The Fujifilm Instax Mini LiPlay+ ($234.95) puts an instant film printer into a digital camera, so you can snap as many pictures as you like, but only print the ones you want. It may be far from a novel concept—Fujifilm has several cameras like it in its catalog—but it proves to be just a fun as the original LiPlay ($199.95). The Plus includes a rear selfie camera, something you don't get with the regular LiPlay or the retro-styled Instax Mini Evo ($199.95), but is otherwise quite similar in concept and execution, and wins big on fun. It doesn't compete with phones in terms of image quality and exhibits shutter lag that makes it difficult to capture candid moments, but it is charming nonetheless. The LiPlay+ is a good camera for kids and teens who don't have a huge budget for instant film, but it falls shy of the high mark that Fuji set with the pure analog Instax Mini 99 ($199.95), which remains our favorite Instax Mini camera and our Editors' Choice.

Design: As Classy as Instant Cameras Get

Fujifilm's industrial designers knocked it out of the park with the LiPlay+. It's the best-looking entry in the series to date, thanks to its understated, minimalist aesthetic. It's a great example of modern design: The plastic body is finished with a mix of pebbled and grid textures, which, along with its tall, skinny design, reminds me quite a bit of a miniature leather-bound hardcover book.

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You can get the LiPlay+ in two colorways, Midnight Blue or Sand Beige. I received the blue version and love the silver accent ring around the lens and matching shutter release; it looks classy in person. I haven't seen the beige version aside from photos, but it trades the silver accents for champagne gold and sends out the same vibes. All in all, it's a departure from the retro-chic exterior that Fuji uses for the similar Instax Mini Evo, but the LiPlay+ looks better to my eye as the Evo's plastic exterior clashes with the old-school metal-bodied cameras it imitates.

As for size, the LiPlay+ is a little large for tighter pockets, but at around 4.9 by 3.3 by 1.5 inches (HWD) and 9.3 ounces, I hesitate to call it big. It's about as small as you can get while leaving enough room to hold a pack of Instax Mini film. Its digital capture system allows for a far smaller lens than analog alternatives like the affordable Instax Mini 12 (4.8 by 4.2 by 2.7 inches, 10.3 ounces) and the Mini 99 (4.4 by 4.0 by 2.1 inches, 14.0 ounces).

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Fuji makes a few different types of Instax products. Its analog cameras—the Mini 12, Mini 41, and Mini 99 are all contemporary versions of old-school instants that capture a singular moment on film. It also has a line of smartphone printers, such as the Mini Link 3, that make photochemical prints out of pictures on your phone's camera roll. The LiPlay+ and Evo lines use digital sensors and also print from your phone; their images have a different aesthetic than the analog line, but don't make you pay for every photo you snap. The wallet-sized Instax Mini film costs around $0.85 per shot, which can add up if you're snap-happy.

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Each style has its own pluses and minuses—the analog Instax cameras evoke nostalgia and have a dreamy, low-fi aesthetic that digital capture can't match, but drain your bank account every time you press the shutter. Instant printers let you print on demand from your phone, but don't offer the same tactile capture experience as a camera. Digital options like the LiPlay+ include fun, creative filters and let you print on demand, but lag well behind smartphone cameras in picture quality and computational features—there's no bokeh or night mode with a LiPlay or Evo camera, for instance.

Controls: Tech-Savvy Kids Will Miss a Touch Screen

The LiPlay+ controls are all physical buttons, so kids and teens who've been brought up on tablets will miss having a touch screen. I think this is a slight miss on Fuji's part. A touch screen would no doubt add some cost, but as it stands, the camera's functions are a little convoluted to navigate, in part because Fuji squeezes two lenses and a slew of filters and features into the interface.

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Don't get me wrong, if you're just taking normal pictures, the LiPlay+ is a one-button camera, and is pretty easy to use. But if you want to try out the picture-in-picture mode or Sound Print mode (which captures a photo with audio, a feature that is both gimmicky and a pain to use in practice), it's easy to get lost. The LiPlay+ shows an on-screen overlay to remind you of what different buttons do, but it's not persistent—it only shows up when you change capture modes or first power on the camera.

There are a few basic buttons that work in every mode. The shutter button (on the front) focuses the lens with a half-press and takes a picture with a full press, just like any other camera. There's a button on the bottom of the right side panel to switch between the main front lens and rear selfie lens, also pretty straightforward and easy to find by touch. The power button is there too; it's recessed, so you're not likely to press it accidentally. 

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The LiPlay+ has a rear control wheel for menu navigation. It has four directional presses that let you add filters (up) or frames (down), toggle the flash mode (right), and set the self-timer (left). None of these is marked on the camera, so you'll simply have to remember which is which.

You'll press the musical note icon to toggle between the camera's sundry capture modes, which is a confounding choice of iconography. The camera has two modes that record audio: Sound Print, which captures a few seconds of ambient noise along with your photo, and Sound Album, which takes between two and five photos and animates them in sequence, letting you choose a background color and animation style.

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Both audio modes require you to pair the camera with its smartphone app (Instax LiPlay, available via the Apple App Store and Google Play) and transfer pictures over—anything with sound will automatically go to Fuji's cloud service, along with pictures you've already printed. There's no cost associated with this, but the rewards don't seem like they're worth the effort—here's an example of the finished result. The actual prints you make from photos with sound have a QR coded printed in the corner so you (or anyone you give a photo to) can get to the link without typing in a URL. It's convenient, but it detracts from the charm of an instant print. I won't beat around the bush—I'm not enamored by the audio features, but you're free to disagree, and you don't have to use them if you don't want to.

The standard version of the LiPlay, which was reissued last year with a USB-C connector replacing the micro USB from its first run, also includes audio features. The LiPlay+ earns its "plus" status because of its twin lens design. You can swap between the main front lens and a rear selfie lens with a tap of the button, and either use the latter for selfies or picture-in-picture collages, which Fuji calls Layered Picture Mode. The collage option forces you to use the rear camera for the central part of the picture-in-picture and the front lens for the background.

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I think the selfie cam and Layered mode are useful additions for creative photographers, though I do wish the LiPlay+ let you make collages using just the front lens. Not every picture-in-picture opportunity involves a selfie. I tried taking a picture-in-picture of a statue at the botanical gardens, where I often test cameras, and managed to get it in frame with the rear camera and some trial and error.

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The rear LCD is as basic as you'll find on a new digital camera. The 3-inch display is sharp enough given the 5MP sensor (920,000 dots) and doesn't lose contrast when viewed from a steep angle, but skips touch support and isn't bright enough to cut through glare on a sunny day—you'll need to use your hand to shield it from harsh light in many situations. Even though it doesn't have touch support, the screen is an upgrade from the regular LiPlay's 2.7-inch, 230k-dot LCD. The LiPlay+ is inexpensive as far as digital cameras go, but I think its target audience would appreciate a touch screen.

Power and Connectivity: A Built-in Battery With USB-C Charging

The LiPlay+ saves photos onto a microSD memory card (not included). Its pictures are pretty small too; the sensor is 5MP, and so the camera can store more than 22,000 photos on a 32GB card. The camera features an internal, non-replaceable battery that charges via USB-C. The battery is rated for 100 prints per charge, or about ten packs of film. Fuji doesn't specify how many digital pictures it can take, but I took about 100 over a week and didn't see the gauge drop down. However, the battery loses some power when the camera is left idle. I ended up setting the LiPlay+ aside for about eight weeks while working on other projects and taking some vacation time, and it was down to one bar when I powered it back up to start writing this review. It's a good idea to top it off before you start snapping, especially if you haven't used the camera in a while.

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The camera doesn't have a mounting thread to connect to a tripod, a fairly common omission on instant cameras. It sits upright on a flat surface, so you can still set up group shots if you're able to find a convenient shelf or table, but the self-timer would be a more useful feature if Fuji included a tripod thread. The camera would have to be a little bit taller to allow for one without interfering with the film compartment.

The LiPlay+ connects to your smartphone and the Mini LiPlay app using Bluetooth. The pairing process is a breeze: Pop into the camera menu and select Bluetooth Settings/Pairing Registration and follow the instructions in the app.

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The app does some things quite well—it lets you pick any photo from your phone's camera roll and print it, with only a few seconds required to transfer a photo, and it works as a remote control. It's a little too restrictive when it comes to importing photos from the camera to your phone, however. Pictures that you've printed automatically come over when you connect, but there's no way to wirelessly copy photos that you haven't printed out, so you'll have to use a microSD card reader if you want to get them onto your phone. That's a weird omission that leaves me scratching my head as to why. Fujifilm's FAQ for the camera states that "only printed images can be transferred" to the app, but doesn't make an effort to explain the logic behind the restriction.

Autofocus and Image Quality: Filters and Frames Elevate Dated Tech

The camera's autofocus system is effective and accurate, but slow. I clocked a 0.7-second delay between starting focus and taking a picture without flash, and a 1.5-second lag if the flash is enabled. The camera always focuses on the center of the frame and shows a green box over its target, so you'll need to half-press the shutter to lock focus and recompose if you want to take a tight portrait with your subject's face in focus. Advanced features like face and eye detection for people or pets aren't included, but to be fair, you won't find them in any digital-instant hybrid.

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The imaging tech inside the LiPlay+ is pretty basic. The camera uses a small (Type 1/5) image sensor with 5MP resolution, specs that aren't going to light the world on fire or excite shutterbugs. The tech may be iPhone 4-level, but the pictures look pretty good when printed on Instax film, which is what really counts in this case. Its front lens has a fairly bright F2 aperture, but the small sensor means that you'll want to use the flash in typical interior lighting. The rear lens is best used outdoors or in a bright room, as it captures grainy snaps in tough light.

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The LED flash does a good job of shedding light on subjects if you are taking snaps after dark, and can fill in shadows against a modest backlight. It's not powerful enough to light up a room or overpower a really strong backlight, nor does it pop fast enough to freeze motion. Fuji's analog Instax cameras use xenon flashes instead of LED, so they're the way to go if you want that look. There's more trial and error with getting good flash results with analog film cams like the Mini 12 or Mini 99; however, as Instax film has a very low latitude for exposure, beginners are likely to get more consistent results from the LiPlay+ when using flash.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The digital snaps may not match up with modern smartphones, but the camera includes some filters and decorative frames to spice things up. Frame styles mix line art, colors, virtual Instax film borders, and my favorite, a simulated light leak that adds a rainbow color effect to the right side of photos. If you find the built-in options lacking, you can select premade frames or make your own and copy them to the camera using the companion app. Filters change the color of photos for the most part—you can pick between Black and White, Poster, Sepia, Stylish, and Vivid looks—but there is a Fisheye option that mimics the curved look of extreme wide-angle lenses.