Seeing a memory take shape beyond your screen changes how it feels. A favorite photo becomes a print you can tuck into a journal or pin beside your desk, and the everyday moments you capture get a little more room to live.

That was the spirit of Fujifilm’s instax Playhou2e launch in Makati, where visual artist Jill Arteche brought her signature illustrations into the event space.

Her artwork surrounded the latest additions to the instax family, the instax Pal 2 and instax Link WIDE 2. Both devices treat photography as a form of personal expression, from the snapshots you take throughout the day to the printed memories you want to keep close.

A pocket-sized camera that goes wherever you do

The original instax Pal made the case for carrying a camera without a full-sized setup. Its successor, the instax Pal 2, builds on that with a refreshed design and improved image quality.

The palm-sized camera is built for everyday adventures and can capture angles that are awkward to get with a smartphone. Its compact body also makes it easy to bring along if you like documenting your day as it happens.

Fujifilm gave the Pal 2 a semi-matte finish. A new monitor on top lets you review shots right after you take them, and the added viewfinder, control dial, and lever give it a more tactile feel to shoot with.

The specs have moved up, too. The Pal 2 captures 10-megapixel images, double the original’s five megapixels, and its internal storage holds up to 100 images compared with 50 before. A separately sold microSD card adds more room.

The creative options are where the Pal 2 gets playful. It offers 30 effects, so you can give images different moods without editing each one from scratch. Its instax Animation mode strings up to 10 consecutive shots into a flipbook-style animated video.

Transferring your photos is straightforward. The Pal 2 supports wireless Bluetooth transfers, and a USB Type-C connection offers faster transfers to compatible smartphones. From there, you can edit the images and post them to social media or keep them in your camera roll.

Because the Pal 2 is part of the instax ecosystem, its digital photos can also be printed on instant film through compatible instax printers. That means you can shoot first and decide later which moments deserve a physical copy.

Turning your camera roll into something worth keeping

Taking photos is only half the fun. The other half is deciding what to do with the hundreds of images that pile up on our phones.

The instax Link WIDE 2 is Fujifilm’s answer for anyone who collects travel photos or documents celebrations. As the brand’s WIDE-format smartphone printer, it prints at twice the image area of the instax mini format, which leaves more space for group photos and landscapes.

Its biggest new feature is Photo Mixer, which builds scrapbook-style collages from multiple images you pick in the dedicated app. Instead of printing a single photo, you can combine highlights from a trip or a gathering into one larger keepsake.

The app suggests layouts based on your chosen photos and adjusts image sizes, angles, text placement, and fonts to keep the design cohesive. You can then add your own text and stamps. A cutout function identifies people and objects in your photos so you can layer them into the collage.

With Photo Mixer, printing becomes part of the creative process, and your camera roll turns into material for building a visual record of an experience in a single print.

The Link WIDE 2 also gets a design refresh, with two-tone finishes in Duo Beige and Duo Blue. The light and dark surfaces give it a polished look on a shelf or desk, and an illuminated instax logo glows while it prints.

Connectivity has expanded, too. Beyond smartphones and tablets, the printer works with PCs, Fujifilm X Series cameras, and the instax Pal 2, so digital artwork and other compatible images can become physical prints.

A more personal way to keep your memories

The instax Pal 2 and Link WIDE 2 share the idea that photography is a way to express yourself. The Pal 2 makes it easy to capture moments as they happen, and the Link WIDE 2 gives those images a place in the physical world.

Jill Arteche’s artwork at the launch backed that idea up. Her illustrations filled the space with personality and showed how photos and art can make an environment feel more personal. The event also made a case for revisiting and reinterpreting the images we collect.

Taking a photo takes seconds, and printing one can make the memory feel more special. The instax Pal 2 and Link WIDE 2 bring that into everyday life and give your snapshots room for creativity, from the moment you press the shutter to the moment you find a place for the print.

In the Philippines, the Fujifilm instax Pal 2 retails for PhP 10,599, while the Fujifilm instax Link WIDE 2 is priced at PhP 10,999. Both devices are now available on Fujifilm’s authorized stores and retailers nationwide.

Sony has just launched its first fisheye zoom G Lens for full-frame Alpha E-mount cameras: the Sony FE 8-14mm F3.5 Fisheye G. It will be available from late September for an SRP of US$ 1,599.99 / SG$ 2,049.

The 8 mm to 14 mm zoom focal range covers a broad set of fisheye perspectives in one compact lens.

At 8 mm, the lens shoots circular fisheye with a 180-degree angle of view projected as a circular image on a full-frame sensor.

Meanwhile, at 14 mm, it shoots diagonal fisheye across the full frame with a 180-degree diagonal angle of view.

Users can match the angle of view and composition to the subject and creative intent, across various scenarios like landscapes, architecture, sports, and more.

An optical design with ED (extra-low dispersion) glass and aspherical elements suppresses chromatic and other aberrations across the image area.

This enables high resolution throughout the zoom range with fast and precise autofocus and Linear Response MF. All these while suppressing focus breathing and operating quietly for movie production.

Controls include a focus mode switch, zoom lock switch, and an aperture ring with switchable click stops.

A minimum focusing distance of 0.15 meters and maximum magnification of 0.22x at the telephoto end also allow close-up fisheye perspectives both for stills and movies.

The Sony FE 8-14mm F3.5 Fisheye G measures about 63.1 mm in maximum diameter and 82.8 mm in length.

It weights about 314 grams, giving it mobility for handheld, gimbal, and rig-based shooting. It is also dust and moisture-resistant with a fluorine coating on the front.

In addition, users can opt for a dual-lens configuration with the VENCE Extension System Mini.

I’ve been shooting with the Insta360 X5 for a year. Trail runs, races, city trips, training sessions, all of it in 360.

I’ve held onto footage from that camera that I still watch back for no reason other than to remember what a particular morning felt like. I liked it enough that I wasn’t in a rush to switch anything.

After a month-long vacation carrying only the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P, I started thinking about consolidating it into a full DJI ecosystem instead, since I’d already tested and geared up with a Pocket, a Nano, an Action 6, and most recently, the Lito X1. The X5 was the one outlier left.

I never got to try the original Osmo 360, not until I saw my friend, Kyle Vergara, using one when we were in Boracay. Watching him shoot with it planted the idea before I even knew I wanted it.

So I waited for the DJI Osmo 360 II to see if it was worth the switch, half hoping it wouldn’t be, since switching meant admitting I was ready to let go of a camera that had been good to me.

Insta360 released the X6 around the same time, and as a creator, it was tempting. But between the workflow I already had and the cost of the gear, the math didn’t work out.

Anything leaning hard into AI these days comes with a jacked-up price tag, and the X6 wasn’t an exception. The Osmo 360 II has its own AI features, but the price is still bearable.

Price

The Standard Combo starts at PhP 32,490, with the Osmo Extreme Battery Plus, a Camera Protective Pouch, a cleaning cloth, an Osmo 360 Silicone Lens Cap, and a USB-C to USB-C PowerDelivery cable included.

@gadgetmatchThe new DJI Osmo 360 II is here with 1-inch 360° imaging, native 8K/60fps, and AI SuperNight 2.0! ✨♬ original sound – GadgetMatch

The Adventure Combo, which is what I got, runs PhP 39,490 and adds two extra Osmo Extreme Battery Plus (2150mAh), an Osmo Multifunctional Battery Case 3, an Adjustable Dual-Direction Quick-Release Adapter mount, and a 1.2m Invisible Selfie Stick.

For rider friends, there’s also a Limitless Riding Combo at PhP 34,490, which pairs the Standard Combo with an Osmo Heavy-Duty Clamp Mount kit.

Build

Coming from the X5’s lengthy monolith shape, the Osmo 360 II looks like a square monolith that fits in the palm of my hand.

The smaller footprint makes it easier to switch between portrait and horizontal orientation when shooting single-lens.

It’s heavier than the X5, though, and I noticed that weight almost immediately the first time I clipped it onto a mount, like the camera wanted me to know it meant business.

The design feels sturdier than its predecessor, and it now has a replaceable lens for when you scratch it, instead of a trip to a service center.

Performance

The Osmo 360 II arrived during a rough month for shooting in the Philippines. We were hit by one storm after another, with barely any sun in between, and there were days I genuinely wondered if I’d get to test this camera the way I wanted to before a deadline caught up with me.

I’d planned to test it on my usual trails, but landslides closed them off, so the next best option was a car-free Sunday in Ayala Triangle while the sun cooperated.

 

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It wasn’t the adventure footage I had in mind, but making a plain Sunday in the city look like it mattered turned out to be its own kind of satisfying.

360 video now shoots at 8K60, up from 8K50 on the previous model, with the bitrate raised from 170Mbps to 220Mbps.

Single-lens shooting tops out at 4K60, though 4K50 is the recommended setting. Daytime footage looks excellent, especially for anything meant for social with a slightly different perspective than the usual flat shot.

Scrolling back through those Ayala Triangle clips later that night, I caught myself smiling at angles I wouldn’t have thought to frame on a regular camera.

Night footage is where I’ve historically had issues with this category of camera, and I still don’t love straight Video mode after dark. But the new model claims 14.5 stops of dynamic range with its low-light processing, and shooting in Boost Video and SuperNight modes noticeably improves low-light results.

Photos hold up well too. Single-lens stills shoot ultra-wide at up to 30MP, and panoramic 360 photos go up to 120MP HDR.

RAW photo support is new this generation, and it’s this type of addition that made me want to slow down and actually shoot stills again instead of treating this as a video-only device.

Storage

AI features pushing further onto these devices has driven up demand, and prices, for RAM and storage across the board.

MicroSD cards, SSDs, even cloud storage all cost more than they used to, and I’ve felt that pinch every time I’ve had to buy a new card just to keep shooting through a busy week.

What I appreciate about DJI’s new lineup this year is the built-in storage, over 100GB on the Osmo 360 II. Paired with a microSD card, I’m not scrambling to back up mid-shoot just to free up space, which matters given how fast 4K and 8K footage eats through storage.

Not watching a storage warning pop up in the middle of something I can’t reshoot is a relief I didn’t know I needed.

Ecosystem

Before this, the X5 was the one device in my kit that didn’t run on DJI. Now that the Osmo 360 II is in the mix, footage lands in the DJI Mimo app the same way it does from everything else I own.

I’m not juggling two apps or two export flows anymore. Previously, files from the X5 would sit untouched longer than I wanted, simply because everything else I owned already funneled into Mimo and this one didn’t.

I can’t count how many times I opened my phone meaning to edit something, only to close it again because the file was sitting in the wrong app.

Editing 360 footage in the app is straightforward, with tools built for actually shaping the story rather than handing it off to AI.

Trimming, tracking, GyroFrame for dynamic movement, motion blur adjustments, multi-clip cuts and exports in one pass. If you do want AI in the loop, there’s Highlight Auto Selection to help surface usable scenes for reels.

Insta360’s ecosystem likely has comparable editing depth. What’s different for me is having it all live in one app instead of splitting my workflow across two, and how much lighter that’s made the whole process feel by the end of a shoot day.

Is the DJI Osmo 360 II your GadgetMatch?

If you’re already using DJI across your gear and your workflow, the Osmo 360 II is an easy yes.

It fixes a real complaint from the first generation, folds into one ecosystem instead of two, and comes in at a price that’s hard to argue with.

Letting go of the X5 turned out to be less of a loss than I expected. It’s more like finally closing a tab I’d left open for a year.

Swipe Right if you want hardware upgrades that solve a genuine complaint from the first generation, one ecosystem instead of two, and a real price advantage.

The DJI Osmo 360 II is built for someone focused on storytelling and getting the most out of the gear they already own, rather than someone chasing the newest AI-editing tools.

Swipe Left if you want AI-driven editing front and center, or you’re already settled into Insta360’s ecosystem.