Instax SQ6

SQ6 Aesthetic

On first glance, the SQ6 is a beautiful looking camera. Being an avid Instax Mini 8 user myself, it’s a pleasant change to have something sleek and more sophisticated looking hanging around my neck than the kitsch bubble style camera. The camera itself is slightly larger in shape compared to the Mini series, this is to house the square format film cartridges rather than the rectangular ones.

As I mentioned before, I use the Instax Mini 8 regularly and so being able to capture a square image makes for a pleasant change to the normal ones that are currently taking over my home.

SQ6 Zoom

Now the Zoo might not be the fairest of tests for this camera but as the SQ6 has a variety of modes to choose from I was certain I could capture something… maybe just not a tight crop of a tiger’s roar. If you’ve used any form of instant camera before then loading the film is pretty self-explanatory. Just undo the back cover and insert your film with the yellow markers lined up (there’s one on the back of the camera and one of the film cartridge).

Soon as you’ve closed the cover up again and turned the camera back on, you’re ready to start shooting. Although don’t go getting to snap happy right away. The first shot you take will be the plastic cover of the film which prevents it from over exposing. Once that’s popped out the top of the camera though... snap away!!

Taking photos

My first photo opportunity was at the Zebra and Rhino enclosure. Large animals that can get quite close to you (if they want to) seemed like a good choice to ease me in. The SQ6 has many different shooting modes, the icons for these are displayed on the top of the camera at the back and are easily accessed with the mode button. When you turn the camera on it defaults to the automatic mode (A), so I just continued to press the mode button until I reached the setting I was after. For this situation I chose Landscape. On the back there is also an option for the Flash to be turned off as well as Self-Timer mode. I managed to snap quite a cute looking photo of the Zebra.

Next stop was the Meerkats, to be able to get even closer to these little fellas I leant in and shot blind (not using the viewfinder). Using the Landscape mode again as I was very impressed with the results in exposure from the first shot, and no Flash – A rookie mistake on my part. The brown Meerkat against his dark green and brown backdrop came out far too underexposed against the bright sky. In hindsight I wish I had used flash for that shot. I tried the shot again with flash before the Meerkats all ran off for their lunch and it did come out better. I continued my walk around the park and spotted what I’m pretty sure was a Chinese Blue Wisteria. The perfect opportunity to test out the Macro mode, and it came out perfect!

After a morning at the Zoo, I headed into the New Forest with a few friends to go Geocaching. Still armed with the SQ6 around my neck, it became a real talking point for the day. 2 of my friends recently got married and had the Fujifilm Instax Wide camera as a ‘photobooth’ at their reception. It was so popular with their guests who loved the physical print they got from it (no matter how unflattering it may have been). We walked around taking a few snaps of each other just on the Automatic mode. These were great little snapshots from our day out and gave us the idea to be a bit more creative with our Geocache finds. Utilising the Selfie mode on the SQ6, at each Geocache we found we wrote in the log book and left a selfie of ourselves – something unique and fun, which hopefully other Geocachers will appreciate when they go to write in the log books too

Instax SQ6 review

I absolutely loved using the Fujifilm Instax SQ6 this weekend. It’s reignited my love for analogue photography and given me so many instant memories of the day. The camera itself is beautiful to look at and the Blush Gold colour option which I’ve been using, suits my personality perfectly. If a pinky tone isn’t what you’re looking for though, don’t worry, Fujifilm have also released this camera in Pearl White and Graphite Grey… a colour for everyone!