Arielle Pieterse, writer at NAG, chats about the Instax Mini Evo Cinema

Having tested a number of Instax cameras in the past, we were excited to hear what Arielle would think of the new Mini Evo Cinema.

📣 Hi Arielle, welcome! You recently tested the Instax Mini Evo Cinema for NAG. What was your favourite feature?

Definitely the video functionality tied to the different Eras and effects. They give everything so much personality and make the Mini Evo Cinema feel completely different from any other Instax I’ve used.

More than that, though, they gave me that proper “home video” feeling, that imperfect, nostalgic quality that instantly makes a moment feel more personal. It’s something I didn’t even realise I was missing until I got my hands on the camera.

📣 In your review, you mention: "The Mini Evo Cinema does not exist to make your smartphone obsolete. It exists to make you think differently about what is worth filming." How did this translate to the things you captured?

I think smartphones have made us incredibly casual about taking photos and videos because there’s effectively no limit. We film everything, take dozens of versions of the same photo, and then most of it disappears into a camera roll we rarely look at again.

With the Mini Evo Cinema, knowing that I only had a short window to capture something made me much more deliberate. I found myself filming little candid moments that I knew I’d genuinely want to remember, rather than recording simply because I could.

A lot of those ended up being sweet, very ordinary family moments, and I think those are probably the things that become the most valuable years later anyway. It made me think less about capturing something impressive and more about capturing something meaningful.

📣 How easy/difficult was it to share videos by printing the QR code?

It was surprisingly straightforward. Once you’ve recorded the video, you can create a print with a QR code on it, and whoever you give that photo to can simply scan the code with their phone and watch the clip.

That was actually one of my favourite parts of the whole experience because it combines something very analogue-feeling with something digital. You still get this little physical Instax print that can live on the fridge, in a wallet or tucked into an album, but there’s effectively another memory hidden inside it.

I really loved that idea. It’s a much more personal way of sharing a video with family or friends than simply sending another link into a WhatsApp chat and hoping it doesn’t get buried five minutes later.

📣 Who would you recommend the Mini Evo Cinema to?

I think parents are a huge audience for this camera. Kids grow up ridiculously quickly, and there’s something really special about being able to create a physical photo while also preserving a few seconds of what that moment actually sounded and felt like.

But I’d also recommend it to anyone who loves nostalgia, travelling, documenting nights out with friends, or simply making memories feel a little more tangible.

If you’re someone who already takes hundreds of technically better photos on your phone but rarely goes back and looks at them, I think the Mini Evo Cinema makes a lot of sense. It turns taking a photo into an occasion again, rather than just another image.

📣 You own and tested numerous Instax cameras. Which one is your favourite?

I actually have two answers here, and both are for very corny reasons. But I suppose being this sentimental about physical photographs in an increasingly digital world is already a little corny, so I may as well fully commit.

The first is the Instax SQUARE SQ20. A few years ago, I was sent one to review, and at the time, it was one of the first Instax cameras I’d ever received. I remember sitting in the car with my best friends and my partner, telling them about the review and admitting that I wasn’t quite sure how to make it interesting beyond simply listing features and specifications.

My best friend suddenly got incredibly excited and practically shouted, “Do you have the camera with you?” I did. Her immediate response was that we should all go and get matching tattoos and use the Instax to document the entire adventure. So that is exactly what we did.

My partner drew a tiny Instax camera onto the back of a slip from memory, and the three of us headed off to a random tattoo shop to permanently cement our shared love of physical photos, spontaneity, each other and, apparently, making very impulsive decisions.

Whenever I look at that SQ20, I can still picture that day as clearly as if no time has passed at all. And, really, that’s exactly what I love about Instax in the first place.

My other favourite is definitely the Instax WIDE 400, for a completely different but equally sentimental reason. It’s the camera I’ve used to capture and print many of the photos that now make up the Instax wall in my home.

Those prints span so much of my life, from photos of the first dog my partner and I had together to our first road trip and countless little moments in between. It has become less about the camera itself and more about everything it has helped me preserve.

For me, that’s ultimately what makes an Instax camera special. The best one isn’t necessarily the one with the longest feature list. It’s the one that ends up becoming part of the memories you care about most.

Find Arielle on Instagram here: @constantine104

And read more of her reviews and articles for NAG here:
https://www.nag.co.za/author/constantine104/