Fujifilm Instax Link Wide

Portable photoInstax

Instax is not really a printing technology in the sense the rest of this catalogue means it — the image is developed chemically inside a sealed film packet, the way a Polaroid works, and the printer is essentially an exposure unit with a Bluetooth radio. The Link Wide uses the larger Instax Wide film, roughly twice the area of the familiar Mini frame, which is the difference between a novelty and something you would actually pin to a board. Twelve seconds to eject a print and about ninety seconds to develop in the open air. It is the most characterful output here and the least controllable: soft focus, blooming highlights, a colour cast that is the whole appeal. The film is the running cost, and Instax Wide is not cheap per frame.

Approx. price: ~$149

Best for

Someone who wants the Instax look at a size worth keeping, rather than a technically accurate print.

marks an estimate. Computed from the consumable's ISO page yield and its list price. An estimate. Purchase price plus ink or toner over the pages shown, assuming four mono pages for every colour page. Price is an approximate snapshot from our last catalogue update.

Specifications

Manufacturer-published figures. Cost lines are computed from the consumable figures above and are estimates.

Approx. price: ~$149
Technology: Instax
Ink system: Instax
Inks: 3
Third-party ink lock: No
Ink subscription: None offered
First page out: 12 s
Functions: Print
Two-sided printing: None
Document feeder: None
Paper capacity: 10 sheets
Max paper size: 4×6
Borderless photo: No
Resolution: 318 × 318 dpi
Mobile printing: App only
Display: None
Dimensions: 5.0 × 1.4 × 3.5 in
Weight: 0.75 lb
Released: 2021

Features

Prints on Instax Wide film, roughly twice the area of Instax Mini
Bluetooth connection to a phone app
Ejects a print in about 12 seconds; develops in the air
Under 12 oz with a rechargeable battery
App adds collage, template and handwriting-over-print modes

No ink lock

In its favour

Instax Wide frames are big enough to actually display, unlike Mini
The chemical look is the reason to buy it and nothing else here reproduces it
Under twelve ounces and battery powered
No head, no ribbon, no maintenance — the film is the entire consumable
Prints develop in the air, which is half the fun at a party

Against it

Instax Wide film is expensive per frame and sold only by Fujifilm
Image quality is deliberately soft — this is not a photo printer in the technical sense
Bluetooth only, with no Wi-Fi and no printing from a computer
Ten shots per pack, so a party eats film fast
Prints fade faster in sunlight than dye-sub or pigment output

What owners say

No owner discussion has been collected for the Fujifilm Instax Link Wide yet. The specifications above are the manufacturer’s published figures and the cost per page is computed from them — but nothing on this page claims to know what living with it is like, because nobody here has read owners on it.