instax Mini 11 Camera Accessory Kit, Sky Blue

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It's because the auto exposure system can now vary the shutter speed between 1/2 and 1/250, so it should be able to capture the right amount of light in all shooting scenarios. This is a big step up from the Mini 9's fixed 1/60 shutter speed, and helps massively when shooting indoors.

As for exposure, the Mini 12 remains fully automatic, like the 11 before it. Both employ a fixed aperture and automatic shutter speeds between 1/250 and half a second. And finally here’s the latest Mini 12, showing-off its less curvy grip, and switching the push power button for a twisting mechanism similar to the INSTAX SQ1. The off-center viewfinder can also make light flares an issue when shooting towards the sun. What might seem well-composed can actually have direct sunlight hitting the lens. At first glance this would appear no different to the Mini 11 before it, but in a useful upgrade, Fujifilm has now added parallax correction to the 12 where the viewfinder adjusts when you have it set to close-up mode. This allows you to more accurately frame subjects at close range and avoid them appearing off-centre.Again as before, the camera can focus between about half a meter to infinity, but twist the lens into selfie / close-up mode and the range adjusts to between 30 and 50cm. I also like the twisting barrel which makes it easier to power-up and enter close-up mode. On the downside though, you will still suffer from over-exposures under bright daylight conditions, but the upgrades are still worth spending the extra tenner over the previous Mini 11 if you mostly photograph people. As I twist the lens barrel to the selfie / close-up mode though, notice how the viewfinder changes, showing the subject now shifted to one side. I’ll now move the subject to recentre it in the viewfinder and take another shot. Now while the final print is still not perfectly centered, it’s an improvement over the previous version and allows you to be more accurate with your framing at close-range with fewer wasted prints.

With no need to manually adjust the exposure settings every time the lighting situation changes, the Fujifilm Instax Mini 11 has a much greater hit-rate when it comes to correctly judging a scene than the Mini 9, although the nature of Instax film means overblown highlights are still common. With all three side by side, from left to right, the Mini 9, 11 and 12, you can see how Fujifilm’s evolved the styling, and I have to say I really like the look of the latest model which moves away from the almost toy-like bubble appearance of the earlier ones without losing its cuteness. Which do you prefer? Push the lens barrel release and it extrudes using a spring mechanism, with the built-in flash activating automatically.As for the lens, it’s the same as before: 60mm which on the Mini format delivers coverage equivalent to around 34mm, capturing a mild wide angle, that’s ideal for general use from portraits and selfies to buildings and landscapes. Instax film tends to produce pastel-like colors and soft-focus details, giving your photos that unmistakable instant feel, though they tend to be more true-to-life than rivals including Polaroid or Lomography. Those can appear far more dream-like, while Instax appears more natural. Darker scenes and shadows appear much more dramatic than real life, though. Compare it to the previous Mini 11 seen here, where you’d push a large button to extend the lens and power up the camera, before then manually yanking out the lens further for selfies or close-ups.