Facepalm: Fuji's "sound" function is a terrible gimmick that adds no value. In fact, it takes away from what may otherwise be a decent product. Fortunately, the LCD screen may still make it worth buying for some.
Fujifilm this week introduced the smallest and most lightweight version of its instax mini instant camera ever.
The new instax mini LiPlay features a 2.7-inch LCD monitor for framing and photo review purposes. I'm typically not for features that dumb down the photography experience (replacing the viewfinder with a screen certainly qualifies) but in this instance, photo paper isn't cheap. Most people buying this sort of camera are doing it for the novelty factor and don't want to be bothered with trying to manually nail exposure, etc.
Fuji's other new flagship feature isn't quite as useful.
The instax mini LiPlay has a "Sound" function that can record up to 10 seconds of audio when a photo is captured. This sound data along with the photo is then uploaded to Fuji servers and accessible by scanning a QR code printed on your picture.
There are two major problems here. First, who wants an ugly QR code plastered right on their already small print? If anything, print it on the back of the photo or along the border, not directly on the image. And second, Fuji will only store your sound and photo combo for one year. After that, the QR code is forever useless, yet stuck on your images.
The Fuji instax mini LiPlay is offered in white, black and gold color schemes and goes on sale June 14 priced at $159.95.