Fujifilm’s Instax line of instant film products has become a big hit for the company, selling better than even the highly acclaimed digital X-series cameras. In addition to the series of fun-to-use cameras, Fujifilm offers the Instax Share printer that makes credit-card sized instant prints from their mobile phone or compatible camera. The company is introducing the newest version, the Instax Share SP-2.
Among the improvements over the SP-1, Fujifilm says the new SP-2 is faster, quieter, has better image quality, and a greatly improved Wi-Fi connection. The SP-2 has also a completely new design, featuring a silver or gold body with a sleek white casing and an internal rechargeable battery.
The original SP-1 mobile printer took roughly 16 seconds to create an 800 × 600-dot print. Fujifilm says the new SP-2 will print in just 10 seconds, thanks to a new laser exposure system, and at a higher 320-dpi resolution with 256 levels per color. So not only does it print faster, the pictures are a lot better as well. As for image files, the printer supports JPEG and PNG formats.
The SHARE companion app (for iOS and Android), which is used to send the images from your phone to your camera via Wi-Fi, has also gotten some upgrades. Fujifilm says to expect an updated user interface, brand new creative filters, and a simpler, easier to navigate UI. There’s also a collage template for combining up to four images on a single print; a split template for printing one image on two prints; and a real-time template that adds date, location, weather, temperature, and humidity on the print. You can also manually tweak the brightness, contrast, and saturation within the SHARE app, instead of using a third-party photo editor. Thanks to all of these improvements, the printer instantly landed on our list of the best printers you can buy.
The SP-2 is expected to be available sometime around mid-July in the U.S. with a suggested retail price of $200. Instax Mini Film, which is required to print images on the SP-2, will remain $20 for the double-pack of 20 exposures. Despite the digital convenience, it’s still expensive to make prints, so choose wisely.
