The cheapest instant film, ranked

The ranking, with what each one is for

1. 1.instax mini — $0.85. The cheapest, the most available, and the smallest print at 2.4 x 1.8 inches. The default answer for anyone who has not got a reason to choose differently.
2. 2.instax WIDE — $1.10. 3.9 x 2.4 inches, which is the only format that fits a group. On cost per square inch it is the best value film here by a wide margin.
3. 3.instax SQUARE — $1.15. The most expensive instax, for a smaller print than WIDE. You are paying a small premium for the square shape, which is a reasonable thing to want.
4. 4.Polaroid Go — $1.37. Polaroid's cheapest, because its packs hold sixteen rather than eight. The print is 2.6 x 2.1 inches, smaller than an instax mini.
5. 5.Polaroid i-Type — $2.37. The classic 4.2 x 3.5 inch print. Eight to a pack. The film to buy for any modern full-size Polaroid.
6. 6.Polaroid 600 — $2.62. The same photograph as i-Type for $2 more a pack. Buy it only for a vintage 600-series camera.
7. 7.Polaroid SX-70 — $2.75. The most expensive, and ASA 160 rather than 640, so it needs far more light. SX-70 and I-2 cameras only.

Five ways to actually pay less

1. Choose the cheaper format in the first place

This is the biggest lever by a long way, because the camera locks you in for its whole life. Choosing instax mini over Polaroid i-Type saves about $1.52 a photograph — on a hundred photographs a year, $152.

2. Buy multipacks, but only what you will shoot

Polaroid's own i-Type five-pack is about $2.13 a shot against $2.37 for a single pack — 11% off. Real, but modest, and it does not change the ranking. And film expires: buying three years of film to save 11% is a false economy, because results drift either side of the date on the pack.

3. Buy a hybrid camera so you stop paying for bad frames

This is the saving nobody puts in a price comparison, and it is the largest one available. On a conventional camera every shutter press costs the same whether or not the photograph worked. On an instax mini Evo you see the shot on a screen first.

4. Print instead of shooting

A Kodak 4PASS print is about 42 cents and a Canon 4 x 6 about 39 cents. Both are half the cheapest instant film or less, for larger prints you chose. If what you want is physical photographs rather than the ritual of a camera ejecting one, this is simply the cheaper answer.

5. Do not buy 600 film for a modern camera

A small, specific saving that people miss: Polaroid 600 film is $20.99 for eight and i-Type is $18.99 for eight, and every modern Polaroid takes both. Same ASA, same print. Buying 600 in a Now or a Flip is $2 a pack for nothing.

What about third-party and expired film?

Both come up when people look for cheap instant film, and both come with caveats worth stating plainly.

• •Third-party instax-compatible film is sold, usually at a modest discount. The listings we see are mostly repackaged Fujifilm stock rather than independently manufactured film, and the saving is generally a dollar or two a pack. We have not verified any specific third-party product, so we do not recommend one.
• •Expired film is genuinely cheaper and genuinely unpredictable. Colors shift, contrast changes, and sometimes a pack does not develop at all. For experimenting it is interesting; for a gift or an event it is a bad idea.
• •Bulk packs from unfamiliar sellers are where counterfeit and badly stored film shows up. Film is a chemical product and heat damages it; a pack that has sat in a warehouse is not a bargain.

What a year costs, each way