I first came across and used a Polaroid back in the '70s. It was better in almost every way than this camera for actually taking photos, which is a shame.
What do I like about this camera?
I like the retro design with the polaroid stripes on the front.
I like the app - it has some nice features for remote controlling the camera and 'scanning' pints.
I like the fact that it has a rechargeable battery.
I like the size of the prints - they are proper Polaroid size.
What don't I like about this camera?
The documentation is really quite poor when you're starting to use it. It needs to g into more detail on how to load the film, and what the roll-out picture cover is for. Even the instructional video is quite vague.
The pictures take an *age* to develop - like 15-20 minutes - for part of the time they need to be covered to protect them from light. This makes it totally impractical for most ad-hoc use - e.g. at a party going around taking snapshots of people. It's a pain to have to wait almost half an hour to find out the exposure was wrong.
Some pictures taken in daylight seem to have a greeny-yellow colour caste to them (see first example above).
There's no white balance adjustment or filter - you can't take pictures using artificial light unless you overpower it with the flash.
The image quality can be somewhat 'soft' with a lack of sharpness and contrast.
The maximum aperture is only f12 - so you need a lot of light if there is any kind of motion in your subject!
The flash can often 'wash-out' the subject - see image 3 above.
OK, so this is a bluetooth enabled retro ('70s) style Polaroid camera which I really wanted to like. I already own two different Fuji instant cameras - a Mini 90 and a Square SQ10. The prints from the Polaroid are full size - this is by far its best advantage over the Fuji - even the square, which has prints aboot 2/3 the size. However, the Polaroid fails completely to capitalise on the additional size in terms of image quality. The pictures I get from both my Fujis have more contrast, sharpness and detail in them - also, they have a more consistent colour accuracy. See my comparison shots. The small ones are Fuji Instax Square and the large ones are the Polaroids. The Instax SQ10 has an advantage in this case beyond the film in that it takes the image digitally, and only when you're happy with the contract, white balance etc does it print to film. You may or may not consider this 'cheating' but it does result in nothing but good prints - no film wastage. The SQ10 is almost the same price as the Polaroid now, so unless I needed the larger prints, or the bluetooth remote control, the SQ10 has to be the better option.
Maybe if you're specifically going for a lo-fi type of shot, the relatively poor image quality might be acceptable to you - however, what is not acceptable is that they take almost half an hour to fully develop, and for some of that time they need to be shielded from light. To assist with that, when the picture ejects, there's a roll-out plastic cover which covers the print until you can take it and place it somewhere face-down. Really? That is such a pain. I don't remember having to do that with Polaroid instant prints in the '70s, so why do yo need to do it now? By contract, the Fuji prints appear in a couple of minutes or so. Way, way quicker - and you don't need to keep them covered at all.
I do like the app - it connects very easily to the camera via bluetooth, and you can adjust aperture and shutter speed manually and get feedback from the camera whether it thinks the image is going to be correctly exposed. A maximum aperture of f12 and film speed of 640 ISO means that you're going to need to have plenty of light or flash to shoot decent images, and will struggle if there is any motion.
A very nice feature of the app is the ability to scan prints in and keep them a digital pictures. It allows you to take the picture at an angle, so you don't get a reflection of yourself or a light source on the surface of the print - it then does a digital letterbox correction, and stores the image complete with white borders. Very nice. Cheekily, I found it also works for Instax pictures too - sorry Polaroid!
So in summary - I wanted this camera to be good. I could live with most of its shortcomings except the image develop time - that's a dealbreaker for me personally. It's just such a faff. I guess you need to ask yourself - do you want the larger image size? If you do, then Polaroid is currently your only option. If you can go small, then I think it's hard to argue that the Instax SQ10 is not the way to go.
A bit of a thumbs down from me, I'm afraid.
| Item Package Dimensions L x W x H | 18.2 x 13 x 10.8 centimeter |
|---|---|
| Package Weight | 0.85 Kilogram |
| Item Dimensions L x W x H | 13 x 10.8 x 16.2 centimeter |
| Item Weight | 1.1 Pound |
| Brand | Polaroid Originals |
| Colour | Vit |
| Included Components | Kamerahus och lins |
| Model Year | 2019 |
| Part number | 9015 |
| Warranty Description | 2 år |
| Style | Singel |
| Tillverkare | Polaroid Originals |
| Artikelnummer | 9015 |
| Produktens mått | 13 x 10.8 x 16.18 cm; 498.95 Gram |
| ASIN | B07NDBKB6H |
