Instant cameras under $50: what you can actually get
We would rather tell you the truth than pad a list. No new instant camera is under $50 — but $50 is far from useless in this category.
No new instant camera sells for under $50. The cheapest genuine options start around $70 to $90, and the Polaroid Go Generation 3 is $89.99 listed. If your budget is $50, spend it on film and an album for a camera someone already owns, or add to it and buy an instax mini 12.
How this page is funded. Shake & Print earns a commission when you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It does not change which products we pick or the order we rank them in, and we do not state prices we have not verified — the buy buttons send you to the current listing instead. Full disclosure.
| # | Product | Best for | Cost per shot | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  instax mini pocket albumTwo packs of film and an album beat any camera you can get for fifty dollars. | Best $50 spend: film plus an album | n/a | Check price |
| 2 |  Polaroid Go Generation 3At $89.99 listed, the cheapest new camera in the category — still well above $50. | Closest real camera to the budget | $1.37 | Check price |
| 3 |  Photo string and clip display kitTwine and pegs cost less than a pack of film and are what people actually do with prints. | Best under $20 add-on | n/a | Check price |
What $50 does buy, in order of usefulness
1. Best $50 spend: film plus an album
instax mini pocket album
Two packs of film and an album beat any camera you can get for fifty dollars.
- Buy it for
- Anyone buying for a person who already owns an instant camera, or anyone topping up a gift.
- Skip it if
- Someone who needs the gift to be a camera. This is a consumable, not hardware.
- Two 20-exposure packs of instax mini film is about $34, and a sleeved album is about $15 — forty shots and somewhere to keep them, for roughly $49.
- Film is the thing every instant camera owner runs out of, and nobody is disappointed to receive it.
- An album is the cheapest thing that makes a camera get used more rather than less.
How it scores8.3/10 overall
- Value for $5010
- Will get used10
- Feels like a gift5
Our editorial scoring, built from published specifications and reviews by outlets that test hardware — see how we pick. We have not handled these products, so these are not test results.
#ad · we earn a commission at no extra cost to you
2. Closest real camera to the budget
Polaroid Go Generation 3
At $89.99 listed, the cheapest new camera in the category — still well above $50.
- Buy it for
- Someone who can stretch the budget and wants an actual Polaroid.
- Skip it if
- A $50 budget, plainly. And the print is small — 2.6 x 2.1 inches, with film at $1.37 a shot.
- It is the lowest sticker price of any new camera we would recommend.
- Rechargeable, with a self-timer and double exposure, so it does not feel like a budget compromise in use.
- Starter sets that bundle film are sometimes close to the camera-only price — worth checking before you buy them separately.
Running cost: Polaroid Go works out at $1.37 a shot, so a hundred photographs in the first year puts the real total at about $243.92 including the camera. See every format’s cost.
How it scores6.5/10 overall
- Value for $503
- Easy for a beginner8
- Print size4
- Running cost5
Our editorial scoring, built from published specifications and reviews by outlets that test hardware — see how we pick. We have not handled these products, so these are not test results.
Engadget, which publishes hands-on reviews, calls it “basic and relatively cheap, but it offers a lot”.
#ad · we earn a commission at no extra cost to you
3. Best under $20 add-on
Photo string and clip display kit
Twine and pegs cost less than a pack of film and are what people actually do with prints.
- Buy it for
- Anyone whose gift needs rounding out, or whose recipient has a drawer full of prints.
- Skip it if
- Being the whole gift. This is the thing you add, not the thing you give.
- Cheaper than a single pack of any film on this site.
- It solves the real problem: prints get admired once and then put in a drawer.
- Check the clip width — a clip sized for a 4 x 6 print will crease an instax mini.
How it scores7.0/10 overall
- Value for money9
- Will get used8
- Feels like a gift4
Our editorial scoring, built from published specifications and reviews by outlets that test hardware — see how we pick. We have not handled these products, so these are not test results.
#ad · we earn a commission at no extra cost to you
The arithmetic that makes film the better buy
This is the part that makes the recommendation above more than a consolation prize. In this category the consumable is the expensive half, so $50 of film is a bigger gift than $50 off a camera.
| Format | Print size | Pack | Pack price | Cost per shot | Checked at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| instax mini | 2.4 x 1.8 in (62 x 46 mm) | 20 | $16.99 | $0.85 | Pro Photo Supply |
| instax WIDE | 3.9 x 2.4 in (99 x 62 mm) | 20 | $21.99 | $1.10 | Pro Photo Supply |
| instax SQUARE | 2.4 x 2.4 in (62 x 62 mm image on 86 x 72 mm film) | 20 | $22.99 | $1.15 | Pro Photo Supply |
| Polaroid Go | 2.6 x 2.1 in (66.6 x 53.9 mm) | 16 | $21.99 | $1.37 | Polaroid |
| Polaroid i-Type | 4.2 x 3.5 in (107 x 88 mm) | 8 | $18.99 | $2.37 | Polaroid |
| Film | Packs for about $50 | Photographs |
|---|---|---|
| instax mini | 2 packs ($33.98) | 40 shots |
| instax WIDE | 2 packs ($43.98) | 40 shots |
| instax SQUARE | 2 packs ($45.98) | 40 shots |
| Polaroid Go | 2 packs ($43.98) | 32 shots |
| Polaroid i-Type | 2 packs ($37.98) | 16 shots |
Forty instax mini photographs for about $34 is a genuinely good gift for someone who owns the camera. Sixteen Polaroid photographs for about $38 is the same money and a quarter of the pictures, which is the whole argument of this site in one line.
What about used cameras?
A used instax mini is often genuinely under $50, and it is the only honest way to answer this question with hardware. Two cautions. First, prefer an AA-powered model — on a camera with a built-in battery, a worn cell is the end of the camera, and you cannot tell from a listing photograph. Second, a faulty eject mechanism wastes film at 85 cents a frame, so the saving evaporates quickly.
As a gift, used is a hard sell. As a way for someone to try the category themselves, it is sensible.
And what about the very cheap no-name cameras?
There is a class of sub-$50 "instant camera" that is really a toy digital camera with a thermal receipt printer inside. It prints greyscale on thermal paper, which fades within months and is not a photograph in any meaningful sense. They are often marketed at children and they are not what anybody means by an instant camera. We do not recommend any of them and we have not listed them.
Questions people ask
Is there any instant camera under $50?
Not new, from a manufacturer whose film you can reliably buy. The category starts around $70 to $90 — the Polaroid Go Generation 3 is $89.99 listed. Sub-$50 listings are generally used cameras, discontinued models, or thermal-paper toys that do not produce a lasting photograph.
What is the cheapest real instant camera?
Among currently sold cameras, the Polaroid Go Generation 3 has the lowest listed price at $89.99, and the instax mini 12 is usually the cheapest instax. The instax mini 12 is the cheaper of the two to own, because its film costs about 85 cents a shot against $1.37 for Polaroid Go film.
Is a cheap instant camera worth buying?
A cheap camera from Fujifilm or Polaroid, yes — the simple models are simple on purpose, not cut down. A cheap no-name camera, no: the ones under $50 usually print on thermal paper that fades, or use a proprietary media you will struggle to rebuy.
What is a good $50 photography gift?
Two 20-exposure packs of instax mini film and a sleeved album, which comes to about $49 and gives someone forty photographs plus somewhere to keep them. If they do not own a camera yet, $50 towards an instax mini 12 is better spent than $50 on a camera that will not last.
Read these next
Best instant cameras under $100
The bracket where the real cameras actually start.
The cheapest instant film
Every format ranked by cost per shot, cheapest first.
Photography gifts under $50
Everything in this category that genuinely fits the budget.
Best instax photo albums
The $15 purchase that makes a camera get used more.
Sources
- Fujifilm instax camera range (US) — Current-lineup check, 13 October 2026 — used to avoid recommending discontinued models
- Pro Photo Supply — instax mini film, 20 exposures — $16.99 on 13 October 2026, the basis of the 85c-per-shot figure
- Polaroid — Go film — $21.99 for 16 photos on 13 October 2026
- Polaroid — instant cameras — Listed prices, 13 October 2026
Found something out of date or wrong? Tell us and we will correct it with a dated note. Our picks are re-checked quarterly — see our editorial policy.