The Fujifilm Instax Share SP-3 SQ is where old-school instant film prints meets modern-day phone photography.
Available in November for $200 (approximately £150 or AU$255), the compact mobile printer connects wirelessly to your phone and with a couple of taps in the companion Share app available for iOS or Android and 13 seconds of your time, you’ll have your very own instant film print of any digital photo on your device.
The SP-3 uses Fujifilm’s new square format instant film packs that were first used in the company’s hybrid instant camera, the Instax Square. The film measures 86 by 72 mm (3.4 by 2.8 inches) with the actual picture portion measuring 62 mm square (2.4 inches). A pack of 10 photos can be found for about $14 (£9 in the UK and AU$35 in Australia), so the prints aren’t cheap, but since you’re picking your prints, it’s less than shooting with an instant film camera.
Along with Facebook and Instagram, you can grab shots from Dropbox and Google Photos.
To print, you connect your phone to the Wi-Fi network created by the printer (you can also connect Fujifilm’s X-series cameras). Using the printer’s devices you can use a new picture, select a shot from your gallery or grab something from cloud storage or social networks including Facebook and Instagram. You can even search Instagram by using hashtags directly in the Share app, so you can find shots from a specific event.
The app has black and white as well as sepia filters or you can create your own by adjusting brightness, contrast and saturation. There are templates as well, for adding text or emoji below the prints or including a holiday theme. You can also create mini-collages with up to nine pictures or split a single photo across two prints.
There are LEDs on top so you can keep track of how many prints you have left and there’s also a Reprint button in case you want to hand out multiple copies of the same shot. The removeable rechargeable battery lasts for up to 160 prints.
Lastly, as the name suggests, the SP-3 isn’t the first mobile printer Fujifilm’s made. The SP-2, which uses the smaller, easier-to-find 2 by 3-inch Instax film, is getting a price drop to $180 (but it’s currently available for $150). That $180 price roughly converts to £140 in the UK and AU$230.
