instant photos, we took note of whether our friends and family could easily figure out how to use the camera. We also got their opinions on the image quality to supplement our own (and perhaps more critical) assessment.

While that past research continues to influence our top picks, most of the newest cameras have pared-down features compared to their predecessors, so we’ve shifted our focus away from lots of exposure control and more toward ease of use and film-replacement availability.

If you’re looking for a fun, good-looking camera that’s easy to use, the Fujifilm Instax Square SQ40 is the one we recommend. With its minimalist design and controls, we found that this camera works great for on-the-go photography and capturing spontaneous moments.

It’s incredibly easy to use. The Square SQ40 has just three settings: on, off, and close-up (for selfies). To turn it on, you rotate the ring around the lens clockwise, and that’s it. Setting it to “close-up” is just a matter of rotating the same ring a little further. There’s a built-in flash that fires automatically, so you can capture moments even in low-light situations.

The SQ40 makes pictures measuring 2.5 inches square, which are set inside 3.4-by-2.8-inch white borders. The cost of prints is a little more expensive than those of our other picks, at about $1 each.

The prints have that classic instant-photo look. Photos printed from the SQ40 are just as creamy and filmlike as you would expect from a classic instant camera, with rich, saturated colors. But they’re not as sharp as what you can get from our upgrade pick. We like the sharp, modern look of the camera body, too. When I pulled it out to test during an event, several friends asked about it.

While the SQ40 doesn’t offer as many creative options as the Instax Mini Evo (like adding vignette, fish-eye, and double-exposure effects), its simplicity is part of the charm. When you’re snapping family barbecue pics, being able to just turn it on and snap away—or hand it off to a kid relative without much explanation—makes it a no-brainer.

It’s perfect for selfies. You won’t find much in the way of controls beyond on and off, but the SQ40 does have a selfie mirror, making it easy to frame your photos from in front of the camera.

The camera feels well built. The SQ40 feels solid enough to withstand the occasional drop. It’s also slightly larger than the rest of our picks—similar in height but about an inch wider than our budget pick, and an inch and a half wider than our upgrade pick.

The battery life is decent. The SQ40 runs on two CR2 batteries that last about 100 shots—likely long enough for a few outings, if you’re not too eager with the shutter button.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

• The flash fires automatically. That’s great in low light, but we noticed that it often caused the background of our selfies to go completely black. It’s not a big deal, unless you’re trying to capture yourself in a certain environment or in front of something specific.
• The viewfinder is very small. It could be challenging to use for people who wear glasses.
• It takes harder-to-find CR2 batteries. While the battery life is adequate, not all local stores carry these cells, so it’s best to order an extra pair or two in advance.
• It comes only in black. If you prefer something more colorful, you might consider our budget pick.

The Fujifilm Instax Mini 12 is similar to our main pick in nearly every way, but in a smaller, cuter body, and it prints rectangular images instead of square ones. It’s also $70 cheaper than our top pick, and prints cost 30¢ less apiece (at the time of writing).

The controls could not be much simpler. Like our top pick, the Mini 12 has just three controls: on, off, and close-up (for selfies). It also fires the flash with every shot, and there’s a small mirror for framing and capturing yourself (and your friends).

The film is easy to find. Film refills for the Mini 12 are sold just about everywhere. And at 3.4 by 2.1 inches (including borders, which surround a 2-by-2.5-inch image area), the photos you get from this camera are just a tad smaller than a credit card, making them perfect for toting around in your wallet. Prints from the Mini 12 are just as creamy and filmlike as those from our top pick, though not as sharp as those from our upgrade pick.

Batteries are readily available, too. The Mini 12 runs on two AA batteries for around 100 shots before they need to be replaced. The SQ40, our top pick, requires CR2 batteries, which aren’t as easy to find—especially if you need replacements quickly.

It’s not a sleek, modern-looking device, but it’s very cute. The Mini 12 is smaller than our top pick and comes in fun colors, but with its rounded features, it can feel a little more childish than our top or upgrade picks.

If you want more control over your photos, you want to be able to save them to a microSD card, or you want to be able to choose which images you print and which you don’t, the Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo probably has your name on it. It uses the same film as our budget pick but offers some of the advantages of a digital camera—things like a screen to review your shots, filters, and discretionary printing—in a smaller, more portable package that’s still easy to use.

The Mini Evo prints better photos than other Instax cameras, too. In our side-by-side tests, images from the Mini Evo were sharper and more vibrant than those from our top and budget picks.

It gives you more control over your images. Compared to the SQ40 or Instax Mini 12, the Mini Evo lets you change a lot more about the look of your photos. A rotating dial around the lens lets you apply effects like vignetting, fish-eye distortion, and double exposure. Best of all, these adjustments are nondestructive—anything you add to the image before printing won’t alter the original shot.

On the top of the camera, another dial adds film effects that alter the colors of the image. For example, the Vivid setting makes colors more punchy, while Sepia gives photos a warm tint. The back screen previews these effects as you add them.

A half-press of the shutter button employs AE/AF lock (meaning the camera locks in the exposure and focal point, so they won’t change even if your subject does). On the LCD screen, a green square indicates your focus point. You can also play with exposure compensation before snapping a shot, and the autofocus illuminator light helps the camera find focus in low-light settings.

You can choose which images to print. Unlike most other instant cameras, you can choose which images to print or print a favorite image over and over again. Our top and budget picks are true instant cameras, meaning they print just one fleeting moment at a time.

You don’t need to look at the manual to start shooting. Even with its added controls, the Mini Evo makes it easy enough to start shooting, reviewing, and printing images without ever peeking at the instruction manual. Even a total novice should be able to produce shots immediately.

With a sleek, solid build and a size roughly that of a standard point-and-shoot camera, the Evo also looks like it could withstand a drop or two. And though we wouldn’t hesitate to toss it into a bag, it’s also small enough to fit into most coat pockets.

You can save images to a microSD card. Unlike our main and budget picks, which don’t have any storage, the Evo can store about 45 images in its internal memory, and its additional microSD allows for far more storage—and also means you can offload your images onto a computer.

The Instax Mini Evo app has lots of features. You can transfer photos from the camera onto your phone via the free app (Android, iOS), and from there, post them to all your social media platforms. The app also lets you print images stored on your smartphone, use your phone as a remote control, and customize three physical shortcut buttons on the camera.

It has a built-in rechargeable battery. The battery is rated to last about 100 shots per charge. Compared to the AA or CR2 batteries required in our other picks, it’s nice not having to worry about replacing the batteries every so often. But if the battery dies while you’re out, you can’t just swap it out for a new pair.

It’s awkward to use for landscape photos. We found the ergonomics of the camera a bit unwieldy. Like some other Instax cameras, the Mini Evo is easier to use in portrait orientation than in landscape mode. In landscape, you’re forced to use your left forefinger to trigger the shutter button, which feels more unnatural than it might sound.

If you want square images but a colorful camera: The Fujifilm Instax Square SQ1 is just as easy to use as our top pick, but it comes in a few different colors. The camera is about the same size as the SQ40, but with a slightly different body design that feels more plasticky, which we didn’t like as much as our pick.

If you prefer wide, landscape-oriented images: The Fujifilm Instax Wide 400 is an attractive option that's just as easy to use as our top pick. It prints 2.4-by-3.9-inch images with classic white borders, ideal for landscape and group shots.

As with the SQ40, the cost per image is about $1. However, at 1.3 pounds and 9.75 x 4.24 x 5.75 inches, the Wide 400 is significantly heavier and bulkier than any of our other picks.

If you’re interested in using Instax Square film in a vintage-style camera: Look at the Mint InstantFlex TL70 Plus, a twin-lens reflex camera. Despite its intimidating appearance, we found it to be intuitive to use, even for those who have never used the vintage cameras that inspired it.

The TL70 Plus offers 14 shutter speeds and six aperture settings, and the viewfinder has a 1:1 ratio, so what you see through it is exactly what the image will look like.

Our favorite part of using it is the shooting experience itself. To frame a shot, you hold the camera away from your face, pop open the top, and look down through the large viewfinder—a refreshing change from the smaller ones on most Instax cameras.

It's considerably more expensive than our other picks, but was an absolute blast to use. Mint also offers the TL70 2.0, which is slightly less expensive (though still pricey) and uses Instax Mini film packs.

This is not a comprehensive list of all instant cameras we’ve tested. We have removed any cameras that have been discontinued or that do not meet our current requirements.

Available for about the same price as our upgrade pick, the Fujifilm Instax Mini LiPlay and the FujiFilm Mini 99 offer fewer creative options and less control over exposure and the final image. While they are smaller than the Mini EVO, they feel more plasticky and lack the vintage charm of the EVO's aesthetic. If you're going to spend that much on an instant camera, you’re better off choosing one that offers the most creative effects and controls, and looks and feels premium.

The Nons SL660 is an SLR-style camera that uses Instax Square film packs. With the SL660, you can use vintage lenses—specifically Canon EF-mount, but the company also sells adapters for Nikon F-mount, Pentax K-mount, Contax/Yashica CY-mount, and M42 screwmount.

During testing, we encountered several issues with the SL660, including a loose circuit board for the film eject button that we had to push back into place. The camera is also bulky and heavy—even before you add a lens. For comparison, the Nikon F2 (a legendarily brick-like film SLR) weighs 730 grams, while the Nons SL660 is 850 grams. Carrying the SL660 with multiple lenses means lugging around a significant amount of weight.

Considering this camera’s high price, its heft, and the requirement to have a collection of old lenses, we don’t think it makes sense for most people.

The Polaroid I-2 Instant Camera has a premium build and is fun to use, but our results were mixed. We liked that it was easy to adjust settings, and switching from full auto to manual is as easy as pressing one button a few times. A light meter in the viewfinder is intended to help you make sure your images are properly exposed, and it was easy to dial in the settings. But images from our testing were inconsistent, with some shots coming out overexposed even when the meter indicated proper exposure. Other shots came out oddly cropped or out of focus, despite using the built-in parallax guide (for close-up shots) or half-press focus lock.

These same complaints apply to all of Polaroid’s new cameras. And in the case of the Polaroid Now, getting blurry and over- or underexposed prints at $2 a pop feels especially frustrating. The new Polaroid film also needs to be shaded from light for 15 minutes as it develops, so forget shaking it like a Polaroid picture. The camera spits out a thin black shield of plastic over the image as it emerges from the camera, a design that makes this camera a bit nerve-racking to share. (You’re always worried that someone will tear the shield off and inadvertently waste that precious i-Type film with their impatience.) You also won’t know if you’ve got a decent shot until those 15 minutes are up, so the likelihood of recapturing that decisive moment again is slim.

Vintage Polaroid cameras, such as the beautiful SX-70, need to use old Polaroid film, and unfortunately, production of real Polaroid film ended in 2008. New versions are now being made by the new Polaroid, but photographers we’ve talked to have also found this film to be unreliable, with questionable long-term storage results.

The Fujifilm Instax Mini 11 doesn’t offer the same balance of image quality, usability, and value as our picks do.

Zink prints have disqualified quite a few other cameras and printers in this category in the past, and has led us to dismiss Canon’s Ivy Cliq+ and Ivy Cliq cameras, too.

Kodak has also tried its own 4Pass Photo Paper in the Kodak Mini Shot, Kodak Photo Printer Mini 2, and Kodak Mini Shot 3 Retro. Although the credit-card-sized prints you get from these models are sharp and vibrant, the process is slow, and the final output is missing some of the nostalgic softness of an Instax print that harkens back to Polaroids of old. The wide angle of the Mini Shot camera also distorted our images for some unflattering results.

Lomography’s Lomo’Instant Automat series cameras look cool, and they use Fujifilm’s readily available and reasonably priced Instax Mini film packs. Features such as endless multiple exposures are interesting, but controls are marked with difficult-to-decipher hieroglyphic symbols. Aimed at the advanced instant shooter, most of the cameras in this series are bundled with fish-eye, wide-angle, and close-up lens attachments, which we found more cumbersome than useful.

Lomography’s Lomo’Instant Wide cameras are designed to shoot on Fujifilm’s Instax Wide film. They have the same three shooting modes as the Lomo’Instant, plus a shutter remote in the lens cap. Our big problem with the Lomo’Instant series are its clunky controls and strange layout, and the Lomo’Instant Wide offers more of the same, making this series an easy dismissal.

This article was edited by Phil Ryan and Erica Ogg.