Polaroid z340 Printing

Answers to questions I had about the Polaroid z340 before getting it. 

There are already several reviews out there regarding performance of the camera and printer. I had a few specific unanswered questions about some of the possibilities regarding the printer, so I thought I would post the answers here now that I have had a chance to use the camera a little bit.

I am also interested in using the printer separately from the integrated camera sometimes - i.e. being able to use the camera and printer together, but also use the printer with other cameras. The z340 can read pictures taken with other cameras, and it is straightforward if you insert an SD card from another camera into the z340. While the z340 can produce a print order file using the DPOF format, it cannot read one from another camera and then print those pictures. You must choose each photo to be printed using the buttons on the z340. Also, if you want to print pictures from other sources (other than another camera) you cannot simply copy the files to a card and insert it. You need to follow the directory structure and file naming conventions that a digital camera would use.

Other reviewers have mentioned that it is easier to take pictures and print them from one integrated device than it is to use a separate printer. I have also found this to be true. People instantly recognize the shape of the camera as a Polaroid and ask whether it can print like the old ones did. In social settings there is no need to fumble with cords or multiple devices. I will say  that there are a few button presses needed to initiate printing if borders are involved.

Regarding borders, the traditional Polaroid borders are attractive and seem quite appropriate for the size and quality of the prints. The designers of the z340 offer two techniques to produce prints with the Polaroid border. The default method is to turn on the Polaroid border in the print menu settings. With this method you take a picture in the landscape orientation and the sides of the photo get cropped when you print (the area that shows up in the print is just a little wider than the Polaroid logo and name that are just below the LCD screen).

The other technique is to turn off the Polaroid border option and use one of the custom borders instead. The custom borders are selectable from the print menu. One of the custom borders is a Polaroid border that is rotated 90 degrees. If you take a photo in portrait orientation (tilt the camera 90 degrees clockwise when taking a photo) and apply this border, then the picture will not get cropped as much. There is still some cropping because the custom borders simply appear on top of the original picture - the picture is not scaled to fit inside the border. The hassles with this method are that you have to remember to take the photo in portrait orientation, and you also have to apply the border to each photo before printing - it won't automatically add the border as it would with the other method.

There are also about a half a dozen or so built in creative borders, such as one for birthdays or 1st place winners, etc. These have been mostly panned by reviewers as being useless, but I find that a couple of them could be used in certain situations. Note that when you apply any of the custom borders the camera gives you the choice to overwrite the original image file or save a new file with the border applied.

Example of a custom border

Speaking of borders, you can load two of your own borders into the camera by saving specially formatted BMP files to a "Border" directory on the SD card. The exact pixel dimensions are included in the manual. You fill the area where you want the photo to appear to a special color (RGB 254,254,254). This is actually a potentially very useful feature once you get it to work properly, because it allows you to create special borders for parties or add your business logo to pictures and print them out at the event without needing a computer. The "border" can actually occupy as much of the picture as you want, so you can have plenty of room for text and graphics. You just have to remember that those areas will cover the picture that is beneath them.

In this day and age of digital photos, it's often still nice to get a paper copy of a photo, especially if your friends aren't good about uploading the photos to a sharing site. If you add a custom border for a party or special event, then you have the possibility to create an instant memento for your friends or business associates. With a brief internet search you can also find special folding cards that are made to hold the photos if you want to dress up the presentation.