Amateur Photographer verdictThe Fujifilm Instax Pal 2 is nicely designed, fun to use and provides a great range of creative effects. But its painfully slow in operation, and expensive for a toy camera, too.ProsFun designEngaging real physical controls Wide range of attractive image effectsConsPainfully slow power-on time and operationFrequently fails to focus and take a photoMediocre image qualityTiny, low resolution screen The Fujifilm Instax Pal 2 is a small, ultra-lightweight compact camera that’s styled to look a bit like a vintage film model. Fundamentally, it’s a ‘toy’ camera, meaning it’s absolutely not aimed at ‘serious’ photographers who worry about such things as dynamic range and megapixels. Instead, it’s all about getting new photographers – and primarily young people – into taking and sharing photos with a standalone camera that’s not their smartphone.

　　Fujifilm Instax Pal 2 at a glance: $170 / £145 10MP, 1/3in sensor 28mm equivalent f/2.2 lens 1.3in, 170k-dot screen Optical viewfinder 30 image effects 3 Instax film frames Two colours: Black or White Fujifilm says that in designing the camera, it ‘gathered extensive customer feedback on the original Pal’. I can only assume that feedback wasn’t entirely positive, as the two designs have practically nothing in common. Instead of the original’s cutesy, golfball-sized body with flashing lights and just a couple of buttons, we now get a more conventional, boxy design with a small screen, top-plate controls, and even a viewfinder.

　　In many ways, the Instax Pal 2 looks a lot like a supercharged version of the viral Kodak Charmera, taking many of the same ideas and then expanding and improving on them. The emphasis here is all about creativity via image filters, and in the usual Instax fashion, the camera is a lot of fun to use. But we simply can’t ignore the fact that at $170 / £145, it’s very expensive for this kind of device. So can it in any way justify the price?

　　Features Let’s get the techy stuff out of the way first. The camera module is pretty basic, with a 10MP sensor and a 28mm equivalent f/2.2 lens. The sensor is tiny, measuring just 4.8 x 3.6mm, but even so, it still counts as an upgrade over the even smaller 5MP sensor used by previous Instax devices. However, its smaller than a lot of smartphone sensors.

　　Exposure is entirely automatic, using shutter speeds from 1/4 1/8000sec and a sensitivity range of ISO 100-1600 (the aperture remains fixed). The only user control is exposure compensation covering +/-2 EV. There’s a single, fixed autofocus area in the centre of the image, but the camera can also detect and track faces around the frame.

　　Continuous shooting is included in the form of an ‘Instax animation’ mode. This takes up to 10 frames at 2.5fps, and then plays them back onscreen as a sequence, although they’re still saved as separate photos. Video shooting is unavailable.

　　Images are stored to internal memory, which can hold exactly 100 photos. That suspiciously round number is clearly an artificial limit, as it’s imposed regardless of whether the camera is set to record 10MP or 1MP files. Thankfully you can expand the storage via the microSD slot that’s found under a flap on the back.

　　Even when you’re using a microSD card, though, weirdly that 100-frame limit still kicks in. If you shoot 100 photos in a row without copying them to your phone, the camera will stop and demand that you do so, before it will take another shot. And unless you change a particular setting, it’ll then delete all those images from the card after they’ve been transferred.

　　Fujifilm Instax Pal 2: Key features Smartphone connectivity: You can connect the camera to your phone for sharing your images using either Bluetooth or the unique slide-out USB-C connector. Direct Instax Printing: The camera can print directly to any Fujifilm Instax Link printer, or to an Evo or LiPlay hybrid camera/printer. File storage: Photos can be stored either to internal memory, with space for 100 images, or to a microSD card (400 images per GB). Power: The internal battery charges via USB-C. In principle, it’s user-replaceable, but only by unscrewing the baseplate. Built-in LED flash: There’s a small LED on the front that doubles up as both a flash and autofocus illuminator. Accessory selfie stand: A small foot pushes on around the lens and allows you to angle the camera upwards to take selfies. I left it attached to the camera, where it also works as a lens hood. Body and design While the Instax Pal 2 is very small, at just 37 x 42 x 92mm and 87g, it’s nowhere near as tiny as ‘thumb cameras’ like the Charmera. However, that makes it easier to hold, and means it feels a bit more like you’re using a ‘real’ camera. Personally, I think the retro-style silver and black version looks fantastic, like it’s the product of an illicit liaison between an X100VI and a Charmera. But I don’t like the white one that I got sent for review anywhere near as much.

　　One of the big differences compared to cheap toy cameras is that you get proper controls to play with, not just buttons. And in typical Instax fashion, these controls are all really tactile, which makes you want to pick up the camera and play with them. Which, in effect, means they make you want to go out and take photos. It’s basically the same psychological effect as the analogue dials on Fujifilm’s X-series cameras.

　　On the right, directly under the shutter button, there’s a lever that mimics the winder on film cameras. It’s used for several functions, including selecting between frames / aspect ratios while shooting, engaging burst shooting, copying images to your phone, and direct printing to an Instax printer. None of these things strictly need a lever rather than a simple button, of course, but its inclusion makes them more fun to use. Below it is a rotary on-off switch.

　　On the top left, you have a command dial with a 4-way joystick in its centre. Together with the ‘Back’ button, these controls change shooting settings and navigate the menus. Spinning the dial also selects between image effects while shooting and browses through images in playback.

　　Clicking the joystick down enters the menu, while pushing it in any other direction calls up a ‘quick menu’. This includes options for setting the self-timer, turning the flash on or off, and deciding whether you want the screen to show a live view display, or just the selected filter.

　　The menus are short and clearly laid out, and mostly things you’ll set once and forget. But the glaring exception is exposure compensation. I found myself wanting to use it a lot, as the simple centre-weighted average metering often needs adjustment (I spent a lot of my time shooting at -1/3 or -2/3 EV to avoid losing detail in the sky). Annoyingly, though, it’s placed right in the middle of the main menu. I really wish Fujifilm had included it in the quick menu, or perhaps even made it directly controlled by the joystick, by clicking left and right.

　　That’s not the only problem with how exposure compensation is implemented, either. There’s no onscreen indication as to whether or not it’s set, and it doesn’t auto cancel when you switch the camera off. So it’s really easy to set it and forget, and then discover that you’ve inadvertently been shooting with compensation applied for an unknown amount of time. Also, when you want to change the value, you have to remember to click the joystick downwards to confirm. Otherwise it will just cancel and revert to its previous value.

　　That USB-C connector… One unusual design feature is that, in place of a conventional USB-C port, the camera incorporates a slide-out USB-C connector that can plug directly into most recent phones. On the face of it this is a really neat idea, as it’s super-simple to use and transfers photos across to your phone much more quickly than Bluetooth. Unfortunately, though, it’s not without its drawbacks. I found the USB-C connector isn’t long enough to fit past anything but slim cases, so I had to partially remove my iPhone from its Peak Design case to plug it in, every single time.

　　This approach also means you can’t use a conventional USB-C cable to recharge the camera, and have to either plug it directly into a USB-C charger port, or use the male-to-female cable that comes in the box. But to me, the whole point of USB-C charging is that you shouldn’t have to remember to carry a different cable for each device. And this genuinely matters, because the battery life really isn’t great – maybe 100 shots and a couple of hours use, if you’re lucky.

　　Viewfinder and screen On the top, there’s a small, low-resolution 1.3in, 170k-dot LCD screen for composing your images and changing settings. This waist-level finder approach is certainly quirky, but I really enjoyed it – you don’t have to hold the camera out in front of you, and it keeps you better connected with your subjects. Its good for low-angle shooting, too, but it does pretty much rule out portrait format shooting (I guess youre supposed to switch to the vertical Instax Mini crop for that). Obviously the screen isn’t great, but it provides a reasonably accurate idea of what will be in your photos.

　　The camera also sports a square optical viewfinder via a window on the back. This shows a rather narrower view than the lens captures, which means that anything that’s shown in the finder should be included in the image. But there’ll be plenty of extra stuff around the edges, too, so it’s not going to give you anything like accurate composition.

　　For setting up selfies, there’s a tiny circular mirror on the front.

　　Sharing via the Instax Pal App Fundamentally, the whole idea of the Instax Pal 2 is to share the images, either by copying them to a smartphone via the Instax Pal app and putting them on social media, or making Instax prints. With a phone, you can either plug the camera directly into its USB-C port, or use Bluetooth, which is almost as simple but slower.

　　Once the camera is connected, all your images should copy across automatically. But unless you change the ‘Delete camera photos after transfer’ setting in the app, they’ll then get deleted, regardless of whether you’re saving to internal memory or a micro-SD card.

　　Once your photos have copied across to your phone, you can share them on social media, print to an Instax printer, and do some basic editing. It’s also possible to ‘download’ photos from the app to your camera roll, which appears to be the only way you can get them off your phone to another device. But then you find that inexplicably, they’ve been exported as 1MP PNG files. The original 10MP JPEGs are nowhere to be found.

　　The Instax Pal app also gives a basic level of remote control from your phone. You can change the frame and effect, and set the self-timer and flash. There’s a live preview too, although with this being Bluetooth not Wi-Fi, it’s small and laggy. But it’s still nice to have.

　　Direct Instax printing It’s also possible to print directly to an Instax film printer using Bluetooth (which I guess is the origin of the ‘Instax Pal’ name). This works with either a Link device, or an EVO or LiPlay hybrid camera. I tested it using the brilliant Instax Link WIDE 2, and it’s really very easy, just by following the onscreen prompts. The main thing you need to do is ensure that the printer isn’t connected to your phone already.

　　You’re not restricted to printing only the photos you took in the image format that matches the printer. But if you try to print a full-size 4:3 file, inevitably you’ll end up cropping it significantly in one direction or another. The prints look great, though, with the signature Instax combination of vibrant colour and indefinable ‘real film’ quality.

　　Effects and frames In common with other Instax digital models, the Pal 2 is all about image-processing filters. There are 30 Effects available, arranged into five groups called Modern, Y2K, Vintage, Chromatic and Fantasy. However, you can only have six installed on the camera at any given time. But it’s a simple one-click operation in the Instax Pal app to install the different groups onto the camera, and you can easily build a Custom group with your personal favourites.

　　I think Fujifilm has done a great job with the filters, with lots of variety to suit different kinds of users. Some of the effects are quite restrained and stylish, while others are distinctly more garish. I doubt anybody will like all of them, but I defy anybody not to fall for half a dozen, which is all you’re expected to use. Im not going to show them all here life is too short but heres a sampler of my personal favourites (YMMV).

　　The standard ‘Pure’ effect is classic Fujifilm, with rich, vibrant colours, and the Monochome setting looks great too. Personally, I also really like the Film effect (which oddly is in the Y2K set) and a couple of the chromatic monochrome options (Blue print and Monocolor). The Flare effect is pretty clever too – it’s not just the same pattern of lens reflections used every time, but actually adapts to the scene.

　　While the camera captures 4:3 aspect ratio photos, it can also be set to each of the Instax film formats, Mini, Square, and Wide. This changes the preview image to the appropriate aspect ratio, and after shooting, the photos are displayed with a frame that matches each film type. This feature could be genuinely useful if you’re planning on printing, as it means you shouldn’t find yourself cropping out important elements of your photos after shooting.

　　However, whilst Effects are baked-in (once you’ve applied one, there’s no going back), these film-format crops are reversible and can be changed in the Instax Pal app. Thats how I created the slideshow above.

　　Autofocus It sometimes feels like there’s a running joke on online forums that Fujifilm cameras can’t autofocus, which I think is rather unfair. Unfortunately, though, with the Instax Pal 2, it’s no joke. The autofocus on this thing is abysmal, and its biggest weakness in practical use.

　　Even with the central AF area pointed towards a static, high-contrast subject, the camera will usually take a second or two to make up its mind about whether it can focus, and often longer. Sometimes, it’ll light the focus area up in green and take a photo. Other times, it’ll light it up in red, but then take a photo anyway – and seemingly with just as much likelihood of it being in focus.

　　The real problem, though, it that quite often, it’ll just refuse to take a photo at all. If you then point it in the exactly the same direction and try again, it may well focus just fine – but equally, it might not. There’s no apparent rhyme nor reason to it.

　　As for the face detection mode, when the camera detects a person in the photo, it’ll confidently outline their face and track them around. This continues to work reliably even when they’re very small within the frame. But again, while some of the time it’ll happily focus and take the photo, often it won’t.

　　This behaviour is especially infuriating when you’re trying to take a selfie (which is likely to be a major preoccupation of the target audience). Point the camera back towards you, press the button, and it might at some point take a picture. But just as often nothing will happen, and with absolutely no indication as to why not.

　　Even my ‘successful’ selfie attempts usually ended up with me glowering back at the camera, after waiting a few seconds to find out whether this time, the camera might actually deign to work.

　　When the camera detects a face, it also changes metering mode (from ‘centre-weighted average’ to ‘average’, according to the images’ EXIF data). I’m not sure why, though, because in practice, the result is very often that it overexposes horribly. Fujifilm was one of the pioneers of face detection 20 years ago, so it’s weird to see it misbehaving so badly here.

　　Performance Another irritation when you come to use the camera is that it’s generally slow in operation. Most obviously, it takes more than 5 seconds to start up after you flick the power switch. Thats just a recipe for missing one-off moments.

　　Some of the filters take a second or two to process after you’ve taken the photo, too, which gets in the way of taking pictures in quick succession. Even switching between the effects can be frustrating, with the dial often requiring a couple of clicks to register your intention.

　　Image quality With the Instax Pal 2, I think it’s really important to assess the image quality on the basis of how it’s designed to be used. Unsurprisingly, if you view the 12MP files from that small sensor at 100% onscreen, they don’t look great at all, with obvious noise and watercolour-esque processing. And that’s at its best, at ISO 100. If you try shooting at in low light, which means pushing the camera to using higher ISOs, image quality falls apart pretty quickly.

　　The Instax Pal 2 is, at least, a bit better than cheaper toy cameras like the Camp Snap 2, let alone the truly terrible Charmera. And it’s probably all we can realistically expect for the price. But on the other hand, any modern smartphone would most likely be much better.

　　But here’s the thing, though. If instead you look at your photos on a phone screen, or an Instax print, then on this scale they look sharp and detailed, with the kind of attractive colour that’s Fujifilm’s trademark. It’s still definitely in its element on bright, sunny days, though, and not great in dim light. But if you keep this in mind, you can get some genuinely nice-looking shots.

　　Fujifilm Instax Pal 2: Our Verdict Look, I know I’m not the target audience for the Fujifilm Instax Pal 2. I’m supposed to love the firm’s ‘proper’ cameras, the X-T5s and X100VIs of this world, and that I duly do. The Pal is a gateway drug to get much younger people than me hooked on the Fujifilm brand.

　　There’s plenty to like about this camera, too – the design is great, and those tactile controls make it so much fun to play with. And the image effects are every bit as well-implemented as we’ve come to expect from the undisputed industry leader in this department. Use the camera in good light, and you can get some very nice results.

　　But regardless of who a camera is aimed at, I can’t help but feel that the single most important thing it needs to do is take a picture, with minimal delay, every single time the user presses the shutter button. I really don’t think this is controversial. And the Instax Pal 2’s biggest failure is that in my experience, it doesn’t manage this anywhere near often enough. Far too frequently, I pressed the shutter button and nothing happened. I really hope Fujifilm can address its operational woes with a firmware update.

　　Even then, there’s the vexed question of price: $170 / £145 is really expensive for this kind of camera. That’s especially the case given that you can buy an Instax Mini EVO for not much more money, which provides a similar fun factor but with an entire Instax Mini printer built-in. Given the right firmware update and a price drop, the Instax Pal 2 could become quite tempting. But just right now, it’s too little camera for too much money.

　　Fujifilm Instax Pal 2 Full Specifications {"@type":"Product","name":"Fujifilm Instax Pal 2","description":"Specifications for Fujifilm Instax Pal 2","brand":{"@type":"Brand","name":"Fujifilm Instax Pal 2"},"additionalProperty":[{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Sensor","value":"10MP, 1/3.06in CMOS, 4.8 x 3.6mm"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Output size","value":"3776 x 2832"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Focal length magnification","value":"7.5x"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Lens mount","value":"3.4mm f/2.2 (28mm equivalent)"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Shutter speeds","value":"Auto (1/4sec u2013 1/8000sec)"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Sensitivity","value":"Auto (ISO 100-1600)"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Exposure modes","value":"Auto"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Metering","value":"Centre-weighted average; Average (face detection) "},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Exposure compensation","value":"+/-2 EV in 0.3EV steps"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Continuous shooting","value":"2.5fps, up to 10 frames (Instax amination)"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Screen","value":"1.3in, 170k-dot TFT LCD"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Viewfinder","value":"Optical"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Autofocus","value":"Single point, face detection"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Video","value":"None"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"External mic","value":"None"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Storage","value":"Internal memory, microSD card"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Power","value":"Internal Li-ion"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Battery life","value":"Not specified"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Dimensions","value":"37.0 x 42.0 x 92.3mm"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Weight","value":"87g"}]} Scroll to see more →

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　　Fujifilm Instax Pal 2 Black

　　Fujifilm Instax Pal 2 White