This Modern-Day Instant Camera Is the Best Blend of New and Old
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What We Tested This Week: Fujifilm Instax Mini LiPlay
Who Is This Perfect For: The nostalgia-prone who loves to use their parents’ Polaroid but hates the non-existent preview function.
I have a knack for romanticizing cities that are rich in history, movies and television shows that take me back centuries, and the ease of writing down tasks in a physical, paper-filled planner. But if you asked me to give up my iPhone, I don’t think I ever could.
My life goal (which was at first subconscious, but is now very, very evident) is to pursue a sense of balance: work and play, yummy chicken nuggs and healthy — but also yummy — salmon, simplicity and modernity.
It’s why my heart stopped for a millisecond as I gravitated toward the Fujifilm Instax Mini LiPlay. It was standing right in front of me, well, on the shelf. And it said, “I’m the one you’ve been waiting for.” It was right. I swear, Taylor Swift was softly playing in the background, and I knew it was meant to be.
From weekend getaways to brunches with childhood friends, I’ve carried the upgraded Polaroid camera with me, taking the best instant film pictures that I can proudly say are frame-worthy.
It wasn’t always like that, though. I got my first taste of the trendy Polaroid back in high school with the Instax Mini 7S. It’s so old now that I think you can only buy it used. So with years of experience testing out the waters with that camera, and with the many frustrations I’ve had from printing out underexposed photos and accidentally cropping out friends’ faces, I had to finally say goodbye. No tears were shed in the process.
But now, something better came along. The Mini LiPLay does everything I would have wanted with my first camera but is way better than anything my 17-year-old self’s imagination could ever conjure up.
The digital LCD screen on the Mini LiPlay is a godsend, allowing me to take pictures and see what they look like before I decide to print. If you’ve ever owned a Polaroid, you know the film is stinking expensive, so wasting even one of them hurts as much as giving up your newborn (maybe, possibly).
Gone are the days when you had to look through a viewfinder that may or may not be the cause for off-center pictures, and what you get is a Polaroid with a picture quality that far surpasses other options on the market. While Polaroids won’t show every single freckle and smile line, it’s important to note that they’re not designed to. These are the modern-day Polaroids that will give you a feeling of nostalgia integrated with technological flair that’ll produce great prints and make you happy that you don’t have to go to a CVS just to print out pics of your pup.
Connecting to your smartphone via Bluetooth, this also records audio, printing 10 seconds of sound into a QR code directly on the photo. Personally, I’ve found that I rarely use this function. It’s nice to send to someone so they can replay the moment over and over, but it’s not my absolute favorite feature simply because I don’t have a need for it.
In a successful attempt to up the ante among the competition, the Mini LiPLay is also a printer. The pictures I’ve had for years on my phone’s camera roll were lost and forgotten, but are now beautifully printed out and sprinkled around my home to remind me of places I’ve been and the people I love.
And because I can solely use this as a printer, if I’m carrying a small bag, I can leave the camera at home, take pics on my phone and print them out later. If it’s karaoke night, they might be blurry, but at least we know we had a good time.
In the end, the Mini LiPlay was so right. It's the camera I’ve been waiting for. I didn’t know it was out there, but I’m so glad we finally met. We’ve got a good thing going. It’s the perfect mix of new and old, and if you’re ready to break up with your not-so-great Polaroid that’s cute in theory but doesn’t deliver, the Mini LiPlay just might be calling your name, too.
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