I had been eying out the Fujifilm Instax Mini 90 for a little while. Of couse I put off actually buying one until a few days before Mike and I went on a weeks break to Devon, at which point I decided I HAD to buy one to have a play during the upcoming break. Cue a rush order from Amazon (delivered on a Sunday night if you can believe that), and I couldn’t wait to get started with some retro film action.

First off, I love the looks and size of this little guy, it’s much smaller than my Polaroid One Step, which is bulky to carry around, and I can almost never fit it into any of my camera bags. By comparison, the FujiFilm Instax Mini 90 fits easily into my camera bag, or even my handbag without any persuasion. This camera’s retro styling is uber cool, and I love that I stuck to my guns (*ahem, stubborn*) and bought the brown leather version rather than the standard black one.

This camera is the premium version of the Instax Mini 8, which is the plastic, more basic version which takes the same type of instant film. I love that there are several shooting modes, giving you a lot more creative control. Remember to turn the on camera flash off, otherwise you will get weird shadows like I did in this image…

The film is a fair bit cheaper than the Polaroid equivalent, with more consistent results than the Polaroid OneStep. I felt like I was less precious when shooting, and more free to play when I knew that I wasn’t spending around £2 every time I clicked the shutter.

I actually had to break out the manual to figure out what the buttons ‘L’ and ‘D’ were for. Turns out, this stands for ‘ligher’ and ‘darker’, or to those of you who are more versed in SLR camera speak, exposure compensation. This comes in handy when you find yourself in more challenging lighting, such as backlit scenes. I have to say that I found this to be moderately effective to achieve the exposure which I had in mind. Perhaps I just need a bit more practice!

The size of the prints are credit card sized, which is smaller than the traditional polaroid.

For me, the main feature which sets this little guy apart from the Polaroid OneStep and the Fujifim Instax Mini 8, is the ability to capture double exposure prints. While I have to say that my first attempt was not great, I am looking forward to experimenting a bit more to get this right.

All in all, this is a fab novelty film camera, with a bit more wriggle room so it’s more than just a standard point and click. In even light, this little guy is a dream to shoot with, and produced some really gorgeous images.

If you also own the Fujifilm Instax Mini 90, I would love to hear your thoughts on this too, feel free to tag me on Facebook or Instagram with your comments. Plus I would love to see what you have photographed!

Jodi Xx

Ps. Nope, you do not have to shake the print for it to develop. I would advise popping it into your pocket to give it time to develop. I am not 100% sure if this is needed (it definitely is for most polaroid film), but I love that you put a blank print in your pocket, and VOILA, like magic an image has appeared when you check it a little later.

Happy snapping people! x