Fujifilm is putting the spotlight back on its neglected Instax Wide film format, the largest of its three sizes of instant film. The Instax Link Wide ($149.95) is a Bluetooth printer for smartphones, and like other Fujifilm printers, it uses instant film to make photos, not paper and ink. The Instax Link Wide produces prints that are twice the size as those from the similar Instax Link Mini; the larger size of these prints are more appropriate for refrigerators and cork boards than the wallet-sized Instax Mini format. The printer’s companion app adds filters, templates, and other tools to spice up your instant prints. If you’re tired of just looking at photos on your phone’s screen, or just yearn for the days of Polaroid snapshots, this instant film printer might be the right remedy.
Biggest Instax Format
Despite, or perhaps because of, its size, Instax Wide never gained traction or popularity like Fujifilm’s Mini and Square instant formats. One advantage of the more affordable Mini format is that because the prints are smaller, so too are the cameras. Square appeals to enthusiasts and nostalgists simply because it evokes the feel of a Polaroid.
The basic Instax Mini camera enjoys an almost annual update and Fujifilm takes a similarly aggressive approach with its Instax Square cameras. In contrast, Fujifilm only sells one Wide-format camera, the Instax Wide 300, and it hasn’t been updated since 2015.
Like the oversized Instax Wide 300 camera, the Instax Link Wide is larger than its counterparts in Fujifilm’s lineup. It measures 1.3 by 5.5 by 5.0 inches (HWD) and weighs 12 ounces, a bit too big to fit into most pockets. The Instax Link Mini uses smaller film, but is just 0.9 by 4.1 by 2.0 inches (HWD) and 8.7 ounces, so it’s a little easier to pack and carry,
There are two color options for this model. We received the Instax Link Wide in Mocha Gray, but it’s also available in Ash White. An internal battery powers the printer. It recharges via a micro USB port, not the more recent USB-C standard. It takes a couple of hours to recharge using the included cable, and Fujifilm claims the battery lasts for about 100 prints per charge. That number is a little ambitious—I knocked the battery down to about 65% after 10 prints, but I made no effort to power it down between prints. The printer will turn itself off after a few minutes of inactivity to help conserve life. It’s easy enough to turn on or off—the prominent, backlit Instax logo also functions as the power button.
Cordless Connection
The Bluetooth 4.2 LE connection works with smartphones and tablets. As mentioned, the micro USB port is only for charging; you can plug the printer into a Mac or PC with the included cable like any other USB device, but there’s no software to run it outside of Android and iOS. I tested the Instax Link Wide with an iPhone and a prerelease version of the Instax Link Wide app.
The printer is exceptionally easy to connect—it takes longer to download the app than to set up the wireless handshake between your phone and the printer. You don’t need to take your phone off your home Wi-Fi to print, either, making it just a bit easier to use than a Wi-Fi printer. The downside is the Link Wide’s speed—it takes around 30 seconds from hitting the Print button in the app until film ejects from the printer.
Add another few minutes for the photo to fully develop. You can watch the image emerge from white nothingness, but don’t bother shaking your picture—doing so doesn’t speed up the process. You can see it happen in front of your eyes in the video above—we sped it up by four times.
Because the Link Wide relies on a photographic development process rather than a printing one, so you’ll never have to buy ink or thermal ribbons. You will have to buy film, though, a medium that’s pricier than inkjet photo paper. Instax Wide film is packaged in 10-shot cartridges, with the standard twin pack coming in at $20—$1 per print. You won’t save much by buying in bulk, a 10-pack of cartridges costs around $95 at press time.
Monochrome film is available too, at a slight premium ($1.30 per print), but there’s no real way to use it with the printer. I printed a few black-and-white test shots on color Instax film, including a conversion from the color-sensor Ricoh GR and true black-and-white digital images from the Leica M10 Monochrom. They’re appropriately monochrome, without a visible color cast.
Photos have a glossy finish, good for deeper blacks in monochrome prints and colors that pop out a bit more than with a matte or luster finish. Color shots look great, too. I printed photos from several camera, including the Fujifilm GFX 50R, Leica M10-R, and Nikon Z 7.
The resolution and color depth captured by these high-end cameras are well represented in print, matching Instax Mini and Square prints in quality, but simply scaled larger. The larger format is a bit more impactful. One minor issue is that the film is thin enough to flex, so take care not to bend prints.
As for alternative formats, Polaroid sells the Instant Lab, a bigger device that uses square-format Polaroid I-Type film. The film costs more and doesn’t show the same vibrant color as Instax, but there’s a nostalgic charm to the bigger, square format. Materials are costlier, however, and the per-photo cost runs closer to $2.
The lower-cost Zink has long been a popular ink-free format. The thermal paper is smaller, similar to the wallet-size format of Instax Mini, but costs only around $0.50 per print. I’ve been consistently underwhelmed by its print quality, though. Certain colors just don’t translate and Zink shows heavy dithering. You can see an example of the poor color reproduction in our review of the Polaroid Insta-Share Printer, an add-on Zink printer for Motorola MotoMod phones. If you care about print quality, Zink is a nonstarter.
App Features
The InstaxLink Wide app includes some tools to help you get better prints, create collages, add custom clip art, or print photos with QR code links. I tested the app with an iPhone running iOS 15, but it’s also available for Android phones.
Basic prints are easy—the app loads photos from your camera roll, so you can print any photo you’ve saved on your phone. The app’s Simple Print screen shows a preview of the print and offers some basic filters to improve output. For example, the Auto option tunes colors and brightness. One-click Sepia and Monochrome looks are available, too. Crop, rotation, and manual exposure adjustment tools round out the app’s capabilities.
You can select from a set of premade templates, perfect for birthday cards, save-the-dates, and other homespun keepsakes. There are collage templates too, a great way to highlight a few favorite images in one print. The Wide format is more useful for collages than the Instax Mini or Square film formats.
The app has several features that should appeal to the younger set, but are lost on this geriatric millennial photographer. You can add stickers—there are loads of emoji and clip art available, or you can create your own using the app’s Sketch, Edit, and Print functions. The Sketch function uses your phone’s camera to snap a photo, and converts it into a vector art sticker.
Fujifilm continues to include the option for QR codes. You can add a caption, web link, location pin, or audio clip to your photos. You (or a friend) can then use a smartphone to scan the code. Fujifilm hosts linked files on its servers for two years before they expire.
Instax Wide Gets Its Turn
Fujifilm’s line of wireless instant photo printers is well-established; the first SP-1 for the Mini film format debuted in 2014. But the Instax Link Wide is the first one to support the company’s largest film format. It’s a bit bigger than others in the series, but not nearly as cumbersome to take around as the cameras that use it; the Instax Wide 300 and Lomo’Instant Wide are downright bulky.
Printing on instant film is an intriguing alternative to traditional processes. At a cost of around $1 per print, it’s a pricey proposition if you’re making a ton of prints. But we think the premium is worth it over other ink-free formats. Alternatives simply don’t match the quality you get from Fujifilm’s Instax chemistry, one that shows crisp detail and excellent color.
There are a couple of other models to consider if you like the idea of instant film prints but aren’t sold on Instax Wide. The Instax Mini Link costs around $100 and has a very similar feature set. For around $160, you can opt for the Instax Mini LiPlay, a digital camera with an integrated printer that prints from either its memory card or your phone’s camera roll. Square format fans can go for the Instax Share SP-3, another app-based device, or Polaroid’s Instant Lab.
