• Home
  • Reviews Index
  • Best Gear
  • Inspiration
  • Learn
  • Disclaimer
  • Staff/Contact Info
  • Media Kit
  • Membership
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Cameras

Review: Fujifilm Instax Mini 90

Chris Gampat
No Comments
11/24/2013
6 Mins read

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujfilm Instax mini 90 product photos (2 of 7)ISO 4001-30 sec at f - 4.0

When Fujifilm first announced their Mini 90 camera, folks everywhere either gawked at the expensive price or looked at it alluringly with lust and heart palpitations. Then we tried it, and actually kind of liked it. It’s totally a hipster camera, but that doesn’t mean that you should sit there and turn your nose away from it. In fact, the Mini 90 has a couple of cool features that will force you to think within a box and put an huge emphasis on unleashing your creative side by getting rid of the technical stuff.

And more than anything, it will be a pricey learning tool.

Pros and Cons

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujfilm Instax mini 90 product photos (1 of 7)ISO 4001-30 sec at f - 4.0

Pros

– Fun form factor and incredibly portable. It can fit into a winter jacket pocket with ease.

– More controls than previous Instax cameras

– Dual shutter buttons are a nice touch

– Modes are great as well as the aperture ring-like control

Cons

– Expensive

– Film after a while will turn into quite the expense

– Though you should be choosy and selective, the pure experience of shooting encourages you to shoot to your heart’s content. And that in turn means less keeper images

Gear Used

For this review, we used the Fujifilm Instax Mini 90 with Instax Mini film. No really, that’s it. Nothing more.

Tech Specs

Specs taken from our first impressions post

• Stylish and premium body design

• Automatically detects the brightness of the surrounding and adjusts the amount of flash and shutter speed to optimize photo quality

• A variety of shooting functions:

• Uses INSTAX Mini Instant Film

o Double exposure mode – 2 images are produced on 1 film sheet by pressing the shutter twice

o Bulb mode – the shutter remains open while the shutter button is depressed (10 seconds maximum) and a light trail can be photographed

o Macro mode – short-distance photography as close as 30-60cm

o Kids mode – suitable for photographing kids, pets and other fast moving subjects due to a fast shutter speed

o Party mode – the subject and background can be photographed brightly and clearly

o ISO 800 film speed

o Sharp, clear reproduction

o Vivid color and natural skin tones

o Film size: 2″ x 3″ image area: 1.8″ x 2.4″

Ergonomics

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujfilm Instax mini 90 product photos (3 of 7)ISO 4001-30 sec at f - 2.8

Fujifilm’s Instax Mini 90 has all the appeal and design aesthetics of the X series cameras if they somehow or another went analog. This is a trip that Fujifilm has been on before though after releasing their X100 and rolling along with the retro design for a couple of years now. With that said, the Mini 90 has silver and black touches to it. The lens pops out when the camera is switched on via the power button.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujfilm Instax mini 90 product photos (7 of 7)ISO 4001-30 sec at f - 3.6

When the camera is off, the lens retracts back into the body: which helps to keep the overall package more compact. The camera also sports a power on/off switch, flash and shutter release on the front. Around the lens is a control ring that can be used in conjunction with buttons on the back.

More on those in a bit.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujfilm Instax mini 90 product photos (4 of 7)ISO 4001-30 sec at f - 3.6

The top of the camera is essentially the receiving end. After you shoot an image, it will be printed and pop out from here. As far as we know though, there isn’t a way to keep the rollers clean. So if you plan on using the camera a lot, then we recommend also ensuring that the development chemicals of your film flows through evenly by pressing on the exposure with your fingers.

If you’ve used the peel apart films, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujfilm Instax mini 90 product photos (5 of 7)ISO 4001-30 sec at f - 3.6

The back of the Mini 90 is where the company decided to position its many control buttons. Here, you’ll have access to the macro button, exposure compensation, a self-timer, flash control, and different modes. The modes are for portraits, landscapes, double exposures, and our favorite: bulb.

Here is also where you’ll find the compartment to store the film–which comes in small cases.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujfilm Instax mini 90 product photos (6 of 7)ISO 4001-30 sec at f - 3.6

Unlike many of the other Instax cameras, the Mini 90 features a side shutter release. This button will make shooting landscape style Instax images much easier. In fact, we believe it to be more ergonomically pleasing than the front shutter button.

Build Quality

Of all of the Instax cameras out there, the Mini 90 has the best build quality. But in all truthfulness, that still isn’t saying much. It’s made of plastic and almost nothing about it feels metallic. While this keeps the camera very lightweight and easy to tote around, you’ll want to ensure that you don’t drop it.

We wouldn’t describe the build to be like a toy camera, but it’s a step above it.

Ease of Use

While the camera comes with a manual, experienced photographers will immediately be able to use the camera without needing to read it. The buttons and mode symbols are all completely intuitive, and that’s the experience that Fujifilm is trying to go for with this Mini 90. However, we’re pretty darn positive that folks that really know nothing about photography will look at it scratching their heads–and their facial expressions alone might be worthy of snapping a Polaroid.

Or in this case, an Instax.

Focusing

For the most part, the camera will try to get almost everything in focus. At the macro mode, you’ll be focusing on whatever is around 15 inches from the camera. This way, you can get some really nice bokeh. Then there is the landscape capturing mode, which will focus out to infinity.

Image Quality

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujfilm Instax mini 90 samples (1 of 1)Let’s be completely honest here: this is an Instax camera. The image quality isn’t going to be mind-blowingly stellar but it allows you to have creativity with your photos for sure. With that said though, Instax images are larger than 35mm film and are pretty much medium format in size. With the right scanner, you can get lots and lots of resolution out of the photos.

But we’d still recommend that you go for the peel apart film if you really want a better photo.

Conclusions

If you’re looking to do loads of pixel peeping, this isn’t the camera for you and you should probably smack yourself really hard before even considering something like this. The Instax Mini 90 is a creative camera with an emphasis on giving people that love the fun-filled party cameras a bit more creativity and versatility. With that said though, this is a camera that will be targeted at and sold to people that value creativity and looks first. It can be the fun little camera that they snap instant moments with and then take with them to a weekend getaway. For those folks, it will probably be the only camera they will ever own and need.

But for the more advanced user, you’re going to want a hell of a lot more. Perhaps I’m spoiled, but absolutely nothing can beat my Polaroid 185 land camera and Fujifilm’s 100-C 3×4 pack film. And nothing comes close to it in image quality despite some of the quirks it has. It’s still an amazing camera though more expensive than the Mini 90. In the end though, the extra expense is worth it if you’re looking to get serious with your instant film photos.

At the moment, the Fujifilm Instax Mini 90 is available in the US exclusively to Urban Outfitters. And in terms of strategic marketing, they’re the perfect outlet for the camera.

Recommended Items and Accessories

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer MeFOTO Walkabout and Daytrip photos (13 of 22)

Fujifilm Instax Mini Film– In order to take photos, you’re going to need to work with this film in the first place.

Instax Rainbow Film– The rainbow film is the same exact film as the normal Instax, but it comes in some fun colors.

MeFOTO Daytrip Tripod– If you’re going to be shooting in Bulb mode, we recommend toting along a small tripod with you. MeFOTO’s Daytrip is perfect for this and comes in a bunch of colors. Set the camera on the tripod and simply shoot away in Bulb mode while counting, “One Mississippi, Two Mississippi” in your head.

Please Support The Phoblographer

We love to bring you guys the latest and greatest news and gear related stuff. However, we can’t keep doing that unless we have your continued support. If you would like to purchase any of the items mentioned, please do so by clicking our links first and then purchasing the items as we then get a small portion of the sale to help run the website.

Also, please follow us on Facebook, Google+ ,Flickr and Twitter.

 

bulb mode camera film fujifilm hipster image quality instant film instax mini 90 mefoto tripod urban outfitters
Shares
Written by

Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
Previous Post

Will The Replacement for Canon EF 100-400 f4.5-5.6L Be On Display At The Winter Olympics?

Next Post

Technicolor-Backed Ultravisual is a Beautiful Instagram Competitor

The Phoblographer © 2023 ——Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
  • Home
  • Our Staff
  • Editorial Policies
  • Media Kit
  • Membership
  • App Debug