I’ve been wanting to have more printed photos at home lately. This follows on from my recent post about how sharing creative work online can make us tailor what we create to suit an algorithm. It’s also because photo albums and prints on the wall just feel more joyful. Most of the pictures we take end up buried in cloud storage, rarely looked at — and we end up paying for extra storage for no real reason.

I’ve owned a Leica Sofort Instax camera for several years and still like it, but two things have always bugged me: the small size of Instax Mini photos, and my lack of confidence in getting the shot right first time. I’ve wasted a lot of film (and money) on photos I wasn’t happy with.

This week I traded in a few bits at CeX (my new favourite way to get tech) and picked up an A-grade Instax Wide Evo from their North Finchley branch. It solves both of my issues: the Instax Wide format gives you much larger prints, and the camera itself is digital — meaning I can check my photos before printing. Even better, I can print them later at home instead of awkwardly standing in public waiting for film to develop.

Before buying it, the feature that really caught my eye was the built-in effects: lens filters, film effects, and overlays. I’ve been using the date-stamp overlay on all my photos — a little nostalgic, a bit ‘90s, but I like knowing exactly when a photo was taken.

If you’ve been researching this camera, you probably already know all of that. So here’s what it’s actually been like to use over the last 48 hours.

In short: I’m really enjoying it. It’s big and chunky, so it’ll live in your bag when travelling, but ergonomically it makes sense. The shutter button sits right under your index finger, and the controls are well-placed. The lack of a viewfinder is slightly annoying, especially since the screen is reflective and not very bright — taking photos in daylight can be tricky.

The controls themselves are intuitive. Dials and buttons fall naturally under your fingers, settings are easy to read, and when adding effects you can adjust their intensity by turning the lens ring. It feels well thought out.

Image quality is decent for what this camera is — like using a good 20-year-old digital camera. It won’t blow you away, but for Instax prints it’s perfectly fine. The wide-angle lens and optional digital crop give you flexibility without a huge drop in quality.

It’s early days, but this camera is fun to use. The Instax Wide prints are satisfyingly large, the ability to print multiple copies later is brilliant, and the retro aesthetic just makes the whole experience more tactile and enjoyable. It’s not cheap, so check the second-hand market if you’re tempted — but so far, I’m glad I did.