Polaroid and Mobile instant Printers

Grimis

Hey guys first off.......Hope everyone had a great holiday and are looking forward to 2010 and all the cool photo gear yet to be released.

Now the question at hand.

I have always been into all types of photography and equipment to allow me no creative blocks. I was thinking how cool would it be to have an Old Polaroid camera but of course it is hard to get the film etc. Well Polaroid has a camera that prints photo's instantly AND they also offer a little mini printer too so you can print stuff from your phone or other digital camera. The mini printer is the size of a pocket camera and is so cool. I think I might have to buy one just to play around with. I think I might just buy the printer instead of the 5meg camera with built in printer so I can use it with my other gear. Another cool thing is the Zink photo paper has a sticky back to attach them to stuff can you say colauge!!! I have one question though..........The camera version and the printer only do borderless photo's and I have some old photo's of my Grandparents and parents that are 2 X 2 or maybe 2 1/2 X 2 1/2 that have borders. They are old school almost looks like they were printed on photo paper that had tear away prints. I want your opinion on this idea and to see if anyone knows of any pocket size mini instant printers that can do borders on a photo? Thanks guys. Ciao


Jason

ziggy53

Prints had "borders" in the old days because you placed the print paper in a frame to hold the print paper during exposure to the negative. The border was simply from no light hitting that area of the print.

You can easily produce your own bordered prints in software and there are Photoshop actions to automate the process:

http://www.myinkblog.com/2008/06/23/create-a-vintage-polaroid-effect/
http://rawimage.deviantart.com/art/Polaroid-GENERATOR-V1-42651542

Grimis

Thanx Ziggy I do know that it can be done in CS4 and through some printers I do it all the time but I was thinking along the lines of mobile or an older style like the transfer film that you would take the photo wait a few minutes and peel to view a photo. Getting back to older types of film but was thinking the new Polaroid was kind of cool with the peel and stick. Simple fun on the go spontanious kind instead of sitting at the computer. Ya know nothing fancy. Oh and thanx for the links killer way of doing it I am gonna have to try those. Ciao



Jason

darkdragon

What you should get is a Polaroid Land Camera 100 (or 400, 430, many models). These are the pictures you are probably seeing from your family photo boxes. The film is still available from Fuji in color and b/w, reasonably priced around $9/box of 10 shots.

I have the little polaroid zink printer and though it is fun and small, I would recommend the actual Polaroid instand camera over the printer. The prints in general are washed out, low saturation on the color. The sticky back is fun but in reality isn't as sticky as a sticker nor as light as a Post-It note.

Here are a couple shots from my land camera 100 (polaroid film, haven't used my fuji film yet). I'm still learning how to properly focus with this manual beast.

ziggy53

There is also a fair chance that Polaroid may make a comeback:

The film:
http://www.the-impossible-project.com/

The cameras:
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Polaroid_instant_film_cameras_set_for_relaunch_update_226pm_news_290476.html

darkdragon

Polaroid seems to be talking about the 600 film in that article, i'm not a fan of the 600 for a number of reasons. I like the 669 peel apart film which to me seems to be a lot more fun and more "crafty" uses.

ziggy53 wrote:

There is also a fair chance that Polaroid may make a comeback:

The film:
http://www.the-impossible-project.com/

The cameras:
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Polaroid_instant_film_cameras_set_for_relaunch_update_226pm_news_290476.html