Fujifilm’s Instax series includes a variety of instant printers and cameras. Many of them, however, support the ‘Mini’ picture format – prints the size of a credit card. If you still want a portable picture experience without compromising size, the Instax Link Wide photo printer could be for you. This small printer prints pictures twice the size of those generated by Mini machines and has a plethora of customization choices.
But how does the image quality compare to competitors like Polaroid? Let’s Find Out.
What will you see here?
Instax Link Wide – Value for Money
The Instax Link Wide, at £129.99/$149.95, is not the cheapest rapid printer on the market. However, the trade-off here is the larger-sized photographs that it creates.
The Instax Link Wide is presently available through
When selecting an instant printer, keep the cost of the film in mind as well.
Instax film is considerably more costly than Zink Paper, which competition printers utilize. Instax Wide Film costs about 85 pence per sheet in the UK and 95 cents in the US. Meanwhile, one sheet of zinc paper costs 50 pence in the UK and a little under 50 cents in the US.
Design and Build
The Instax Link Wide photo printer is available in two color options: Mocha Gray and Ash White. The matte plastic shell includes a textured diagonal design that adds some flare to the printer. Unlike earlier Instax products, this does not have a juvenile or toy-like feel about it.
The Instax Link Wide creates bigger prints than previous Instax products, yet it is still portable. With a weight of 340g and a thickness of 33.7mm, it may easily fit inside a bag. It also comes with a stand, so it can be moved around the house while being aesthetically pleasing. You also receive a wrist strap to wear when out and about.
The printer cartridges are filled at the rear of the device, which is simple to open with a click. One pack of Instax Wide film yields 10 prints.
On the Instax Link Wide, the power button is in the center. This changes colors to indicate whether the printer is connected, charging, or printing.
The gadget has a Micro-USB charging connector on the bottom, and a charging cable is included in the box. The printer charges from flat to full in about two hours, which is a little sluggish.
Instax says that the gadget can print up to 100 images on a single charge. However, this is dependent on how long you leave the device turned on.
Features and Photo quality
To print photographs on the Instax Link Wide, you must first download the Instax Link Wide app, which is available for both iOS and Android devices. There is a small wait for the photographs to sync with the printer. However, the actual printing pace is fast, at roughly 12 seconds, with photos developing in around 90 seconds.
Prints from the Instax Link Wide are huge, brilliant, and glossy, with a vintage feel that a conventional shot does not have. The colors aren’t as vibrant as those generated by the Polaroid Hi-Print, which employs a dye-sublimation printing technique, but the details are still sharp and faithful to the original image.
Photo Quality
The photographs have a little border around the edge, and there is space at the bottom to put a commentary beneath the image.
You may use the app to add filters, collage prints, stickers, text, insert images into templates, and even QR codes that can link to websites, audio recordings, places, and secret messages. You may snap a photo of a hand-drawn drawing and then overlay it onto another image using the sketch, edit, and print mode. Some of these features seemed a little gimmicky to some. However, surely younger people will enjoy them.
You may print photographs in either Natural Mode or Rich Mode, like with other Instax products, which modifies the saturation of the finished image. Overall, there is a wide range of print customization possibilities available, allowing for a great deal of creativity.
While the software is straightforward to use, the UI isn’t very appealing. The font is a little tiny, and there is considerable white space. Furthermore, it is one of many applications for Instax items – things would be a lot easier if the firm simply had a single app that allowed customers to connect various products in one spot.
Conclusion
The Instax Link Wide isn’t the most affordable instant copier on the market. However, the prints it generates are huge, colorful, and of good quality, making them ideal for framing and scrapbooking.
The design allows it to be maintained on a desk or used while traveling, and the app makes printing and editing simple for all users. Overall, the Instax Link Wide is a strong contender in the market for instant printers.
