Fujifilm instax mini LiPlay review

The Fujifilm instax mini LiPlay is refreshingly compact and works great as a standalone package or paired to a phone

Fujifilm instax mini LiPlay
(Image: © Matthew Richards)

Digital Camera World Verdict

Available in Blush Gold, Elegant Black or Stone White, the mini LiPlay builds on the success of Fujifilm’s popular instax range. This little box of tricks is a camera with built-in printer, or the other way around if you prefer. Either way, you can snap a shot and have a finished print in your hand around 10 seconds later. Well, it’s not exactly finished, because you need to wait a couple of minutes more for the magic to happen, as the photographic chemistry does its thing, but you get the extra fun of watching your print develop in your hand.

Pros

  • +

    Compact and lightweight

  • +

    Camera and printer in a single package

  • +

    Can take photos with sound

Cons

  • -

    The 5 megapixel camera is pretty basic

  • -

    Typically small print size

  • -

    Print quality isn’t quite as good as dye-sub

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This all-in-one box of tricks follows in the tradition of Fujifilm instax cameras, combining a camera with an instant portable printer that uses a chemical process to ‘develop’ the print in the good old-fashioned analogue way. But it goes further than most by adding a digital image sensor that sits behind the lens, so you can compose and review your shots before you print them. It also adds a microphone, enabling you to record a few seconds of sound and add it to your photo. More on that later...

Specifications

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Matthew Richards

Matthew Richards is a photographer and journalist who has spent years using and reviewing all manner of photo gear. He is Digital Camera World's principal lens reviewer – and has tested more primes and zooms than most people have had hot dinners! 

His expertise with equipment doesn’t end there, though. He is also an encyclopedia  when it comes to all manner of cameras, camera holsters and bags, flashguns, tripods and heads, printers, papers and inks, and just about anything imaging-related. 

In an earlier life he was a broadcast engineer at the BBC, as well as a former editor of PC Guide.