Jumping on the Pogo Wagon

Posted by Sam in Cameras & Photography, The Random Speaks on 11 11th, 2009 | 7 comments

In February 2008 Polaroid announced it would cease production of all instant film. A very sad day for many who love and cherish the ageing analogue format. But not all is lost, as from the middle of 2010 the Impossible Project will start producing film compatible with existences and brand new Polaroid cameras.

The Pogo
In the mean time, Polaroid have released the Pogo Printer to meet all your instant needs. It’s been out for a while now and I loved the idea of having a portable printer with me at all time. When it was released, it cost £99 which is far over priced in my mind. You can now get it from Misco for the jaw dropping £19, It would make a perfect Christmas or Birthday present for someone.

PB081879

The tiny Polaroid PoGo printer fits in your palm, and the included rechargeable battery handles about 15 prints on a single charge. It can print directly from Bluetooth enabled phones & computers. At the moment, it can’t print from the iPhone because as Apple does not currently have a Bluetooth transfer capability on the iPhone. The Pogo can also connects to PictBridge-enabled cameras via USB.

The Prints
The Pogo holds 10 sheets of 2″ x 3″, sticky-backed ZINK Paper at one time. A pack of 70 sheets costs about £11 from various online retailers.

I wasn’t entirely sure how the Zink paper works, for all I knew, it is created by Harry and his chums down at Hogwatts. In case you want to know, I pulled the info off Poloroid’s website.

The key to this process is the patented ZINK Paper®, an advanced composite material with cyan, yellow, and magenta dye crystals embedded inside and a protective polymer overcoat layer outside. Before printing, the embedded dye crystals are clear so ZINK Paper looks like regular white photo paper. The ZINK-enabled device uses heat to activate and colorize these crystals.

The printing process is now radically simple. Just add paper®. The result is high-quality, FULL COLOR, long-lasting, durable, and affordable images.

Polaroid uses ZINK Zero Ink technology in their exciting new Polaroid PoGo Instant Digital products.

For more information on ZINK Technology, visit www.ZINK.com

The ZINK® Technology and ZINK® trademarks are owned by ZINK Imaging. Used under license.

The quality isn’t going to be the same as modern ink printers and don’t think it’s going to have the same attributes as the old Polaroid film, but it does have it’s own qualities (Think low-fi for the digital age).
Prints taken from my mobile turned out satisfactory and from my Olympus EP-1 I was pleasantly surprised how well the little credit card size print turned out.

The only disappointment I have with the Pogo is printing in B&W. I seem to get a heavy magenta cast over the photo.

The Verdict
I think it’s brilliant little device, i love the fact it cheap to run and very portable. I always take an instant camera with me when I go travelling, I like handing out prints to people who I’ve taken photos as a thank you. The Pogo would cut back on cost and space and I shall be definitely be taking it on my next big adventure.
The sticky backs are a great idea too, It means I can stick them straight in to my Moleskine Journal on the go and have a permanent record.
I don’t think it was worth the £99 it retailed for at the start of the year. But for £20 you really can’t go wrong, buy one and I bet you’ll get as addicted as me.

Well done Polaroid, I love it, you’ve got me hooked.

New Toy - Polaroid Pogo

7 Responses to “Jumping on the Pogo Wagon”

  1. Irene says:
    November 11, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    THAT is VERY cool! Leave it to Polaroid! I have two of their vintage ’70’s cameras that I still use! The film is VERY expensive now though. This little gadget is the key now!

  2. nova says:
    November 11, 2009 at 6:17 pm

    That. Is. Awesome.

  3. Rogier says:
    November 15, 2009 at 7:34 am

    Nice review,

    However you neglected to mention and show the humongous charger and the very short battery life.
    Its a serious drawback for anyone who envisions to travel with this handy printer.

  4. katie says:
    November 21, 2009 at 11:48 pm

    I have one of these too, though i think it is possible to get black and white zink paper for it. You should check it out if you want black and white prints

  5. Sam says:
    November 21, 2009 at 11:55 pm

    Really? That would be great if their is B&W Zink paper out there. Do you have a link?
    I would be very interested to buy some.

  6. The Random Photographer » Blog Archive » 6 Months in Review 2009 #2 says:
    January 6, 2010 at 5:55 pm

    [...] Got a camera phone? Get a Polaroid Pogo printer. I love mine, It’s the printer everyone is talking about. My review can be found here. [...]

  7. Ronnie Chaiken says:
    April 14, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    Your header is a bit wonky in Opera, mate.

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