A new film camera released
When a government wants to bury bad news they will release that information the same day that a big good news item is being announced*.
Some of us have been been waiting years for a new film camera to be released and anticipating it will come along with some nice new features, especially as recent models have had new updates but unfortunately it seems as Fujifilm actually downgrade the “new” Instax Wide 400.
All versions of the wide have always been big mainly because of the size of the film, the 300 did seem to be the biggest with the grip and viewfinder sticking out. The 400 does look to be slightly smaller but it's still a chunky monkey.
There have been some new chance to the camera, self timer if that's your thing and a camera angle device which helps to prop the camera when using the selftimer and well that seems about it.
As you can see from the comparison chart, they have done away with the +/- compensation mode and although Fuji say the new auto exposure is better but having the compensation was useful in some situations.
The 400 is stripped back, there is no physical on/off switch now it's a turn of the lens barrel, like the lower end mini cameras. The flash is still the same auto firing flash, it would of been great to switch it on/off when you wanted it.
I have to say that I'm disappointed that no new features from the likes of the mini Evo or mini 99 have been added, double exposure, maybe some of the colour effects, a faster shutter speed and possibly a bulb mode.
I know Lomography have a Wide camera but it's not really that much improved on the 300, there is also the Mint wide but this is really expensive. Fuji really had the change to produce a good fairly inexpensive Wide camera but seems to have decided to stick with a lower end version of the 300.
Hopefully it wouldn't be anything 10 years before a better Wide camera is released by Fuji.
*Apparently there was another new film released on the same day.
Sadly, a missed opportunity. I was very ready to part with the cash for an upgrade on my 300 (my favourite instant camera despite its bulk) and did pre-order. However, once I’d seen the full specs I quickly cancelled my order in disappointment. However, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised as dumbing down appears to be Fuji’s current business model at least in the instant sphere
Fujifilm sadly have form with downgrading their Instax models. The SQ6 had 3 zones of focus and a host of features dropped in the later SQ1 and SQ40