When comparing Fujifilm Instax Wide 300 vs Fujifilm Instax Mini 70, the Slant community recommends Fujifilm Instax Wide 300 for most people. In the question“What are the best instant cameras under $150?” Fujifilm Instax Wide 300 is ranked 3rd while Fujifilm Instax Mini 70 is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Fujifilm Instax Wide 300 is:
This camera does a decent job of taking good quality photos without any additional tweaking. It generally does pretty well at setting the exposure needed, resulting in accurately exposed pictures. The flash will fire automatically in dim conditions, even if it is not turned on.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Good picture quality in automatic mode
This camera does a decent job of taking good quality photos without any additional tweaking. It generally does pretty well at setting the exposure needed, resulting in accurately exposed pictures. The flash will fire automatically in dim conditions, even if it is not turned on.
Pro Can adjust exposure compensation
The Instax Wide 300 has button for adjusting exposure compensation.
Pro Large prints
Photos the size of the credit card have become popular with these instant cameras, but the Instax prints larger photos, reminiscent of old instant film cameras.
Pro Mechanical lens cover
Has a lens cover that automatically closes when the camera is off.
Pro Comes with an attachment for taking selfies
This camera comes with an attachment for taking selfies.
Pro Beginner-friendly shooting and focus modes
It offers 3 shooting modes – an auto mode (landscape and macro focusing modes), dedicated selfie mode and a hi-key mode for extreme brightness. These 3 modes offer everything a beginner might need. The focus modes can be changed to landscape, normal or macro modes with just the touch of a button.
Pro It's very unlikely that film will disappear from the market soon
Since approximately 5 million Instax cameras were sold just in 2016, it's pretty much guaranteed that its film will be widely available for years to come.
Pro No selfie film wasting
The built-in selfie mirror makes taking self-portraits much easier, eliminating the risk of wasting film on wrongly framed guesses.
Pro Very affordable film
This camera uses the Fuji Instax Mini, which is a notably affordable instant film. A pack of Instax Mini film costs around $8 for 10 photographs, or $0.80 per shot.
Pro Many styling accessories available
As one of the most popular instant cameras on the market, it has plenty of low-cost, third party accessories available, beside the official ones offered by the manufacturer. However, most of the accessories are not directly related to photography, but are instead "styling" items such as bags, stickers, or straps.
Pro Camera status info via LCD screen
A basic LCD screen provides information regarding shots remaining and the current mode.
Pro Can be mounted on a tripod
The camera is mountable on a tripod.
Pro Stylish signature Fuji Instax design
The camera boasts the signature Fuji Instax design – rectangular with very rounded corners and a big, bulky retractable lens in the middle. Its size is relatively small (4.5" x 2.25" x 4.25") and it's available in five different colors, ranging from bright and fun colors to more low-key ones.
Pro Easy to focus selfies
The selfie mode automatically sets the lens to a close focusing distance.
Cons
Con Large, when compared to some of its competitors
The camera, while thin, is still large when compared to other cameras, due to its use of Instax Wide films and 4 AA type batteries for power.
Con Not comfortable to use with glasses
The viewfinder sticks out on the left side of the camera and is too tiny to comfortably look into while wearing glasses.
Con Defaults to the closer focus when shut off
Each time the camera is shut off, it goes back to the default 0.3m - 3m focus setting, which can be confusing and annoying.
Con Easy to understand controls.
The Instax Wide 300 only includes the basic controls. The shutter button is easy to access in landscape or portrait mode. There are only two buttons on the back, one to switch enable/disable the flash and a button for adjusting exposure compensation. A back display shows film count and current shooting mode. The focus mode can be changed by twisting the lens.
Con Counter-intuitive focusing mechanism
There are two focus settings: 0.9 - 3m or 3m to infinity. While the camera does a decent job at taking pictures in these modes, it does become confusing when the subject is approximately 3 meters away and you have to guess the mode that you need to use.
Con No autofocus
This camera doesn't have autofocus.
Con Sometimes the picture gets overexposed
In some cases the camera tends to overexpose the picture, necessitating adjusting the exposure control to darken the image.
Con Small image size
This camera's film actual photos are tiny: the actual image size is 1.8” × 2.4" on a 2.1” × 3.4" card.
Con Hard to find battery
The camera uses a CR2 battery standard which is less common than AA batteries and not as widely available.
Con Hard to use the shutter button when in landscape mode
The shutter button is placed a bit awkwardly and can be hard to reach when shooting in landscape mode.
Con Toyish design
Due to it's design, this camera is frequently compared to a toy camera.
Con Limited manual control
Manual control is quite limited. You just have the choice of changing between preset modes and some basic EV adjustments.
Con Small margin for exposure compensation
Exposure compensation can only be done between -⅔ and +⅔ EV, which is a small margin.
Con Flash can't be turned off
There is no option to manually turn off the flash.
