It’s often hard to guess what a camera manufacturer is going to do, because where we as press, consumers, users and working pros know what we want right now, it’s the camera company’s job to know what we’ll want in the future. On either side though, there’s a bit of uncertainty. That, however, doesn’t apply when it comes to Fuji Instax, because the popularity of the type is so wide and far reaching, that with the surefire certainty that day follows night, Fuji will continue for the foreseeable future to release new Instax cameras, like they’ve done this morning with the ‘all new’ Fuji Instax Mini 9.

The Instax mini line is the one you’ll see at birthday parties, hen nights, proms, weddings, in the hands of Japanese tourists in the west and western tourists in the East, and just about everywhere. And you can’t miss them because of their vivid colors, and the new colors are Flamingo Pink, Ice Blue and Lime Green, with two additional colors, Cobalt Blue and Smokey White, to follow in June.

This new model certainly retains the same familiar family genealogy in terms of aesthetics, but with some tweaks in looks and functionality. There is a new selfie mirror, an attachable close-up lens, and perhaps most interestingly there’s a new high-key mode.

The selfie mirror is there really just for that, for selfies and framing of them, and the close-up lens allows for shooting as close as 35cm away, which should do well for your pets, and flowers, and so on. With high-key mode you choose it as a setting with the brightness adjustment, and according to Fuji’s literature, “allows you to take pictures with a softer impression.”

It probably warrants saying here that high-key doesn’t always mean soft. High-key lighting is generally very bright, killing harsh shadows with a vibrant brightness. Depending on your subject, however, you can have high key shots where dark details really stand out, like eyes, or clothing and hair, and it’s an interesting look. How well this little camera will be able to execute is yet to be seen, but kudos to Fuji for putting the feature there, and sounds fun.

If you’re interested in a new instant film camera, check out our review of the Leica Sofort: