As someone who’s been reviewing the Instax Mini lineup of cameras for well over a decade, it’s hard to really place the new Fujifilm Instax Mini 41. As it’s described to me, the camera is basically the Instax Mini 40 with a far more grown-up exterior. The Mini 40 was essentially the Mini 12. Therefore, the new 41 is the child who decided to never grow up on the inside but who aged like a Victorian house if it were made by two of the three little pigs. That’s to say that this camera isn’t sturdy — and if you huff and puff, you might blow the camera down. But like many things in life, I’d be darned if it wasn’t beautiful on the outside. And for many people who love Instax cameras on the cheap, that’s probably all you need.
The folks at Fujifilm often believe me to be harsh on Instax cameras. The truth is that I’m frankly just more honest and not a paid influencer or a Youtuber who decided to finally see the light and return to their authenticity. The irony here is that, like the Instax Mini 41, I haven’t changed my policies on honesty. They’ve been the same since the start. But I’ve totally changed on the outside and massively changed on the inside in many ways. In just the past years alone, I’ve had two eye surgeries, done work to get my eyesight back, brought my business to do things we’ve never done before, got certified to teach meditation, and so much more.
To that end, I’ve grown up. But the Mini 41 hasn’t grown up. And an essential part of life is realizing that some folks you know might have never left the town that they grew up in. At times, you grow apart and become different people — therefore moving into your own different social circles.
The Mini 41 is a lot like that. It changed on the outside, but on the inside, it’s still pretty much the same camera as nearly every other fully analog Instax experience Fujifilm has created. The lens is plastic — perhaps just like some of your friends are, except that the lens has always been plastic. You turn the lens to activate it and adjust the settings. And then there’s the token flash that makes the image quality look like Polaroids. It’s a quick and cheap enough thrill. Instax Mini film is cheap enough these days if you keep in mind that you’re not going to shoot it a ton. I’ll be damned if I didn’t acknowledge the smiles it puts on someone’s face when you hand them an Instax photo of themselves. Some folks shake it, and some folks know better. But everyone is always happy with the images that come out — and that’s usually because it’s nearly impossible for someone to look bad on Instax film. I’ve only ever encountered one person who didn’t like how they looked, but they had some pretty deep issues going on inside. And everyone else? Their eyes can illuminate a room with the candles out, and the lights turned off.
So what made Fujifilm want to give the new Instax Mini 41 a new look? Well, we asked them. “Instax mini 41 is carefully designed in detail to achieve fashion-forward classic appearance,” says Minori Imai, Consumer Imaging Group, Imaging Solutions Division, Fujifilm Corporation to the Phoblographer in an exclusive quote. “While maintaining the popular mini 40’s classic design, the mini 41 incorporates a sleek and stylish look with black and dark-toned silver as the base colors, accented with a touch of orange. With applying the fine texture for the lower part of the body, we achieved to embody the design that can be enjoyed as (an) attractive fashion accessory as well. The design (is) tailored to subtly enhance (the) individuality of users with fitting in with everyday life.” So essentially, just like the Fujifilm X100vi, it’s a fashion accessory.
There’s truly not a lot to say about the guts inside. So, instead, I’m literally going to quote the entire section from our Mini 12 review:
“But I like shaking it!” said a bartender at a local watering hole I visit when I gave him an Instax print shot on this camera. No, you haven’t needed to shake these prints (or Polaroids, I guess, but not really) for a long time now. However, sometimes, it’s just fun!
Like the Instax Mini 11 before it, I strongly believe that the Fujifilm Instax Mini 12 has glass lens elements. There are two of them, so the mechanism isn’t all that complicated. They more or less focus light onto an imaging surface, and that’s it. It has a balance of the same softness that previous Instax cameras had while also giving it just a bit more sharpness.
The vast majority of our readers skew younger, so I don’t expect anyone to want to take a loupe to these Instax photos. But if you do, know that it’s kind of useless. This isn’t that kind of camera, and it doesn’t shoot pixels. It shoots organic film that you need to keep in the fridge to ensure it’s stored properly.
The biggest thing to talk about is the exterior. Where the previous casual-user Instax Mini cameras have been rounded and fun-colored like a cute baby Pokemon, the Instax Mini 41 cuts out the baby fat and embraces a bit of the dark side. The gray and black are insanely attractive, along with the heavily textured grippy areas. In the higher end of the camera world, people complain about the cameras not having a grip — typically because they don’t know how to hold a rangefinder-style camera. But if someone complained about the grippability of this camera, they’d be treated with the seriousness of what a flat-earther thinks.
The Mini 41 is a pretty fun and awesome camera overall. Would I buy one? No — I’m the user who would go after the Mini 99 instead. But the Fujifilm Instax Mini 41 is a great party camera more than anything. But the only issue is that people instead love the retro-digital look. And Camp Snap makes a camera that’s affordable enough for people to love.
