One of the big surprises of last year’s CES conference was legendary film and camera manufacturer Polaroid’s new camera, a digital camera that prints photos on the spot.
Set at a pricey $299, the 14 megapixel camera uses a printing system called Z Ink, which costs $20 and affords 30 images.
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Here’s the camera’s description, found on Polaroid’s website:
The Polaroid Z340 Instant Digital Camera is the instant upgrade for sharing your instant moments. The 14 MP digital camera and 2.7” bright color LCD screen means your pictures are always true-to-life. And the Z340 lets you instantly print 3”x 4” full color images in under 60 seconds with Zero Ink®. Not only will you capture the moment, you’ll instantly hold it.
Santa was awesome to us this year, gifting us this really cool camera. We took it for a spin and the results were exactly as Polaroid promised.
The only drawbacks we found were the whirring sounds and the waiting that followed after we pressed print on the bulky camera.
Holding it also took us back a bit because it seemed like the camera was an invention of the past, meaning it feels very steam-punkish and very, very mechanical. Waiting for prints was the worst.
As far as in camera editing goes, there’s not much you can do besides change pictures from black and white to color, resize images and add the iconic Polaroid border on an already small plane.
Check this space for pictures tomorrow where we will do a complete examination of the camera’s prints and picture quality.
