Polaroid Unveils Portable Digital Photo Printer

Polaroid will launch an innovative portable digital photo printer this week at Photokina 2000. The new Polaroid P-500 is a compact, handheld printer that, at the touch of a button, produces high-resolution, pocket-sized Polaroid 500 instant color prints from Compact Flash data storage cards and Smart Media memory cards used in digital cameras.

This first mobile photo printer from Polaroid eliminates the need for connecting a digital camera to a PC; creates color instant photos in 20 seconds or less; is totally self-powered (by a unique battery in the Polaroid 500 film pack); and provides digital prints with remarkable visual impact, color and clarity.

The lightweight (less than 0.5Kg), ergonomically configured P-500 with its slim body and compact size (50 x 95 x 190 mm), looks equally "@home" on coffee tables, desks or hanging from the neckstrap (included).

Beneath its PDA-like appearance lies a complex digital-to-analog schematic consisting of a print engine, a print head to convert digital data to light on film, and an image enhancement program called IQA (Image Quality Assured). The P-500 also incorporates much of the architecture required in a Polaroid camera -- a series of electromechanical devices (gears, motor and developing-reagent-spreading rollers) to create the pocket-sized Polaroid 500 instant color continuous-tone print.

To print from a CompactFlash card or from a SmartMedia memory card (an adapter is required for SmartMedia), the user simply inserts the card in the Polaroid P-500; selects the photo to be printed (the P-500 employs the new Digital Print Order Format or DPOF algorithm); activates the print control; and, in seconds, receives a finished print of the digital image. "Batch" printing of multiple copies or "series" printing of selected prints may be easily programmed into the P-500, which automatically re-formats images up to three megapixels for optimal printing.

The new Polaroid P-500 also incorporates an easily viewed LCD "status" display to indicate print mode, image number, remaining film frames, printer operating status, and readily accessible controls for "on/off," "select" (function and mode) and "print." Suggested retail price is US$249.99.

Promoted as a "beyond portable" printer permitting "in-the-field" hard copies of digital images, the new Polaroid P-500 is scheduled for market launch in the U.S following Photokina 2000 and in international markets in early 2001. www.polaroid.com

Source: Polaroid Corporation