Fuji Puts the Fun Back in Printing [Tech Tuesday]

July 5, 2016

By Laura Brauer

Instant—or in Fuji-speak, instax—prints have always been fun, and with Fujifilm’s next generation printer, the instax Share SP-2, outputting a tiny hard copy of an image is even more appealing.

The compact instax Share SP-2 makes it a whole lot faster and easier to present a couple with a small album of prints immediately after the wedding versus carrying around larger (and slower) printers, paper and ink/film cartridges. Sharing these pint-sized prints with kids during and after a family portrait session is sure to thrill the little ones too. And those are just a couple of ideas—we’re sure you can come up with many more.

PressReleaseImage

All you need to do is install the instax Share app—available for iOS and Android—and send images from your camera or download them from Facebook or Instagram to your smartphone via Wi-Fi. The app has been redesigned and offers a number of new options including manual brightness, contrast and saturation, along with other filters to transform images into black and white or sepia. Templates, the ability to add text, create two to four image composites, among other features, give the SP-2 user creative options that are quickly and easily implemented. Need more than one copy of a print? Just hit the reprint button and you’re all set!

Measuring 7 x 5 x 3 inches and weighing about 0.544 pounds (without battery or film), the battery-powered SP-2 can output up to 100 prints on a single charge. USB charging takes about 90 minutes but Fuji has improved printing time to ten seconds—about 40 percent faster than its predecessor (although you’ll have to add on a little time for the film to develop outside of the printer).

_61T3148

Thanks to the use of OLED during the exposure, as well as a bump in resolution (320 dpi), SP-2 prints are brighter and sharper, especially when compared with instax cameras. Add the brightness/contrast/saturation sliders mentioned earlier and you’ll end up with some really nice prints. Sure, these credit card-size prints are small—the actual image size is 62 x 46mm—but that’s part of their charm.

Life1

The printer will be available in silver or gold in mid-July for $200, and while the per-print price is a little steep at $1 a shot, I’m having such a great time with the instax Share SP-2 that I’ll be treating myself to packs of instax film on a regular basis.

Related Links: 

Two Portable Mini Printers To Get Cozy With

Why You Should Still Be Printing Your Photos