From Digital Camera World · · 2m
Fujifilm's 41-gram camera has two viewfinders
The Instax Pal 2 is small enough to vanish in your palm, yet Fujifilm crammed real controls into it.
In brief
The Instax Pal 2 is small enough to vanish in your palm, yet Fujifilm crammed real controls into it. The Pal 2 sells charm and clever engineering, not image quality: a 41g retro body with two viewfinders, film-sim dials and direct Bluetooth printing for about $170. Originally reported by Digital Camera World.
A camera that fits your palm
The Instax Pal 2 weighs 41 g, under 1.5 ounces, and still looks like a classic camera. Fujifilm sent one over and it may be the most adorable thing our reviewer has shot with.
“It may just be the most adorable camera that I've ever shot with.”
Two viewfinders, somehow
There's a true optical viewfinder, just a cutout with no screen, plus a one-inch top screen that works as a waist-level finder. Fitting both into this body is the real trick.
“managing to fit both an optical viewfinder and a waist-level, albeit electronic, viewfinder is engineering genius”
Nothing like the first Pal
The original was a bubbly keychain toy with no screen and a single shutter button. The sequel shares almost nothing with it beyond the name.
“The Pal 2 looks so unlike the original Pal that I'm a bit surprised Fujifilm didn't give it a different name.”
Dials and a wind lever
A film-wind-style lever toggles a digital Instax frame around your shot. A dial cycles film simulation presets including black and white, soft diffusion, and fake lens flare.
Tiny specs to match
The sensor is a 1/3.06 inch chip shooting up to 10MP. Small, but still a step up from the popular Instax Mini Evo, and the app can swap in six effects at a time.
Photos for the Y2K crowd
Results chase the early 2000s digicam look rather than modern polish. Your phone shoots better. Image quality lands above the Kodak Charmera and below the Camp Snap CS-Pro.
“it's not going to shoot better photos than a smartphone”
The shutter lag problem
Timing a shot is genuinely hard because the shutter drags. The burst mode won't rescue you either, it's built to stitch up to 10 frames into a flipbook animation.
“There's, disappointingly, some shutter lag to the Pal 2 that can make it challenging to get perfectly timed shots.”
No film, no phone needed
Like the original, the Pal 2 takes no instant film, it's too small for a printer. Bluetooth sends shots straight to Instax printers, including the Wide Link 2 announced the same day.
Pop-out USB-C and a price
A built-in USB-C plug folds out like a thumb drive, with room for 100 photos plus a microSD slot. Expect about $170 or CA$220, shipping in late September.
In short
The Pal 2 sells charm and clever engineering, not image quality: a 41g retro body with two viewfinders, film-sim dials and direct Bluetooth printing for about $170.
