Thursday, November 10, 2011

Polaroid Goes Digital!

Talk about "What goes around, comes around," Polaroid is once again making a "spit 'em out" instant camera. The difference this time is the camera is really a digital camera with a built-in printer. So it acts just like an old Polaroid camera, but it saves the 14 MP images on an SD card, so you can print them out bigger at a later time. Convenient and flexible!

The old Polaroid cameras were loved by countless amateurs for family pictures and vacation snaps, but photojournalists used them, too. Many times, in the field, far away from a lab, working photographers would hand out Polaroids to their subjects, in place of prints from their "serious" cameras. I could see this camera filling the same niche.

The Polaroid Z340 Instant Digital Camera will retail for around $299.99 for the camera and $19.99 for a pack of 30 prints. You can order them directly from Polaroid, B&H, Adorama, and Amazon. Considering the cost of a good point-and-shoot, not to mention even an inexpensive mini-printer, this seems like a good deal to me. It's nice to see Polaroid back in the game with a camera that hits the right nostalgia notes along with current digital convenience. Kudos to Polaroid!