I remember when Fujifilm announced the Instax Pal three years ago, and I thought it was perhaps the most uninteresting camera ever made. It looked like a digipet or tiny one-eyed robot. It was an Instax camera that only took digital photos (that were intended to be printed later on a Mini Link later). There wasn’t much to get excited about, so I didn’t even report on it.

Now Fujifilm just announced the Instax Pal 2, and this one seems much more interesting. First of all, it’s in the same category as the extremely popular Kodak Charmera keychain cameras. This is definitely bigger and heavier, but it’s close enough that it will be seen as similar. The size of the Pal 2 is actually not that far off from the old Pentax Auto 110, coming in just a little smaller. Fujifilm calls it palm-top. Its tiny size and retro styling are the selling points.

From what I could find, I believe that it has a tiny 1/3″ 10.7mp sensor, probably the same sensor found in the selfie camera of some smartphones. The lens is a 3.4mm (28mm full-frame-equivalent) f/2.2. You’re not going to get amazing image quality, but it’s going to be much better than the Charmera, and it’s going to be plenty good enough for Instax printing or sharing on social media. This might have the best image quality of all the Instax digital cameras, better than any of the EVO models.

What’s more interesting are the 30 effects, which seem to get inspiration from the Instax EVO line, especially the EVO Cinema camera. There are five themes—Modern, Y2K, Vintage, Chromatic, Fantasy—and within each theme are six effects. You can only have six loaded onto the camera at any one time, either one theme or six favorites chosen from the full list. You use an app to load the effects into the camera.

The Pal 2 seems like a fun little camera, smaller and much cheaper than the Fujifilm X half, but kind of similarly enjoyable. The X half obviously has better image quality and offers a different overall experience, but simply from a fun carry-everywhere perspective, it is similar enough that somebody might consider one over the other. I see this as a fun Christmas or birthday gift for your kids or any photographers you know. At $170, it’s definitely much more expensive than a Charmera, but it’s also much better.

An all-digital Instax camera is a little weird, but the intention is to print the images using an Instax Link printer, like the Mini 3 or the brand-new Wide 2. So if you don’t have an Instax printer, that would be an essential accessory you’d want to purchase in addition to the camera. You don’t have to print them, but that’s half the fun. The Pal 2 comes in two colors—black/silver and white—and will ship on September 29th.

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Fujifilm Instax Pal 2: in black/silver:
B&H
Fujifilm Instax Pal 2: in bwhite:
B&H