Ahh, Polaroid – how far you have fallen. Once a true icon, an essential tool for photographers and a medium for many artists, as well as being the only way to take dirty photos without getting arrested at the processing lab.
Now you are stuck licensing your name and Logo to any cowboy who wants to stick a crappy ZINK (zero-ink) printer inside a box with a cellphone camera.
Even the press release is lackluster. Sandwiched between the new camera’s name (Z2300) and some desperate bleatings about Polaroid’s admittedly impressive history come the following two paragraphs:
The newest addition to the Polaroid instant digital camera line, the Z2300 features an integrated printer with ZINK® Technology, enabling users to instantly capture, edit and in less than a minute print full color, 2×3” prints. Along with the ability to easily upload images to any social media platform, the Z2300 combines a compact form factor with a host of fun, easy-to-use features to create the ultimate social media machine.
The camera is available in white and black and houses a 10 megapixel image sensor. The large 3.0” LCD display makes it easy to frame and review images and capture video in virtually any setting.
I imagine that the “Z” in Z2300 is for Zzzzzz.
Is printing your photos cool? Sure. Is being able to edit them before you commit to the final print handy?Undoubtedly. But I have seen the quality of ZINK prints, and its not pretty. You’d be much better off using the excellent camera in your iPhone or iPad 3, posting to Instagram and then using one of the myriad printing services to get the images posted to your door. Then you can avoid the $200 price of the camera (the same as you paid for your iPhone) and the $15 for every 30 prints.
