Cameras at IFA 2018: What’s New and What’s Hot?

If you’re not into Instant Cameras, the big announcement at IFA may be a series of rumored full-frame mirrorless cameras from Canon and Panasonic. For those interested in actual announcements, the bombshell revelation was the Mint line of instant camera products.

Polaroid

Mint 2-in-1 Instant Camera

The new Polaroid Mint 2-in-1 Photo Printer takes Instant Camera portability to the next level. More so than other Instant Cameras, the Mint focuses on lighter weight, longer battery life, increased expandable storage size, and more. In fact, it can shoot 5o to 60 photos on a single battery charge and sport up to 256GB of expandable storage.

The biggest advantage, though, that the Mint 2-in-1 has over its competitors is its best-in-class portability. Not only is the Mint 2-in-1 sleek, it can also comfortably fit inside of a coat or pants pocket.

So how did Polaroid improve over last year’s products? The Polaroid Mint 2-in-1 combines wireless Bluetooth smartphone pairing, so if you want to print photos direct from an infinitely superior smartphone camera, you can.

However, the demonstration model did not, in any sense of the word, print instantly. Printing over Bluetooth causes a small amount of input lag, delaying photos by around 20 or 30 seconds. Not bad by any means, but perhaps not as instant as the product’s name would suggest.

The Mint 2-in-1 should cost $129 making it one of the most expensive Instant Cameras on today’s market.

Mint Printer

While the Mint 2-in-1 can shoot images and spit out physical photographs, the Polaroid Mint Printer more or less turns your infinitely better smartphone into an Instant Camera.

A point of confusion that readers might have is that the two devices (printer and 2-in-1) look almost identical, except that one includes a camera lens and costs more—$129 for the 2-in-1 and $99 for the photo printer.

Of the two devices, I’d say that the printer offers more value. Why would anyone want to take photos with a weaker quality camera sensor than what’s in their smartphone?

Panasonic

LX100 II

Panasonic may have officially announced the LX100 II at IFA, but there’s a rumor of another upcoming model scheduled for debut on September 25.

The LX100 II is more or less an incremental update on the fairly successful LX100. Like the LX100, it uses the Lumix’s Micro Four-Thirds sensor, which is—as the name suggests—a 4:3 aspect ratio sensor which is almost full-frame (but not). It improves on the previous camera sensor in terms of megapixels, going from 13MP to 17MP. A minor upgrade at best.

The real news will most likely come on September 25, just a few weeks after Canon’s highly anticipated full-frame mirrorless DSLR announcement. If true, Panasonic may attempt to counter Canon’s announcement with its own full-frame mirrorless Lumix model. However, keep in mind that these are all show-floor rumors and may be the product of overly vivid imaginations.

Kodak

PrintoMatic Instant Camera

The newest model of PrintoMatic camera doesn’t add much in terms of features, but it managed to stand out with its lower cost and good print quality. At its listed price of $69.99, the PrintoMatic offers similar features as the more expensive Polaroid Mint.

2018’s PrintoMatic adds a simple but appealing feature: a wider array of color options. Among these are the colors:

• Millennial Pink
• White
• Yellow
• Black
• Blue

I don’t know why Kodak rebadged pink as “Millennial Pink” while leaving their other colors with names as unoriginal as “Yellow” and “Blue,” but if you are a fan of the original PrintoMatic, the different colored models may impress you.

Insta360

Pro 2 360 Camera

The Insta360 360 camera is a professional-grade 360-degree camera capable of shooting 3D video in a complete circle.

A big issue with 360-degree 3D cameras is that they oftentimes unintentionally include the cameraman in the shot (because it shoots everything). The Insta360 is capable of removing the cameraman at up to 300-meters distance.

That’s extremely useful to professional filmmakers who don’t want to pay for digital cameraman removal in post-production.

What’s the Best Camera Announced at IFA 2018?

It’s a tossup between the PrintoMatic’s Millennial Pink color scheme or the Polaroid Mint Printer. If you forced me to choose between the two, I’ll come clean: the new camera revelations were overshadowed by the rumored announcement of full-frame mirrorless cameras from Canon and Panasonic. Look forward to them at Photokina 2018.

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