Polaroid Z340

Some of my fondest memories were captured in the white framed-pictures of an old Polaroid ‘Instant’ camera. When I heard last year that Polaroid were launching a new digital version of the old classic, I clamoured for a review sample like an excited eight-year-old.

The modern-day Polaroid Z340 bears a certain resemblance to its non-digital predecessors: it’s bulky, as unergonomic as possible, and liberally packed with the kind of retro charm that sets anyone old enough to remember the 80s queuing up for their sixty seconds of Polaroid-printed fame.

In short, the Z340 is a fixed focal-length 14-megapixel camera with a printer stuck to the bottom that spits out 4 x 3-inch borderless prints, using inkless paper, in around 45-55 seconds per print.

Fixed focal-length? The Z340 lacks any optical zoom capability, but does feature a limited digital zoom to get you a little closer to the action. This is where the otherwise-overkill 14 megapixels comes in handy, as you can zoom or crop a fair bit on-camera without cutting the image quality of your prints too much. The Z340 is not, by any means, a ‘travel zoom’ camera. It’s made for close-up party shots, and really little else.

Images are either stored on the small internal memory, or to an optional SD card. Once taken they can be viewed on the flip-up 2.7-inch LCD, and printed with a single button-press. Automatic printing of each shot is an option, if you want the truly authentic ‘Polaroid’ experience, but could easily prove a waste of paper if your shot turns out a little fuzzy or badly-framed. Then again, such imperfect photographs are arguably another part of said experience.

Prints take around 45-55 seconds from button-press to completion, and print with a quiet but high-pitched whine. Barely audible in a loud party, but somewhat annoying in an otherwise noise-free office.

The 4 x 3-inch photographs are printed on ZINK-branded ‘Zero Ink’ paper, which comes in little 10-packs that fill the camera’s 10-sheet reservoir. Those packs are only sold in triple-packs, at $35 for 30 shots. That’s around $1.17 per print, which isn’t unreasonable as far as photo prints go.

The prints are ‘dry’ immediately after printing, and won’t be smudged as they come out of the camera and into your waiting friends’ or colleagues’ hands. The paper is water-resistant (30 seconds under cold running water did absolutely nothing), and tear-resistant. In fact, neither staff writer Siobhan Keogh nor I were able to tear a ZINK photograph at all. We could only sort-of mangle the edges. These really are hardy little prints, closer in nature to plastic than paper.

Image quality is typical Polaroid: often undersaturated, occasionally oversaturated colours, with bad contrast and limited detail. However, it’s always clear just who or what is featured in each photograph, and the lack of quality is balanced by the immediate availability of a printed copy. I would be disappointed if I received the same print quality from a professional photo lab – from the photo-hole of an instant camera, I was really pretty satisfied with the results.

Polaroid advertises up to 25 prints on a single battery charge: I managed around 35, from a fully charged battery in a new camera. Battery age, flash and screen usage, and other power-consumption factors will affect this. The battery charges in the camera itself, with the included mains adapter.

The Polaroid Z340 and its bundled 10 sheets of ZINK paper will set you back $499. This is about as much as any mid-range digital camera. Downside? You won’t get nearly the same photo quality or feature set as a $499 digital compact. Upside? Your photos eject neatly in dead-tree form through a hole in the front. Worth it? If you’re a hardened party animal, entertainer, or just love to stick new photos of your kids on the fridge every day, then the Z340 might be just what you’re looking for.