The Best Instant Camera of 2026

The Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 is one of the oldest instant cameras you can still find widely, and it's best suited if you want to get a cheap camera for a kid or teenager. Though the newer Mini 9 is a better bet (and roughly the same price online), if you can find the Mini 8 for a deep discount it's still a great bet.

Both the Mini 8 and the newer Mini 9 represent a good, affordable way to get into instant cameras, leaving you some extra cash to pick up film to go with it. The only downside to this option is the lack of a selfie mirror, though the newer Mini 9 rectifies this.

Perhaps the best aspect of the Lomo'Instant Square (aside from the fact that it's the first analog camera to shoot Instax square film) is how much it encourages creative thinking—t's an instant camera designed for folks who want more than just a point-and-shoot experience.

The camera features a pleasantly rustic design (complete with bellows and 95mm glass lens) that folds neatly and securely back into itself when not in use. Personally, I enjoyed the ritual of opening the Lomo'Instant Square before lining up a shot, but I wouldn't recommend it for people who're looking for a simpler, more modern experience.

The Lomo'Instant Square is rich with features that encourage out-of-the-box thinking. Not only can you double expose your film, for example—you're also free to expose a single shot as many times as you want. There's also an IR remote control, a timer, exposure compensation, and an optional portrait glass lens attachment.

Unfortunately, for as much fun as the Lomo'Instant Square is to use, it does come with a relatively steep learning curve. The biggest hurdle is figuring out how to frame your shots in a way that properly compensates for the discrepancy between the lens and the viewfinder. The camera's $200-$240 price tag might scare some people off, too.

That said, if you're looking to pad an already-extensive instant camera collection (or shopping for a shutterbug), you'll find that there are few instant cameras as delightful as the Lomo'Instant Square—I've never felt so compelled to experiment than when I fool around with it.

Even though we love the Instax Mini format film, there's even more to love with the Instax Wide film, which is what this beastly Instax Wide 300 uses. This camera won't slip into a purse or bag with ease, but it'll give you way bigger, wider shots that are closer in size to the classic square Polaroid pictures.

Perhaps the only drawback to the Wide 300 is that its viewfinder is way off in the corner, so framing shots takes a lot of practice. Selfies are possible, but you'll need to bring a dedicated close-focus attachment with you if that's something you care about. Creative features aren't as impressive as in the Mini 90, but as this is your only choice for the wider format pictures, it's a compromise you'll have to make.

The latest Instax Mini camera has all the features of more advanced cameras like the Instax Mini 90 but in a compact package that is among the smallest ever instant cameras. Featuring a 60mm lens, this camera can easily fit in a bag to come with you anywhere. It's not as cheap as some of the older Instax models out there, but the Mini 70 makes up for its price by including all the niceties like a selfie mirror.

Unlike the cheaper Instax Mini 8, the super portable Mini 7 has a self-timer, a macro shooting mode, and even a landscape mode. Perhaps the only downside to this model is that you don't get a double-exposure option, and it needs less common CR-2 camera batteries to work.

Impossible is the only manufacturer of original-style, Polaroid-compatible instant film. Its I-1 camera is the company's first all-new camera, and unfortunately, it has all the earmarks of a first-generation product. Though it's a striking piece of modern design, this camera is essentially a hopped-up box-type Polaroid camera with smart features. A unique ring flash of LEDs lets you take up-close portraits and it also acts as a battery charge indicator. The camera also features a rudimentary autofocus system that automatically selects a different lens to best capture the shot you want.

For its $300 price tag, we expected a product that delivered a better picture-taking experience, but as it stands, thisThis pricey camera isn't worth its price, especially compared with a cheap garage-sale camera. Between its awkwardly-placed hand strap, incredibly limited physical controls, the lack of a lens cap, and an app that's only on iOS, this is a package that we can only recommend to a few people.

This iconic camera is undoubtedly a technology and style icon that's only grown in popularity since it was discontinued in the late 20th century. Sporting a folding design that squeezes a full SLR-style lens system down into a device not much thicker than a quarter, the SX-70 was a technological marvel when it was introduced, and if you can find a copy of this camera in decent shape, it's still among the best instant cameras available.

The only drawback is that film is very expensive. Impossible Project is the only company that continues to make SX-70 compatible film packs, and the quality for the price is still less-than-stellar. That said, if a lo-fi Instagram style is what you're after, then that's more or less what you'll get. Being able to manual focus with the SX-70 is a joy, and you'll never shoot a picture that isn't perfectly framed since you're looking directly through the camera's lens.

Introduced in the mid-1980s, Spectra was the cutting-edge step-up from the standard box-type camera. The biggest improvement over a normal Polaroid camera is that the Spectra format is bigger, which means that photos are even more impressive to behold once they've developed.

Since Spectra cameras were marketed at enthusiasts and business customers, they generally have sharper, clearer lenses and more advanced features like sonar autofocus. The biggest disadvantage of a Spectra camera might be that, unlike the more complex SX-70 models, it still has a separate optical viewfinder that makes framing photos more tricky. Impossible Project continues to make Spectra film, but like all of its film packs, the results are often hit-or-miss and you won't get the reliability of Fujifilm's cheaper Instax Wide film.

These are the bottom-of-the-barrel option for people who want the square look of a classic Polaroid shot, but who don't want to spend an arm and a leg. Most of these cameras have a built-in flash and an optical viewfinder that's to the left of the camera's actual lens. Most of these cameras have few features, but you can often find them in great working order for very little money.

Like with the Spectra, SX-70, and Impossible I-type cameras, the 600/box-type models are limited to only using Impossible Project film. Unlike the older SX-70 compatible film, 600 film is a higher ISO, which lets you shoot in a wider variety of situations. Image quality isn't amazing, especially when compared to the Instax Wide format, but if you want artsy-style shots on a budget, pick up a used box-type camera at a garage sale or flea market near you.