Last Updated on 06/26/2012 by Chris Gampat
Tonight, we saw the Instagram camera Polaroid Z2300 with the ability to print 2×3 inch photos. Utilizing Zink paper with the ink built right inside, the camera is capable of both taking and storing digital photos and printing them out whenever you’d like.
The prototype that we saw was quite intriguing.
Tech Specs
– 10MP
– 3 inch LCD screen
– ZINK paper technology
– Takes around 14 seconds to print the image
Ergonomics
The Polaroid Z2300 is honestly a bit of a brick. Now don’t get me wrong, it can fit into a shirt pocket, but it also feels much larger than your traditional point and shoot. There is good reason for that though: it is because it needs to store paper in it to print images. Once you fully acknowledge that fact, you can get past the size.
However, I’d actually recommend that Polaroid embraces its size and history when this camera gets released. To that end, I also hope that they release or work with third party manufacturers to create leather cases for it. That would make this one super sexy camera.
The front of the camera is sleek. It comes in white, black and tan (at least from what I saw.) and has hints of their old Polaroid traditions on the front that also hint to today’s Instagram. There is a lens, a flash and that’s pretty much it.
The top of the camera is also quite simple: sporting only an on/off button and a big red shutter release.
The side of the camera contains ports: in fact it has a USB and DC power slot. Otherwise, there is a focusing switch with only two positions. Since this was a prototype, I wasn’t really even able to get much in focus.
Flip the screen open and you’ll unlock the paper compartment. Each paper also has a little tab that comes out with it to clean the rollers each time a print is ejected. That was a big problem with older cameras like my Polaroid Land Camera that I love so much.
The back of the camera has a design that is reminiscent of a Canon powershot. It has three modes: photo, video and playback. The menus are very simple and very thin. There seems to be no RAW mode through the thin menuset that I saw.
Then there are directional buttons with various functionalities and also the print button on the bottom right of the camera.
Pressing that, confirming through the menu and having a bit of patience will reward you with a print that doubles as a sticker.
First Impressions
The image quality seemed a bit muddy, but it also seems like many journalists were forgetting to use the focusing tab on the side of the camera. We’ll save this for when we actually get a review unit in our hands.
The Polaroid Z2300 instant digital camera has a suggested retail price of $159.99. 50-sheet packs of 2×3â Premium ZINK Paper retail for $24.99 and 30-sheet packs sell for $14.99
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