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| Polaroid P-500 Digital Photo Printer |
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Hardware Reviews February 2001 • Vol.4 Issue 2 |
Polaroid P-500 Digital Photo Printer | ||
 The new Polaroid P-500 Digital Photo Printer is a quick and easy way to print pictures from your digital camera. It's not a cheap system to use, but for people who can't wait to see a hard copy of their photos, it's the fastest way to go. The P-500 attempts to reestablish traditional film in an era when digital everything is the going trend. It succeeds simply because digital cameras still lack the ability to print pictures in absence of a PC. It does mean that you'll have to take the P-500, along with your digital camera, wherever you want instant prints. The unit won't bog you down. It's about the size of a Polaroid camera, measuring 2.35 inches high x 4.75 inches wide x 7.25 inches long, and weighs 18 ounces. You won't need a computer to use the P-500, so there are no cable connection points of any kind. To our surprise, there is no AC power adapter either—or a battery compartment. A 6-volt battery included in the film pack provides the minimal power needed by the printer. The P-500's best trait is its ease-of-use. To print, simply insert your digital camera's Smart Media or CompactFlash Card into the slot and wait for the images to load. We tested the P-500 with a Nikon CoolPix 990 digital camera equipped with a CompactFlash card. The photos were taken at several resolutions, the highest being 1,024 x 768 pixels. There's nothing to complain about functionally—everything worked as it was supposed to. The unit loads the JPEG files into a queue where you can select the photo to be printed. A tiny, two-line, 32 character LCD (liquid-crystal display) screen is your only indicator for the printer's status, remaining film frames, and print mode, which turned out to be enough for us. The inner workings of the P-500 are similar to a Polaroid camera. It has electromechanical parts including a small, quiet motor and rollers to spread the developing chemical onto the film. The manufacturer's specifications indicate it prints photos in less than 20 seconds. Our results were significantly different. On average it took about 32 seconds per print, even with lower resolution photos. The final image size of the printed photo is on the small side—2.15 inches high x 2.86 wide. A broad white border, reminiscent of traditional Polaroid photos, surrounds each image, but pictures are still pocket-sized. Film for the P-500 is pricey. It uses Polaroid Type 500 Instant film that has 10 exposures and costs about $10 a pack. The P-500 itself is also expensive, selling for $249. This digital photo printer provides unprecedented convenience for digital camera lovers. So if you really need photo-printing capabilities, the P-500 should perform well. However, photo hobbyists might find film prices prohibitive. by Nathan Chandler
$249 Polaroid (800) 343-5000 (781) 386-2000 http://www.polaroiddigital.com
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