The Evo Cinema connects to the Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo app, a free download for Android and iOS. The camera includes Bluetooth for quick pairing and printing, and lets you switch over to Wi-Fi to copy videos at a decent speed. It takes about 10 seconds to copy a 15-second video over Wi-Fi.
The Mini Evo app makes it easy to transfer, edit, and share clips (Credit: Fujifilm/PCMag)
I see the app as an essential part of the Evo Cinema experience. It makes it easy for anyone—even folks who have never edited a video before—to build short clips (up to 30 seconds long) using a linear editing timeline. Select a clip, trim it down to a length you want, add another, and repeat. When you’re done, you’ll have a bite-sized clip that you can share on your social feed or print out.
The app adds QR codes to prints so you can use physical photos to share videos (Credit: Jim Fisher)
You read that right, the Evo Cinema lets you print video onto instant film. Sort of. When you print a video clip, the app uploads it to Fujifilm’s web hosting service, and puts a QR code with a link onto the print itself, so anyone with the picture can scan the code and watch the clip on their phone. You can hand the print over to a friend or family member at a gathering, and I see some potential for street artists to post them amidst graffiti to share their work. Clips are hosted for two years, after which they’ll disappear.
The short clips, editing tools, and social sharing aspect remind me a heck of a lot of Vine, a platform that looked like it was set to take over the world with its strict 6-second video clips, and more recently TikTok.
With the ability to print video clips, still photos you’ve captured with the camera, frame grabs from video clips, or any photo stored on your phone, the Evo Cinema is a real multitasker. It’s also a stills camera (with the same basic features as the Instax LiPlay, LiPlay+, and Mini Evo), and a smartphone printer like the Mini Link 3 and recent Mini Link+. I printed a few photos I’d shot with high-end cameras (the Sony a7 V and Ricoh GR IV) and one of my favorite iPhone 13 cat portraits, and they all look great on Instax Mini film.
