INSTANT GRATIFICATION

Latest camera from Fujifilm puts its focus firmly on physical photographs. We zoom in for a closer look

- JUSTIN CONNOLLY

FUJIFILM has a neat tagline for the latest in its wildly popular range of instant cameras - “don’t just take photos,’ it goes, “give them, too”.

That sort of sums up the growing appeal of the distinctly analogue experience of pressing the shutter and seeing a physical photo pop out of the top of the camera and develop before your very eyes into the image you just shot.

The Instax mini 41 is the camera I’ve been testing for the last week or so, and the appeal of holding these retro-style images in your hand - and, indeed, being able to hand them over to others - makes much more sense to me now.

It taps into the sense of the physical, almost in revolt to the digital world a lot of the media we consume in 2025 lives in, and the desire to have something to hold... and keep.

It’s the same nostalgia that has ensured vinyl records and paper books have not gone away.

I say nostalgia, but these things are increasingly popular with a younger generation that will certainly not have experienced a lot of this stuff the first time around.