The Fujifilm Instax Mini 99 is a More ‘Advanced’ Instant Camera
Fujifilm announced the Mini 99 Instant camera which it says maintains the classic Instax aesthetic while incorporating new features that allow photographers to control color, brightness, and focus.
Billed as a more “advanced” instant camera that uses Fujifilm’s Instax Mini film, the Mini 99 has a new Color Effect Dial, Brightness Control dial, Shooting Modes, a Vignette Switch, and three focus modes, and an included grip that screws into a built-in tripod mount.
The Color Effect Dial has six effects that are driven by LEDs inside of the camera: Faded Green, Warm Tone, Light Blue, Soft Magenta, Sepia, and Light Leak. Thanks to those included lights, photos are exposed along with the chosen color onto Instax Mini instant film.
The Brightness Control Dial is basically a rudimentary exposure compensation dial that has two levels of light and darkness around a “Neutral” middle.
Fujifilm added several new shooting modes to “enhance” the user experience, including Indoor Mode, which is designed for low light situations, Sports Mode, which increases the shutter speed to grab the perfect action shot, Double Exposure Mode, which lets the user combine two images into one, and Bulb Mode, which increases the amount of light let in when creating the image, creating a brightened effect on the print.
The new Vignette Switch is a physical switch that closes down what look like aperture blades around the outside of the frame to added a light vignette to the outside of captures.
The Mini 99 also has a self-timer and flash control between auto, fill-in (for which the flash always fires), red-eye removal, or the option to turn the flash off entirely.
The focus modes are initiated depending on how far the lens dial is twisted. Landscape Mode focuses on subjects positioned at a distance reference of three meters and beyond. Macro Mode is for closer-up captures from 0.3 meters to to 0.6 meters. Users can select Standard Mode for the situations between those two options. Speaking of the lens, it’s a relatively simple two-element design.
Finally, the body of the camera features a tripod screw mount (1/4″-20) that works with an included precision-milled Base Grip, too.
The camera features a rechargeable 680mAh battery, although it can’t be charged while in the camera; it does ship with a USB-C external charger, though. PetaPixel‘s Chris Niccolls had hands-on time with the camera and his experience can be read here. The Fujifilm Mini 99 is expected to be available in mid-April for $199.95.
Image credits: Fujifilm
