The best digital instant cameras are perfect for taking photos on the go. Some of them also enable you to print photos from your phone, and even edit your pictures in an app first. They're small, compact and lightweight, so they're great for festivals, holidays, weddings, parties or weekend escapes. You can view the image before you print it, so you can be sure that no paper is wasted.
There are two main formats used by the best digital instant cameras: Zink (aka zero-ink) thermal paper and traditional Instax film – yes, the kind that you put in analog instant cameras. (And on that note, if you're looking for Polaroids and Instaxes rather than digital cameras, head to our guide to the best instant cameras.)
Zink printing doesn't require costly ink cartridges, it's reliable, and the images are smudge-proof. They also tend to be hardier than instant film exposures and are resistant to water. Another upside to Zink is that the paper costs a lot less than instant film.
Where Zink photos look like conventionally printed-out pictures, Instax photos are exposed photochemically – so they possess that unique, retro, otherworldly look you get from Instax and Polaroid cameras, with crunched contrast and vibrant colors. You can great images from both, so which you go for is down to personal preference.
In addition to being digital instant cameras, some of these models also act as a standalone digital printer – so you can connect your phone via Bluetooth and print them out. If you find this a more interesting option, check out the best portable printers that eschew a camera and double down on the printing side).
A 40-year instant film addict!
A 40-year instant film addict!
James Artaius
I took my first Polaroid in 1984, and I've been addicted to instant cameras ever since! I've still got a Polaroid 600 from the Eighties, and I've long been a fan of Instax – I bought the very first Instax camera (the Mini 10), which is now 25 years old and still works like a charm. I love the Mini Link portable printers, too, which I often use to create mini photo albums for loved ones.
Our favorite digital instant camera enables basic editing before you print out your shot, and you can print images from your phone too. Read more below…
Press the shutter button, and this camera takes a shot and prints it straight away – it really doesn’t get any easier than this. Read more below…
Best digital instant cameras in 2024
Why you can trust Digital Camera World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out how we test.
Risk free printing: we can view our shots before we hit print
+
3-inch LCD allows for some editing
Reasons to avoid
-
Requires additional microSD card, not provided, to expand the internal memory
-
Battery life lasts a modest 100 shots
This is my favorite hybrid digital instant camera, just outclassing the Instax Mini LiPlay. You can use it to edit a photo you’ve just taken before you print it out – and it also enables you to turn images from your phone into real Instax photos. Ever wanted to produce an instant print of a phone selfie, or a shot you took on a ‘proper’ camera? Now you can!
The Mini Evo boasts a simple but appealing vintage design. My favorite feature is the lever on the back, reminiscent of the lever for advancing the film on old cameras; except here you use the lever to print a photo when you're ready. (There’s a clever effect where the image slowly slides off the rear screen as the print comes out of the side.)
The Mini Evo has deservedly been a monster hit, marrying the fun of analog photography with filters and effects familiar to the Instagram generation. The ability to pair it with your phone to use as a mobile printer is the cherry on top. If you're anything like me and you love to share instant photos with your friends, you’ll love owning this camera.
Our reviewer has used most instant cameras, but they named the Leica Sofort 2 are the best-looking instant camera to date, and it is hard not to agree. With the world-famous Leica red dot and minimalist Leica styling, this is a chic piece of design. Leica’s premium design of course adds to its cost, and it does come at a price beyond the Instax Mini Evo, although fundamentally the two share the same technology, so you need to decide how much that red dot is worth.
Instead of its own proprietary film, the Leica Sofort 2 uses Instax Mini film, which can be bought pretty much everywhere around the world, so you won't ever have to look far to create a few more memories.
In common the other hybrid cameras, the Sofort 2’s image quality is nothing to write home about, with only a 4.9MP sensor. This isn’t about capturing stunning shots, though: it’s about being spontaneous and having fun with your photos. And this is surely the classiest way you can do that.
Most folks prefer the retro film camera look of the Evo, but I love the cute, quirky Japanese-ness of the LiPlay – which also has the benefit of being very pocketable. At just 255g it's small and lightweight, and can easily be slipped into jeans or a jacket. It might only have a 4.9MP sensor, but that's big enough to make decent 1.8 x 2.8-inch prints. It stores up to 45 photos internally, and you can insert a microSD card should you need more.
Not only does it double as a printer, but it has a nifty trick: the LiPlay can record a sound clip, which can be shared along with images via a QR code. So if you want to send a photo to someone with a short message or a clip of a song, simply record it and the QR code will be printed on the photograph, ready for the recipient to scan and listen to the audio. Its a really neat way to include a personal message so that you have an aural memory of a special moment, to go with the visual one.
If you're happy capturing and printing on Zink paper, as opposed to real film, the Kodak Smile Classic offers the best print quality of any Zink-based instant printer we've used, as well as full-size prints. Typical Zink prints are 2 x 3 inches, but the Smile Classic produces more substantial 3.5 x 4.25-inch pictures, which more closely resemble traditional photographic prints.
This is by far the best Zink printer on the list, and it's aided by the larger 16MP sensor (although it's more likely to be an interpolated 8MP sensor). Its design resembles an analog Polaroid camera, but the downside to that is it has no digital screen – so you can't check the photos you've taken. It does, however, have a slot for a microSD card, so you can review the pictures later on another device.
The pleasing design and pure point-and-click simplicity make this an appealing camera to hold and shoot with – especially for kids. Likewise, the accompanying app is friendly and fun to use and enables you to add augmented reality features such as video. If you want a retro instant camera experience that produces a modern digital photo, this is hard to beat.
One of the most affordable digital instant cameras out there, the Kodak Printomatic is an extremely basic setup for those who like to keep things simple. It's a no-frills digital instant camera, simultaneously saving 5MP digital photos and printing out 2x3-inch prints on Zink paper. So, while you get the advantage of a point-and-shoot that's so straightforward a child could operate it, the quality of the images you get is pretty average. There's also a lack of useful features like a self-timer or an LCD screen.
Still, the design of the Printomatic is pretty minimalist and chic – we like it in the yellow pictured above, though there are options like pink, cyan and luminous green, should you prefer. If you're looking for a serious photographic tool there are better options on this list, but if you just want something cheap and simple that works, the Kodak Printomatic fills out that brief just fine.
Zero ink ‘zink’ prints are immediately dry to the touch
+
Captured images can be reviewed before printing
+
Adhesive-backed prints can double up as stickers
Reasons to avoid
-
Disappointing print quality with washed-out color
-
Plastic-y feel to the construction
-
Only 40 prints from a single charge
-
Premium price for an LCD screen
Like the look of the Printomatic (above) but wish there was a touchscreen and pop-up flash? Then the Kodak Step Touch is for you. Again, it doesn't offer the best image quality on this list, but it's cute and compact – and it does come with an LCD touchscreen. It's definitely more a bit of fun than a serious shooting device, with its plastic-y build and washed-out prints, but it's good fun if you can find one for a value-added price.
Amazingly, despite its long history and diverse product range, Canon had never released an instant camera before this one. Called the Ivy Cliq+2 in North America and the Zoemini S2 in Europe, it is clearly geared towards the selfie generation with its giant mirror with frame markings (which takes up a quarter of the camera's front, and I think looks pretty funky), along with an 8-LED ring light for flattering self-portraits.
It's quite analog in operation, with no rear LCD screen, meaning that every shot you take is immediately printed. Strangely, then, there's no counter to indicate the number of shots remaining – though with microSD card support, you know that all your images can be stored safely. The free app is both easy and fun to use, and makes transferring and printing images from your phone an enjoyable and kid-friendly process.
The resolution is slightly higher than the junior Canon Ivy Cliq / Canon Zoemini C, at 314 x 600 dpi, so the prints on this model are ever so slightly better. However, while the Cliq+2 / Zoemini S2 comes in slightly more serious colors, it features the same plasticky build quality, and ultimately image quality is disappointing.
One of the newer digital instant cameras from Kodak, the Kodak Step instant camera (not to be confused with the Kodak Step printer) is a delightfully simple point-and-shoot. There's no control over exposure, no zoom, or anything like that; you hit the button and it prints, while also saving a digital copy of your file to an SD card. There's some scope to choose colors, and you can add a frame or use the self-timer, but otherwise, that's it.
It's not exactly going to win awards for photographic latitude, but the Kodak Step works pretty well and is a good choice for kids and families. Technical perfection is not the name of the game here; indeed, using the four-shot Photobooth mode makes it very obvious that prints can come out more than a little crooked. But it's affordable knockabout fun, and hard to fault on those grounds.
Yes! The cameras on this list are exactly that – instant cameras that use digital technology. (If you're looking for analog instant cameras, check out our best instant cameras guide.)
What is the best 2 in 1 instant camera?
For my money, I'd say the Instax Mini Evo is the most fully-featured instant camera that also acts as a standalone printer – though it prints onto Instax film, so your images are going to have that "retro look". If you're after more conventional "laser printer quality" on your photos, I recommend the Kodak Smile – a great instant camera and instant printer that produces the best quality Zink photos and prints.
We don't test instant cameras using the same scientific lab tests we do on the latest mirrorless cameras and lenses – but our evaluation is no less exhaustive! When we get an instant camera, we take it to an actual shooting environment and run a few packs of film through it, seeing how it performs in a variety of lighting and environmental conditions. This is especially important with cameras that use a photochemical exposure process, since results can vary greatly even in only subtly different situations.
Factors such as feature sets are taken into consideration, especially as this relates to ease of use – since instant cameras are supposed to take pictures instantly, with minimal messing around. Battery life is a key point as well, given that there's physical printing / exposure and usually a flash being fired. Image quality is quite subjective, here; photochemical prints inherently possess a different set of characteristics, though Zink images can be more fairly evaluated in terms of print quality.
The editor of Digital Camera World, James has 21 years experience as a journalist and started working in the photographic industry in 2014 (as an assistant to Damian McGillicuddy, who succeeded David Bailey as Principal Photographer for Olympus). In this time he shot for clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal, in addition to shooting campaigns and product testing for Olympus, and providing training for professionals. This has led him to being a go-to expert for camera and lens reviews, photo and lighting tutorials, as well as industry news, rumors and analysis for publications like Digital Camera Magazine, PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine, N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine, Digital Photographer and Professional Imagemaker, as well as hosting workshops and talks at The Photography Show. He also serves as a judge for the Red Bull Illume Photo Contest. An Olympus and Canon shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and a fondness for vintage lenses and instant cameras.