Fuji Instax SQ40 Instant Film Camera Review

Back in 2020, I gave the SQ1 a fairly harsh review due to costing significantly more than the older SQ6 while removing features and build quality. Jump forward to 2024, and the SQ6 has been largely discontinued, leaving just the SQ1 and now the ‘premium’ SQ40.

As the ‘premium’ option in the Instax Square lineup, the SQ40 has big shoes to fill, especially now that the excellent SQ6 is gone. So what does the SQ40 bring to the table that the entry-level SQ1 doesn’t have?

A fake leather (or rubber? I can’t tell what it’s trying to be) coating. And, um, that’s it. Beyond that, there is zero difference between the two cameras. Well, other than price. You’ll pay for that coating.

If you’re interested in a new camera for the Fuji Instax Square format, the SQ1 is the camera to get. I like the fun colors it comes in and the plastic body, while cheap, is going to hold up way, way better than the coating on the SQ40. Even if they cost the same I’d choose the SQ1 every time.

That said, the SQ40 is not a inherently bad camera. It’s just overpriced and overly simplistic for what you’re getting, which is a fixed-focus bare bones instant film camera.

Format

I’m mostly comparing the SQ40 to the SQ1 because they use the same kind of film – Fuji Instax Square. But if you haven’t settled on an instant film format yet, there are a few options out there.

Fuji Instax comes in three sizes – mini, square, and wide. All of them have the same height, they’re just cut at different lengths in the factory. The most popular by far is the Instax Mini series, which has images that are wallet sized. The tiny images aren’t great for detailed scans, but they are fun as keepsakes. Instax Mini cameras are great too, with both the entry-level Instax 12 and premium Instax 99 being Fuji’s best instant film cameras to date.

Instax Square has more of that classic Polaroid shape with a square frame, but it is still much smaller than an actual Polaroid. Rounding out the formats is the unloved Instax Wide format, which is a great film format undone by the fact there are no great cameras for it.

Finally, there’s Polaroid, which is the great classic shape and size we know and love. Polaroid makes new cameras as well as film that still works with vintage ones. Polaroid is more expensive and can be difficult to use, but it’s personally my favorite as a photographic tool.

I think Instax Square is the best Instax format, as it brings over the benefits of a smaller format (more compact cameras, lower film prices), Fuji Instax’s durability, but isn’t too small like Instax Mini. Instax Square is truly a great format that deserves a high-end camera as good as the Instax Mini 99.

Build Quality

So let’s assume you want the Instax Square format. The only thing the SQ40 has going for it is that coating, so how is it? It’s terrible. The fake leather and/or rubber (as mentioned above, I cannot tell what the heck they’re trying to emulate with this substance) feels awful and chalky. I don’t know why it feels so bad, because the Instax Mini 99 also has a similar plastic grip coating that feels great. Rubber-ish plastics often disintegrate with time, and I shudder to think what the SQ40 will feel like as it returns to goo over the years.

The silver plastic accents also feel like they’re made from the cheapest plastic available. The handles to attach lanyards and straps feel fragile and I would not trust them to take any kind of weight.

I can almost admire the fully plastic body of the SQ1 because it doesn’t hide what it is, while the SQ40 feels like it’s pretending to be a nicer camera. Neither camera comes close to the SQ6’s smart use of textured plastic to make a premium feeling and looking camera out of relatively affordable materials.

Also the battery ‘door’ (lid?) remains an Achilles heel as it does on almost all modern Instax cameras. It feels brittle and pops entirely off rather than having some kind of simple latch to keep it from getting lost. It sucks and I imagine there will be many SQ40s out there with taped-on camera lids or ones missing entirely.

Features and Controls

Like I said, this is a bare bones camera, but the simplicity is great for beginners. There are only three modes – off, on, and selfie, which you select by turning the ring around the lens.

I wish instead of ‘selfie’ they called the close focus mode ‘close focus mode,’ because you’re going to need it for more than selfies. Anything that’s within roughly a meter of the camera is going to require selfie mode to get a sharp shot. At least you get a little selfie mirror on the lens barrel which is quite helpful for framing without a digital screen.

I remain frustrated that there are no markings on the camera on what distances each mode can be used. People shouldn’t have to search the internet to find out what the two focus modes are. There’s also no way to check if you have anything in focus, as there are no indicators and the viewfinder is just a window next to the lens that has no idea if the camera is even on.

There’s not even a tripod mount on this thing. The SQ40 is entry level in every way. You can’t even disable the flash.

Image Quality

Exposure and image sharpness is exactly the same as the SQ1. As far as I can tell, it uses the exact same lens and exposure system. That said, it’s pretty good! Even in challenging situations images will look solid. Just be careful that the flash has a relatively short throw range, so backgrounds inside will come out as black voids. The camera does its best in bright outdoor environments.

Your biggest barrier to image quality will actually be the fixed-focus lens. Because of the tiny frame size, you’ll want to get close to your subject to fill the fame, but get too close and suddenly you’re out of ‘on’ range and in ‘selfie’ range.

Even in selfie mode it’s easy to accidentally get too close (or far) from your subject, resulting in a blurry photo. Generally, when in ‘on’ mode, stay a bit farther away from your subject than you want and you’ll be fine, and in selfie mode hold the camera as far as you can reach. Or find someone with long arms.

Battery

Just like the SQ1, the SQ40 uses a pair of relatively exotic CR2 batteries. I’m a broken record here, but I wish this camera used common AA batteries like the Fuji Instax Mini 12 does. AAs are easy to find, and you can get rechargeable versions that reduce waste and protect your camera from a leaking old battery.

At least Fuji includes them in the box. The biggest issue with the battery is the flimsy battery door/lid latch that’s supposed to cover them.

Conclusion

Get the SQ1. There’s really no reason to pick up a SQ40 unless you can score a great deal on one. It’s a perfectly fine camera, but it’s too expensive and the cheaper SQ1 is the same or better in literally every way. The discontinued SQ6 remains my favorite Instax Square camera, so picking up a used one of those might also be a great option.

There’s a big gap in Fuji’s lineup where a premium square format camera would fit in. I don’t know why they discontinued the SQ6 without a proper replacement, but hopefully Fuji’s got something up their sleeve sooner rather than later…