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Fujifilm has launched the $169.95 instax Pal 2, a redesigned palm-sized digicam with a sharper 10-megapixel sensor and styling that would not look out of place in a James Bond movie.
Fujifilm has a palpable hit on its hands with its instant camera range, and the latest, the $169 instax Pal 2 palm-sized digital camera, is making a serious play for the low-end of the fun market.
The original 2023 instax Pal was a curious beast that didn’t owe much to any camera heritage that we can think of. Fujifilm has tapped into another powerful trend in the market at the moment for retro stylings, and completely overhauled the way it looks and operates. The result is, frankly, rather gorgeous. If Q had presented James Bond with one of these in the late '60s, we wouldn't have batted an eyelid.
10 MP and 100 images
Like its predecessor, it has no way of printing an image itself, for that you’ll need to punt the image to a printer such as the equally new instax Link WIDE 2, or just keep them digital. Either way, you’ll have an image generated using a 1/3.06-inch, 10-megapixel sensor, up from 5-megapixel on the original Pal. Internal storage now holds 100 images, also up from 50 on the original, with microSD card support for more.
There are four selectable shooting formats: mini (3:4), SQUARE (1:1), WIDE (16:9) and No Frame (4:3) with instax frames. For creative tools, the camera offers 30 effects across five themes: Modern, Y2K, Vintage, Chromatic and Fantasy. Effects are loaded via a dedicated app and selected using the camera's control dial. An instax Animation mode captures up to 10 consecutive frames into a flipbook-style video.
But the end image is only part of the story here; it’s the camera itself that is the main attraction. The Pal 2 has a semi-matte finish with knurled detailing for grip, along with a top-mounted 1.0-inch LCD screen for instant image review, an optical viewfinder, a control dial and lever controls. It's available in black and white colorways, and Fujifilm says it can even be attached by a clip to bags that tells you a lot about the target market.
No, it’s not the X-T6. We still don’t know when that’s coming. But if the company can make enough money off the back of cameras like this to continue funding the development of the higher-end gear (a trickle up effect, if you will), and if they can also look as cute as this to boot, we’re not going to complain too loudly.
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