This camera does what it says it does. It comes with two 3-volt lithium batteries, which are easy to install, and an instruction sheet (mainly graphic – minimal written directions) to help you figure out how to take pictures. You just load the film cartridge into the camera, press the power button, aim, and shoot – that’s it. I took a variety of shots (including a few “selfies”) to get a feel for how the camera works. And it does work; all of the pictures I took developed well (although the auto flash got in my way a few times). It took me about fifteen minutes to take all ten of the pictures included in the film cartridge.
The pictures themselves are tiny – they are the size of a standard credit card (3 ½ by 2 inches), and the image itself is even tinier (2 ½ by 1 ¾ inches). The picture pack included with my camera was the Rainbow pack, meaning the photos come framed in a variety of rainbow colors. They’re cute – I can see this being fun for children’s parties, or holiday gatherings, or any family event where people might get excited about tiny instant pictures. I’m not sure what I’ll do with the ones I took. They’re too small to frame or put in a scrapbook. And since they’re not digital, if I give them away I won’t have a copy for myself.
Bottom line, this would be a fun party favor (if it weren’t so expensive). The film itself costs $9 for a 10-pack (meaning each tiny picture costs 90 cents), and the camera itself is over $60. I owned several Polaroid cameras back in the day, and I had fun with them. But the pictures were never as good as the ones I took with a regular camera – and there’s just no comparison with what an inexpensive digital camera (or iPhone!) can do today. This isn’t a camera meant for photographers. It’s a pricey gimmick with limited use. If you’re OK with that, go for it – for me, the novelty isn’t worth the price.
