I spent the weekend trying Polaroid's new Flip instant camera with sonar autofocus

CNN

29-04-2025

Instant cameras have been all the rage over the past few years. Whether it's taking a step back from relying on your smartphone or just finding joy in the spontaneity that is a physical film print, there's a lot to love about these retro cameras. But there are some downsides: Mainly, messing up a photo is far more costly than snapping a digital picture on your iPhone. Today, the Polaroid Flip hits store shelves with the company's first sonar-backed autofocus system in decades, designed to make it easier to get the perfect shot.
Polaroid Flip Instant Camera
Polaroid's latest instant camera has many of the signature features I've come to expect from the brand. It supports Polaroid i-Type and 600 film, has Bluetooth support for connecting to a companion app and rocks a classic retro-inspired design — all with new enhancements like a sonar autofocus system and brighter flash. The new Polaroid Flip is as simple as it gets for an instant camera. You get a prominent red shutter button, eight exposures per film pack and a flip-up lid that turns on the gadget. That flippable design does more than just give the Flip its name. It also houses new technology, making this a far better option for those who only want to point the camera at a subject and print a good photo.
Polaroid's latest may be the newest camera on the block, but it also relies on the company's legacy technology to achieve that true point-and-shoot focus. Housed in the top lid is the flash, and below it sits the headlining feature — a sonar sensor. Like I said above, the Flip is the first of the company's releases to use the tech in over a decade. In its application here, the camera relies on sonar to measure the distance between the camera and your subject before switching between one of four focus points best suited to deliver an in-focus photo. It also means that the autofocus system works in low-light scenarios. This all lessens the odds that you'll print out a blurry shot, or worse, fuss with the manual settings to dial in an exposure.
Circling back to everything else packed into the lid, the Polaroid Flip's canopy folds down to protect the lens and turn off the camera when not in use. It houses the flash, which is the company's brightest in a modern instant camera. This is bright enough to illuminate subjects over 14 feet away and can be controlled via a companion app if you'd like to tone it down. Speaking of the app, the camera's Bluetooth support can pair with a smartphone to tweak other settings like aperture and shutter speed. While not the main selling point of the camera, it gives photographers the choice of customizing shots if they want to.
My favorite part about the Polaroid Flip is its sonar-based autofocus system, so I wanted to spend a bit more time explaining how it works. The instant camera has two lenses that are split into four preset focus points to coincide with specific distances: 0.65m, 0.85m, 1.2m and 2.5m. Polaroid also backs that with a new scene analysis feature that warns you with a red LED light in the viewfinder when an image is overexposed, underexposed or if there are focus issues.
A half-press of the shutter button fires up the sonar sensor, which beams out to see how far away the subject is. Then, the camera's fixed lenses shift between those four focus points to find the best tool for the job. All that's left to do is fully press the shutter, and your print will pop out of the front.
While we've yet to review the new Polaroid Flip in its entirety, I spent the past weekend with it and jotted down some noteworthy thoughts. Last year, I purchased Polaroid's first manual instant camera, the I-2, and have had a complicated relationship with it. Dialing in a picture is satisfying, but I rarely want to go through the effort just for an instant film print. If I were going to do that, I'd be shooting with proper film. So for an instant camera, I've learned the hard way that I'd rather press the shutter and receive a print, not spend a minute or two fussing with the controls.
Polaroid's Flip is the exact opposite of the I-2 I've grown to dislike. The former has been fun and effortless to use, so much so that I let my partner take a crack at shooting some prints. She is by no means a photographer, but she was able to take some solid photos. That ease of use is what I was looking for from the Flip, and it did not disappoint.
I'll be excited to see what my testing colleagues at CNN Underscored think once they inevitably get their hands on the Polaroid Flip. Our current best-tested instant camera pick, the Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo, has the same $200 price tag as this new release. That makes all the tech and the ease of use factor packed into the Polaroid Flip a better buy in my book. Though, I'll have to wait and see if the Flip shakes up our guide in the coming months after a longer-term testing session.
CNN Underscored has a team of writers and editors with many years of product testing experience as well as experience researching and recommending other buys, and they ensure each article is carefully edited and products are properly vetted. We talk to top experts when relevant to ensure we are testing each product accurately, recommending only the best products and considering the pros and cons of each item. Senior deals editor Rikka Altland has personally been reviewing all kinds of tech and home goods for nearly a decade.