• Often gimmicky or offering mediocre prints, photo printers are finally gaining credibility with the new Instax Link Wide from Fujifilm.

  • Sold for 130 euros, the device, easy to use, prints quality photos, in 62 x 99 mm format, which can be personalized.

  • Bonus: the possibility of associating a QR Code with its images to associate with its text views, written or audio messages, and GPS location.

With the Instax Link Wide, smartphone printers just might have found something to talk to.

Large printing, possibility of customizing its images, association with its photos of a QR Code allowing access to a sound, a message or a place... its designer Fujifilm seems to have worked hard to offer a particularly accomplished machine.

Bingo?

While with the approach of Mother's Day, the little machine could make many happy, "20 Minutes" tested the different possibilities.

Always ready to use

Fujifilm's new Instax Link Wide printer expands the manufacturer's range of photo printers for smartphones.

After the Instax mini Link which prints in credit card format (86 x 54 mm), after the Instax Share SP-3 and its square format (62 x 62 mm), the new Wide sees bigger and offers prints in size 62 x 99 mm.

We are getting closer to a classic 10x15 print.

The device has the merit of discretion.

In ash white or mocha grey, measuring 13.9 x 12.7 x 3.37 cm, it can stand vertically on a base and discreetly find its place on a table corner.

Battery-operated and Bluetooth, it is piloted using the Instax Link Wide application.

No account to create, so much the better: the machine is implemented in two minutes.

Once recharged (announced autonomy: up to 100 prints), and loaded with a 10-sheet cartridge, it is ready to use.

Simple printing: prints to personalize

This is obviously the first function proposed.

By selecting simple printing, it is possible to launch the printing of a photo which is extracted from the machine in 15 seconds and is revealed in 4 to 5 minutes at most.

In the meantime, we may have taken care to make a small crop, to adjust brightness, contrast and saturation, or even to choose a filter.

There are only three, but they are sufficient: monochrome, sepia or automatic.

The latter has the effect of revitalizing the colors and can offer quite flattering results.

Text can also be added, but directly on the photo and not on its small white side band, reserved for a caption to be written using a pen or felt-tip pen.

And tons of emoticons are in ambush to add to each photo its dose of LOL.

Printing from the model:

scrapbooking spirit

The application offers this time to insert an image in thirty different layers.

"Bestfriends", "Fun Times!"

“, “Happy Birthday” and a few other “molds” are in the game, embellished with some visual effects.

The scrapbooking

spirit

is there.

It is obviously possible to modify the small texts proposed while taking advantage of the composition associated with the image.

These models are quite practical for making invitation cards, thank you cards or small announcements that will have a lot of elegance.

We had fun creating invitation cards for an upcoming birthday, and let's face it, it's more fun than a What's App message...

Collage printing: guaranteed graphic effects

The idea here is to combine several views in a single photo: from two to sixteen images in one, separated by a small white border.

The effect is quite nice, but on testing, we find that the format of the printed photo requires you to stay on a reasonable number of images so that the composition retains a certain look.

Good for tight portraits in large numbers, but not for immortalizing landscapes… And the more images there are, the more adjusting them (by repositioning them, cropping…) on the small screen of a smartphone becomes a balancing act .

Printing with QR code: beware, hidden messages!

This is the real good idea of ​​the Instax Link Wide from Fujifilm.

Thus, it is possible to associate a QR Code with any photo print.

This can send you to a website, an audio recording (10 seconds max), a geolocation or a hidden message.

Simple to implement, this automatically generated QR code can give the printed photo an extra soul, such as associating a few recorded words with an image, or launching a printed invitation with the GPS coordinates of the meeting place.

Too bad that Fujifilm only guarantees the durability of this hidden information for two years.

Beyond that, we still don't know how our messages and other geographical coordinates will be eaten!

Remains a good printer (sold 130 euros, approximately).

Fujifilm's Instax Link Wide first seduces with the quality of its prints, far from the mediocre quality of printers using Zink technology.

The proposed photo format no longer has the gimmicky side of the small credit card size photos of most of the manufacturer's Instax cameras.

For its part, immediacy remains a strength, with this little magic and nostalgic side of the photo which is revealed in a few minutes.

As for the cost of printing, it starts at 0.85 euro per unit depending on the number of view packs purchased.

This remains expensive, but given the possible retouching before printing, each photo is guaranteed to be successful.

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