Pictures in a minute? Yep, Polaroid is still around!

Last year there was the new Polaroid Z340, a camera that combined digital photography with their famous “picture in a minute” printing ability. I like the idea of being able to shoot digital photos and only print the ones you really want. Because even with modern Zink Printing technology, it still costs 50 cents to print a single picture. It’s a year later and Polaroid introduced another new camera, the Z2300 at the CEA Line Show. The line show is a mini CES, but it’s in New York City, so there’s no travel involved for the hundreds of reporters who attend. Like many Polaroid products, the Z2300 is not actually manufactured by Polaroid. A company who has a licensing agreement to use the Polaroid name and colors offers it. (Not too long ago I saw light bulbs bearing the familiar Polaroid name and colors.) The new Z2300 takes 10 Mega Pixel photos and produces 2-by-3 inch prints. When I remarked that I liked the earlier model’s 4” X 6” pictures, a spokesman at the Polaroid booth said the Z2300 was pitched toward the youth market, because the mini-prints are actually stickers. The printing process uses the Zero Ink Printing Technology from Zink Imaging. It’s a dry ink process and the finished prints come out of the side of the camera in under a minute. Although my picture, shown here was okay, you can see the color is off. It’s probably do to the florescent lighting in the exhibit space. The Z2300 also shoots 720p video, but the only zoom available is digital. There is a mic and speaker built into the camera too. The camera has a bit of onboard memory, but uses an SD card to hold the majority of your photos. You can do some minor editing in the camera and print the ones you like. The Z2300 will retail for $159.99. It ships in mid-August and the camera body will be available in either black or white. If you sign up to get info on the release date of the camera, you will get a code good for a $50 discount, so the camera will cost you $109.99. The paper, which includes an adhesive backing, is available for $15 (pack of 30) or $25 (pack of 50). So you need to buy the $25 pack to get pictures for 50 cents. 

http://store.polaroid.com/product/9/538436/POLZ2300/_/Instant_Digital_Camera_-_Z2300