Fujifilm instax SQUARE SQ40 review

1. Verdict: the best-looking instax

Fujifilm instax SQUARE SQ40

The square print, the retro body, and about half the cost of a real Polaroid.

Buy it for

An adult who wants the classic square photograph and a camera that looks like an object.

Skip it if

A tight film budget, or anyone who objects to buying CR2 lithium batteries.

• •A **2.4 x 2.4 inch** square picture on 86 x 72 mm film — the shape people mean by 'a Polaroid'.
• •About **$1.15 a shot** against roughly $2.37 for Polaroid i-Type.
• •A wider automatic exposure range than the minis — Lv 5.0 to 15.5 — and a 1/2 to 1/400 sec shutter.
• •Engadget ranks it the best instant camera overall and credits the "leatherette details and retro design".
• •Two CR2 cells last about **30 film packs**, which is a very long time between changes.

Running cost: instax SQUARE works out at $1.15 a shot. See every format’s cost.

How it scores8.4/10 overall

• Build and feel9
• Print format8
• Ease of use9
• Running cost6
• Creative control3

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 “looks great thanks to the leatherette details and retro design”.

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Read the full review

What the square format actually gets you

When someone says they want a Polaroid, they usually mean the shape: a square photograph with a white border. That is a cultural image rather than a brand preference, and the SQ40 is the cheapest honest way to satisfy it.

The print is not identical to a Polaroid — it is 2.4 x 2.4 inches on an 86 x 72 mm sheet, where a full-size Polaroid is 4.2 x 3.5 inches with a 79 x 77 mm image area. The Polaroid is bigger. But the SQ40's photograph is unmistakably the square format, and it costs about $1.15 against $2.37.

That is the trade-off in one sentence: a smaller square print for less than half the money. Whether it is the right trade depends on whether the recipient wants the format or the brand, which is the question Instax vs Polaroid is built around.

Specifications

What it costs to own

instax SQUARE film was $22.99 for a 20-exposure twin pack on 13 October 2026 — about $1.15 a shot. That makes it the most expensive instax film, slightly above WIDE at $1.10 despite the smaller print, and well under half the cost of Polaroid i-Type.

At 200 photographs a year, the SQ40 route costs roughly $360 all in and the Polaroid Now route roughly $595 — for a bigger print. That $235 gap is the whole argument for this camera.

One running-cost footnote: CR2 lithium batteries cost more than AAs and are harder to find in an ordinary shop. The 30-pack battery life largely offsets that, but it is worth buying a spare pair in advance rather than mid-event.

What it is good at

• •Looking good. This is the best-built body in the simple instax range, and Engadget's best-overall pick. For an adult recipient, that matters more than any specification.
• •The format. The square print is what most people actually want from this category.
• •Exposure range. Lv 5.0 to 15.5 is wider than any mini, so it copes better with bright sunlight.
• •Battery life. About 30 film packs — 600 exposures — per pair of cells. You will forget it has batteries.
• •Being effortless. Fully automatic, one button, a selfie mode and a selfie mirror. Nobody needs to learn it.

Where it falls short

• •The most expensive instax film, at about $1.15 a shot — more than WIDE for a smaller print. That ordering is genuinely odd and worth knowing before you choose a format.
• •CR2 batteries. More expensive than AAs, not stocked in supermarkets, and if the camera dies on a trip you will not casually replace them.
• •No controls at all. No exposure compensation, no way to disable the flash, no self-timer. For a camera at this price, the absence of a self-timer is the most irritating.
• •453 g. Heavier than any mini, and not a pocket camera.
• •It is still not a Polaroid. If the recipient specifically wants a Polaroid print, this will be a near-miss rather than a win. Be honest with yourself about which they asked for.

What published reviews say

Engadget names the SQUARE SQ40 its best overall instant camera, writing that it "looks great thanks to the leatherette details and retro design". That is a judgment about the object rather than the photographs, which is a fair reflection of why people buy this camera.

Alternatives

• •[Polaroid Now Generation 3](/instant-cameras/polaroid-now-gen-3-review) — the real thing, bigger, with autofocus, at $2.37 a shot.
• •[Polaroid Go Generation 3](/instant-cameras/polaroid-go-gen-3-review) — a genuine Polaroid square at $1.37 a shot, but a much smaller print than either.
• •Kodak Mini Shot 3 Retro — a 3 x 3 inch square print for about 42 cents, if the format matters more than it being instant film. See Kodak Mini Shot vs instax.
• •[instax mini 13](/instant-cameras/best-instax-cameras) — cheaper to buy and run, with a self-timer, in the smaller rectangular format.

Who should buy it

Buy the SQ40 for an adult who wants the square format and a camera that looks like a considered object. It is the best-looking simple instax and it sits at roughly half the running cost of the Polaroid that makes a comparable photograph.

Buy something else if the budget is tight — a mini is 30 cents a shot cheaper — or if the recipient specifically asked for a Polaroid, in which case nothing but a Polaroid will do.