Features

• Preview images and view menu options through an LCD display
• LCD Screen Menu prompts make understanding the options simple
• Backed by a Polaroid one-year warranty
• Ideal resource for document photographers, business professionals?anyone who needs to turn files into photographic prints, easily and quickly
• Accepts most memory cards that are on the market today (CF, SD, MS, SM, MMC) - without PC connection

Amazon.com Product Description

An entertaining and logical accessory to your digital camera, the Polaroid P-500 digital photo printer allows you to print your photos anyplace, anytime, with no more hassle than inserting a CompactFlash or SmartMedia card and choosing your picture. As the P-500 uses Polaroid Type 500 instant film, it requires no batteries or power cords. Both JPEG and DPOF files can be used, and the printer automatically resizes your shots for optimum quality in just 20 seconds. Weighing in at just 18 ounces, this small printer can be tucked into your backpack or camera bag for instant prints at corporate events or family gatherings. Polaroid includes a one-year warranty on parts and service. ... Read more

Features

• Portable digital photo printer
• Compatible with all digital cameras using CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards
• Lightweight and compact
• Print one image at a time or multiple copies
• Automatically resizes JPEG files from any digital camera

Reviews (17)

Instant portable photo fun!
After a day of taking digital photos, I always have to rush home and print them. Now that slight problem is being solved with instant printers! With Polaroid's brand name and cheap price on this printer, I had to get it and try it.

And wow, I'm impressed. This package comes with everything you need to get started! Even an extra adapter and film so you can print right out of the box. The setup is easy and the instructions are made so you can stick it on the printer if you forget. What's great is that the printer accepts BOTH CF and SM cards. Now you can give photos away to people and they will be surprised at how you printed them so fast and because the picture source is from a digital camera you can select what photos you wanted printed and how many times.

The quality of the photos are superb just like those instant Polaroids everyone used to have, this prints a smaller rectangular verison with the photo about the size of a credit card; great wallet prints! The coloring of the film however seems to be a bit more on the magenta side if you dont have long-distance flash. Other than that, the printer itself requires no batteries and has a convenient strap so you can carry it everywhere you go. The printer is shaped nicely you can hold in your hand and the weight is light enough to carry with your digital camera.

I would definitely recommend getting this product! You can't find a better deal with the rebate offer!

What a gadget!
The P-500IR is a stand-alone printer that outputs digital images onto P-500 Joycam instant film. It's "stand-alone" in that it doesn't have any direct connectivity to a computer, and it takes images from CompactFlash or SmartMedia cards (the latter requiring an included adapter). Since there is no preview screen on the unit (the thing runs on the embedded P500 film pack battery, so you only need to feed the thing film), you have to kinda guess which photo you're about to print. I've been taking the somewhat roundabout route of dumping the files from my digital camera onto the hard drive, tweaking and cropping with Photoshop, and then copying select files onto a CF card, which then is inserted into the P-500IR to be printed.

Output quality is pretty good, considering that it's instant film. The image size is pretty small, but it does create some unique "hard" artefacts of digital images. I think this printer would have been a questionable investment at its original price; however, with the discount, I suspect the folks at Polaroid are going to get their money back (and then some) on the film! The five stars are given specifically for the discounted price. This printer is a "must have" gadget at that price!

Neat little unit
For the price, size and quality its more novelty than serious printer, but its a good sort of novelty.

Pictures are small, but are on par with any other polaroid style camera. Good for scrapbooking, or checking images off LCD for digicams etc.

I bought mine in the hope it'd work with my P800 cell phones infrared, it didn't. Works fine with my nikon coolpix though.

The manual in mine says shoulderstrap included, however on the box it says it isn't,and it wasn't, not really a big deal though.

Haven't had a chance to see how easy it is to pickup film yet, but given its compatible with the joycam it should be reasonable easy.

The interface is ok, its a little terse but once you see where they were going its perfectly acceptable.

Prints come out fast, take a little while to appear.

Compatibility
I want to know if this product id compatible with the Fujifilm FinePix A303 3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

Please let me know.

Ripped off by Amazon
I bought this when they promised a $25 rebate... the rebate never came and the company promising the rebate will not respond.. amazon denies any responsibility, so they effectively baited with a non-existent rebate... don't buy from amazon if you're figuring rebates as part of the price.... ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

The Polaroid 4000 DPI scanner is designed for the professional who demands businesslike efficiency, with high resolution and excellent image quality, from a film scanner. The Polaroid 4000 is adapted for 35mm film in strip or slide format (with an optional accessory, it will also accept APS film). It is a 36-bit film scanner with an optical resolution of 4,000 x 4,000 dpi, and dynamic range of 3.4. All these advantage tally up to premium quality and resolution. IQA imaging technology automatically analyzes and color-corrects your scan, reducing editing time. Combining excellent resolution with fast performance, single-pass sensor technology, and acute image quality, Polaroid has designed an impressive, easy-to-use scanner.

Top-quality output is paramount in the design of the Polaroid 4000. It automatically eliminates surface imperfections such as dust and scratches. Furthermore, you'll find an impressive list of features, including split-screen preview, automatic image sizing, and saving-scan settings. Crisp clean colors and good tonality are central to Polaroid's design. Two more notable characteristics include precise image cropping that permits working with smaller sections of an image while still identifying recognizable detail, and an automatic advance of a six-image film strip or four-image mounted slide holder.

The PolaColor Insight Pro software included with the product provides a simple interface and a tool for basic and advanced scanning tasks, compatible with both PC and Mac. You can save your images on the PC in TIFF and/or BMP formats, or on the Macintosh in TIFF, PSD, and/or JPEG file formats. The unit is matte black and compact, and comes with a SCSI-2 interface, a cable, a controller board, and AdvanSys's Super SCSI setup utilities. Also included are two carriers for 35mm strips and slides. ... Read more

Features

• Ideal for scanning Advanced Photo System film formats
• Sharp images with 4,000 dots per inch (dpi)
• 3.4 optical density in under a minute
• Compatible with PC or Macintosh computers
• Single-pass sensor technology

Reviews (1)

Good quality, very high price
Despite dramatic improvements in digital photography, film is still preferred by many photographers. For them, the Polaroid SprintScan 4000 (...) combines the highest resolution in a desktop film scanner with fast performance, excellent image quality, and a remarkably easy-to-use interface.

The SprintScan is a 36-bit film scanner with an optical resolution of 4,000 by 4,000 ppi and dynamic range of 3.4. By comparison, the top resolution of the Nikon SuperCoolScan (...) is 2,700 by 2,700 ppi, with a dynamic range of 3.2.

Matte-black and compact, the SprintScan comes with a SCSI-2 interface, a cable, a controller board, and AdvanSys's Super SCSI setup utilities. Also included are two carriers for 35-mm strips and slides; an optional APS film adapter is available.

The unit also ships with a quick-start guide and a single page with instructions for installing under Windows NT. The main documentation is a 74-page PDF file. Though useful for novices, the documentation lacks detailed explanations and scan tips for pros.

Setup and installation are relatively simple, so long as you follow the recommended sequence of events. For instance, you must insert the film carrier after (not before) the driver loads, or the computer "loses" the SCSI connection.

Although the Mac version can be installed as a Photoshop plug-in, the PC version is not Twain-compliant, so you can't scan directly into any application. Also, no provisions are supplied for creating scripts, saving images in 12-bit color, or preserving customized settings as default values.

Scanning with the SprintScan is fast and easy. The PolaColor Insight interface is intuitive and offers an impressive variety of manual and automatic tools.

The SprintScan took only 20.4 seconds to scan a 12.8MB slide. But this blazing speed is somewhat tempered by a 49.5-second auto-calibration routine and by the time needed to name and save a file and then open it in an application. Image quality is excellent and holds up even when magnified. Colors are accurate and tonality is very good.

Though the Polaroid Sprint Scan 4000 has occasional limitations, its image quality is superb. The scanner leapfrogs over the competition in price, ease of use, and most important, high-resolution scans. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Polaroid's SprintScan 4000 delivers amazing sharpness, detail, and clarity. It has true 4,000 dpi resolution with an optical density of 3.4. Operating at a rate of less than 60 seconds per scan, the SprintScan captures twice the information of conventional scanners that offer only 2,700 dpi with a 3.2 optical density. The SprintScan 4000 also requires less processing time for each scan. Plus, features for automatic 35mm film and slide loading and advancement maximize your productivity, and photo archiving is automated with the optional APS filmstrip kit.

The PolaColor Insight Pro interface and editing software package offers an assortment of image protection and enhancement tools that complement the SprintScan's high-resolution output. Surface flaws and visible imperfections are automatically rectified, and IQA color correction is handsfree and instantaneous. CCD calibration provides automatic uniformity, and dark-field subtraction and professional image control are a breeze. Images can be saved on a PC in either TIFF or BMP format, or in TIFF, JPEG, or PSD format on a Macintosh.

Also included with the SprintScan is LaserSoft SilverFast Ai, the award-winning Photoshop plug-in for scanning and color reproduction optimization. SilverFast Ai's simple and intuitive user interface provides exceptional color-handling capabilities and outstanding scan control, bringing the power of advanced digital scanning to both the novice and experienced professional. --Silas Brazil ... Read more

Features

• 4000 dpi film scanner
• Optical density of 3.4
• Scans completed in under a minute
• Works with 35 millimeter slides, film strips and APS film
• Automatic film-handling features

Reviews (4)

Polaroid Sprintscan 4000 (original model)
Unlike others here, I have generally had a good experience with my Sprintscan 4000. I bought my first one in 1999 when they first appeared on the market ... It was the first 4000 ppi slide/film scanner available and I upgraded from a 2700 ppi Nikon Coolscan. (I also have Sprintscan's half brother - a Microtek Artixscan 4000f - mechanically identical but different case & software).

The original PolaColor Insight software was buggy, but later versions improved. The current version (v. 5.5.1) and firmware upgrade (free downloads) work fine. The scan resolution and sharpness are quite good - I've made prints up to 16x24 that look fantastic. If you plan to spend $800 or more then buy a Nikon or Minolta with Digital Ice, but if you can pick up a Sprintscan 4000 for $300 and can live without the "Ice" then go for it! Forget the Silverfast - it's not that great. The Microtex scanner works well too but the software is not as good as Polaroid's and they are not cross-compatible. Look into Vuescan (Hamrick.com)- It'll drive both scanners and produces better scans from negatives than either native software.

Complete piece of junk.
This is a poorly made scanner. It produces poor images, the software is very cumbersome, it is extremely slow, and worst of all is that it does not work half the time. Actually mine is going back to Polaroid tommorrow because the unit keeps trying to spit out the slide tray.

Don't waste your money.

hardware good; software -- needs improvement
I bought this about 2 years ago for quite a princely sum and have had a pretty good time using it. The resolution is satisfactory, but the main problems are:

- very grainy image at the pixel level; adjacent pixels are often jarringly different from each other in color; averaging them over an area produces the correct result, but with loss of detail(especially with people's eyes). Since I like to make large size poster prints, this is a problem for me. Shouldn't affect anyone working with 11" x 17" or less.

- Software that removes blemishes from the image softens it too much. I've just given up on this "feature" and instead use the Photoshop rubberstamp tool to get rid of blemishes and scratches in the negative.

Solid but dated
This scanner is a sturdy piece of engineering that reminds me of the original IBM PC's of the early 80's: heavy, a bit over-engineered, but somewhat dated in its approach. Everything you need is included, even a SCSI card and cable for PC owners (it uses the ancient Centronics-style connector) and a Euro-style power cable as well as the US version.

The software definitely needs work. For Windows 2000, it requires you to install ASPI drivers even though Win2k has its own improved SCSI interface, which all software claiming to be Win2k compatible should use.

I wish I could talk about how the scanner has worked for me, but it hasn't. Instead, after I installed the ASPI software on my Win2k system, the system wouldn't boot. It appears that the ASPI install procedure trashed a critical system directory in my Win2k installation directory. In fact, even the emergency repair procedure failed, and I had to reinstall Win2k and all my software.

I'm going to return this unit, and I'll buy one of the new Nikon scanners that should be available soon. When a hardware product sells for $1300+, you shouldn't have to use dated, incompatible, and potentially dangerous software to control it. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

The simple way to create prints directly from your digital camera, the P-500 is a truly mobile photo printer. It allows you to print photographs anywhere, anytime, without a computer. To use it, simply insert a CompactFlash or SmartMedia card (adapter included) directly into the printer, choose the image or images you want to print, and push a button for instant full color continuous tone prints. It's manufacturer-rated to take only about 20 seconds per print. There are no batteries to buy and no cords to plug in. ... Read more

Features

• Creates full color continuous tone prints using Polaroid 500 instant film
• Prints in less than 20 seconds
• No PC required
• Compatible with all cameras that use CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards
• 1-year warranty

Reviews (1)

Not bad, especially at the price
I've had a Polaroid photo printer for several months and I quite like it. The user interface is a spartan one line text LCD and all you need to know about using the device is printed on a sticker on the film door. Pop in a cartridge of 500 series film (the cartridge includes the batteries that power the device) insert the CF card from your camera (a CF to Smart Media adapter is supplied, SD and memory stick need not apply) and print. You can either use the DPOF feature of the camera to select photos for printing (I recommend this if your camera supports DPOF) or use the up/down buttons on the printer to select the picture you want to print. Remember, there's no graphical display so you are selecting by picture number. The camera takes about 20 seconds to spit out your picture. How do the pictures look? Like you took them with a Polaroid camera. Colors are sharp and accurate and there's no visible digital artifacts (with my camera, a Kodak DX3600, your mileage may vary). The pictures are a bit small but that's due to the size of the 500 series film. There's no way to connect this printer to a computer so no drivers or anything to worry about. The printer comes with one film cartridge and a shoulder strap. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

For faster, more productive scanning with your SprintScan 4000 scanner,get the Polaroid APS film handler. Designed especially for the SprintScan 4000,it provides Advanced Photo System (APS) and unattended batch scanning of up to40 images.

The Polaroid APS film handler is easy to use and can be quickly installed inyour scanner. Once you've put the film cartridge into the APS carrier, anindicator flag turns white to confirm that it is properly locked in place.Insert the APS carrier into the scanner using its convenient arrows to guideyou. The SprintScan will automatically pull it in. When finished, simply selectthe eject option on the scanner menu, and the APS carrier will disengage. ... Read more

Features

• For use with Polaroid's SprintScan 4000 film scanner
• Permits professional quality scanning of APS film images
• Easy to use
• Quick installation
• Polaroid quality product

Reviews (1)

Awsome Picture output and fast...
I got this ColorShot USB printer, basicly at a try and dump basis, it was [inexpensive], and I said, what a heck. So I bought this printer. It came with one pack of Spectrum Platinum film, with 10 prints. The installation was a easy and when I try to print an 800x600 24bit color image. The picture output was dot-free and fast. Only took my system (Piii 933MHz) 30 sec to print out. Sure, the image was resize to the polaroid film size (450x350 or so) but there is no visible dot or jagged edge.

The only thing bad about this printer is the film,..[other places].., you can get a 2 Pack (10 each) polairoid film..., that make it about $1 per print. The actual is so good, even my friends can't tell it apart from a regular polaroid camera picture...this is a great way to print out great picture... fast! ... Read more