I love the camera quality of my iPhone 15 Pro Max, but I rarely have time to organize the images stored on my smartphone and print them out to make photobooks Call me old-fashioned, but I like to collect physical photos to commemorate special life experiences That's why I love my instant camera and why I brought it along to document my recent multi-day road trip

The best instant cameras can eject the film, develop the film, and take and print photos within minutes There are several solid choices on the market, but my current favorite instant camera is the Fujifilm Instax Mini 12 A single cartridge of compatible film will print 10 2 x 3 frames that fit perfectly in my wallet

As I begin the 900-mile drive from Jacksonville, FL to New York, NY, I add a new battery to my mint green FUJIFILM Instax Mini 12 There are five color variations, four of which are currently available on Amazon for $69 It comes bundled with accessories such as a case, extra film, and a colorful photo frame

I stopped at top restaurants, famous tourist spots, and the homes of friends I don't get to see very often In Charleston, I took a photo of perhaps the best barbecue plate I've had in my life at Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ, and thanks to the Instax Mini 12's automatic flash control, even though the lighting in the restaurant was dark, all the food in the photo of the food was visible, even though the lighting in the restaurant was dark

Next, in Charlotte, I took a selfie with a high school friend enjoying a pilsner at one of the city's 40-plus breweries, and the Instax Mini 12's cleverly placed mirror on the front allowed me to frame both of us and the beer

Finally, outside of Washington, DC, I took a photo of the "Awakening" sculpture of a giant aluminum man rising from the sandy beach at National Harbor, using the Instax Mini 12's close-up mode and parallax correction to frame the sculpture's face in front of the Potomac River

The result

As a result, I ended the drive with a dozen or so photos from the trip to add to my photo book Back home, I kept a $12 Amazon album containing 256 2 x 3-inch frames taken with my Instax Mini camera Snapshots taken on recent adventures can be juxtaposed with those taken at birthday celebrations and holiday gatherings

While I'm sticking with the Instax Mini and its specific film size, Fujifilm makes several different styles of instant cameras for different film types This means that if you are considering an instant camera for your next trip, you have several options But if you're looking for the most compact and beginner-friendly camera, I think the Instax Mini 12 is a practically foolproof choice at this price