You know the app icon for Instagram? You know that it’s loosely based on the original Polaroid 1000, right? If you were Polaroid, you’d probably be a little bit annoyed that the most successful camera app in the world is using your retro-cool aesthetic to its own ends. And you’d want to fight back. That’s where the Polaroid Z2300 comes in. It’s like Instagram, only in real life.
Polaroid’s had a hard time adapting to a world that’s more interested in digital than print. It’s a shift that’s claimed the lives of Kodak and many others, but there’s something nostalgic about the original instant-printing cam company that’s helped it limp on.
Now Polaroid’s ready to win back the hipster masses, and it plans to do it with this: the Polaroid Z2300. It’s a camera with a 10-Megapixel sensor, a 3-inch LCD display and an inkless Zink-powered printing mechanism that’ll spit out your shots in under a minute.
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It’s a retooled Polaroid with a smartly retro-inspired design, but it does come with one major drawback: the paper ain’t cheap. Your 2×3-inch snaps have to be printed onto specially-treated paper, which comes in at $15 (£9.60) for 30 sheets or $25 (£16) for 50. Ouch.
Still, the camera itself isn’t too pricey; it’ll cost $160 (£102) when it lands on August 15th. Will this bring the achingly cool back into the world of print photography? Maybe, but then how are people going to ‘Like’ their shots?
