This research note investigates the potential of digital and instant film photography as distinct approaches to research documentation. It argues that the quality of visual evidence provided by photographs may depend in part on the researcher’s ability to reliably link images with other sources of data. The research note goes on to contextualize instant film photography as a tested documentation technique, though one not commonly used in qualitative research. Benefits and constraints associated with instant film technology are also discussed. It concludes that instant film photography could have advantages over digital photography when used for multimodal documentation of fast-paced research processes.