Latest news with #PolaroidFlip
Gizmodo
26-05-2025
- Gizmodo
Polaroid Flip Review: Classic Design, Classic Pictures, Classic Heft
The Polaroid Flip is one of those devices that sounds more fun in theory than it does to actually take it into the field. The $200 full-size instant camera looks a little too much like your parents' 50-year-old Polaroid they used to take their vintage, cracked, and sun-spotted beach photos. Hell, that may be appealing to some of you nostalgic for your grandmother's photo albums. The Flip comes with a few important upgrades over a lower-cost Polaroid Go or Polaroid Now that help it seem extra enticing for its price. And yet, lugging this hefty beast of a camera around made me wish I kept it at home. See at Best Buy The big selling point of the Polaroid Flip is its 'hyperfocal' lens system. It's essentially four lenses on a rotating gear, and the Flip is smart enough to swap between its various focal lengths depending on your distance to the subject you're shooting. The max sweet spot for its farthest-field lens is around eight feet. That's rather far for an instant camera, though if you're out and about with friends, you will normally snap your pics at a much closer distance. Out of all the photos I took on the Polaroid Flip, I didn't find any where the subject looked out of focus. So long as the flash didn't make their skin glow like the surface of the sun, my friends and coworkers were happy to take home the pics printed off the Polaroid Flip. Polaroid Flip It's a nostalgic camera that takes fun printed shots with strong focus capabilities. You just won't feel great lugging it around. See at Best Buy Pros Takes good in-focus shots from different ranges Takes good in-focus shots from different ranges Easy to use Easy to use Prints classic Polaroid-size photos Cons Heavy and hard to hold Heavy and hard to hold Exposure without flash isn't great, even in direct sunlight Exposure without flash isn't great, even in direct sunlight Film packs are expensive The various focal lengths mean the camera can take better landscapes, though your phone camera with its wider range of aspect ratios may be a better choice for your next hike. The Flip's other big selling point is its special light in the viewfinder that will blare red if there's too much or not enough light for each shot. The thing is, you'll rarely find yourself lacking light for your photos. I took the Polaroid Flip to a Manhattan rooftop bar on a bright, clear day with the sun creeping toward the horizon—nearly golden hour. Even then, I found that without flash, subjects would still be underexposed. The Flip won't avoid the other issues that come from instant flash photography, but I wouldn't change that for the world. There's an evocative charm of the traditional Polaroid blemishes, from white spots to sun flare, that you would miss if they weren't there. The photos I took with coworkers are going up on a wall, or at least all of those that weren't so underexposed you can't tell who it is. While the photos came out crisp, actually using the Polaroid Flip is a hefty task. The camera weighs 1.4 pounds, and it's a big sucker to boot. Carrying it around with a shoulder strap felt like I was lugging around a small brick. It weighed down my backpack, and I can tell it will take up a large amount of real estate in any other bag or pocketbook. Like most full-image Polaroids, the device does not have any one place you're supposed to hold it. If you bring it up to take a quick photo, you'll end up with your fingers in front of the photo eject port more often than not. The Polaroid Flip is retro in many ways, down to its sloped body and extended viewfinder. Its design hedges closest to a Polaroid Sun 660 from 1981. That camera brought Polaroid's sonar autofocus to the fore, plus it used a similar rotating lens system to the Flip. It also had a flip-up flash section that protected all the most sensitive bits when closed. The Flip isn't as premium as the $600 Polaroid I-2, and it isn't built for creating depth of field on the produced shots. Instead, it's the kind of device you're supposed to have in your closet for family gatherings or take in your bag when you're out on an adventure with family or compatriots. There are few better feelings than going out for drinks and then handing out a printed photo as a memento—though after waiting several minutes for the film to develop. For review, Polaroid sent me two packages of eight photos. I burned through the majority of those in a single evening, and I even had to reload during my time out with my colleagues. The Flip works with the company's Color and B&W i-Type film. Both sell for $18 individually, but it's slightly cheaper per pack if you buy in bulk. Depending on how often you bring it out for family outings, the Polaroid could start to get very expensive, far beyond the $200 asking price. Polaroids are worth their price if you plan to cement the photos as memories. I enjoy the shots I took with the Flip, but I also know a more compact instant camera that shoots wallet-sized images, like a Fujifilm Instax camera, could be more transportable and still let you toss souvenirs to your friends after an evening out. The Flip is still straightforward, near idiot-proof, and solid (it better be for how heavy it is). It feels like a step up from a smaller, cheaper Polaroid Go, but it's an upgrade that will have to stay at home. See at Best Buy
CNN
29-04-2025
- CNN
I spent the weekend trying Polaroid's new Flip instant camera with sonar autofocus
Instant cameras have been all the rage over the past few years. Whether it's taking a step back from relying on your smartphone or just finding joy in the spontaneity that is a physical film print, there's a lot to love about these retro cameras. But there are some downsides: Mainly, messing up a photo is far more costly than snapping a digital picture on your iPhone. Today, the Polaroid Flip hits store shelves with the company's first sonar-backed autofocus system in decades, designed to make it easier to get the perfect shot. Polaroid Flip Instant Camera Polaroid's latest instant camera has many of the signature features I've come to expect from the brand. It supports Polaroid i-Type and 600 film, has Bluetooth support for connecting to a companion app and rocks a classic retro-inspired design — all with new enhancements like a sonar autofocus system and brighter flash. The new Polaroid Flip is as simple as it gets for an instant camera. You get a prominent red shutter button, eight exposures per film pack and a flip-up lid that turns on the gadget. That flippable design does more than just give the Flip its name. It also houses new technology, making this a far better option for those who only want to point the camera at a subject and print a good photo. Polaroid's latest may be the newest camera on the block, but it also relies on the company's legacy technology to achieve that true point-and-shoot focus. Housed in the top lid is the flash, and below it sits the headlining feature — a sonar sensor. Like I said above, the Flip is the first of the company's releases to use the tech in over a decade. In its application here, the camera relies on sonar to measure the distance between the camera and your subject before switching between one of four focus points best suited to deliver an in-focus photo. It also means that the autofocus system works in low-light scenarios. This all lessens the odds that you'll print out a blurry shot, or worse, fuss with the manual settings to dial in an exposure. Circling back to everything else packed into the lid, the Polaroid Flip's canopy folds down to protect the lens and turn off the camera when not in use. It houses the flash, which is the company's brightest in a modern instant camera. This is bright enough to illuminate subjects over 14 feet away and can be controlled via a companion app if you'd like to tone it down. Speaking of the app, the camera's Bluetooth support can pair with a smartphone to tweak other settings like aperture and shutter speed. While not the main selling point of the camera, it gives photographers the choice of customizing shots if they want to. My favorite part about the Polaroid Flip is its sonar-based autofocus system, so I wanted to spend a bit more time explaining how it works. The instant camera has two lenses that are split into four preset focus points to coincide with specific distances: 0.65m, 0.85m, 1.2m and 2.5m. Polaroid also backs that with a new scene analysis feature that warns you with a red LED light in the viewfinder when an image is overexposed, underexposed or if there are focus issues. A half-press of the shutter button fires up the sonar sensor, which beams out to see how far away the subject is. Then, the camera's fixed lenses shift between those four focus points to find the best tool for the job. All that's left to do is fully press the shutter, and your print will pop out of the front. While we've yet to review the new Polaroid Flip in its entirety, I spent the past weekend with it and jotted down some noteworthy thoughts. Last year, I purchased Polaroid's first manual instant camera, the I-2, and have had a complicated relationship with it. Dialing in a picture is satisfying, but I rarely want to go through the effort just for an instant film print. If I were going to do that, I'd be shooting with proper film. So for an instant camera, I've learned the hard way that I'd rather press the shutter and receive a print, not spend a minute or two fussing with the controls. Polaroid's Flip is the exact opposite of the I-2 I've grown to dislike. The former has been fun and effortless to use, so much so that I let my partner take a crack at shooting some prints. She is by no means a photographer, but she was able to take some solid photos. That ease of use is what I was looking for from the Flip, and it did not disappoint. I'll be excited to see what my testing colleagues at CNN Underscored think once they inevitably get their hands on the Polaroid Flip. Our current best-tested instant camera pick, the Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo, has the same $200 price tag as this new release. That makes all the tech and the ease of use factor packed into the Polaroid Flip a better buy in my book. Though, I'll have to wait and see if the Flip shakes up our guide in the coming months after a longer-term testing session. CNN Underscored has a team of writers and editors with many years of product testing experience as well as experience researching and recommending other buys, and they ensure each article is carefully edited and products are properly vetted. We talk to top experts when relevant to ensure we are testing each product accurately, recommending only the best products and considering the pros and cons of each item. Senior deals editor Rikka Altland has personally been reviewing all kinds of tech and home goods for nearly a decade.
WIRED
15-04-2025
- WIRED
Polaroid Flip Is Here to Give You the Best Shot In a Flash
How long can a revival be called a revival? At what point is something considered, well, just back? The 'renewed' interest in analog experiences and physical media is something that's been discussed and dissected for well over a decade now, and where vinyl and record players have led the way, instant photography has followed. With the launch of the new Polaroid Flip, Polaroid's second new launch this year, the mood seems to one of being not only 'back' but 'here to stay'. There's now a whole family of cameras to suit different prices and abilities, but the focus with the Flip is now to supposedly make the experience as good as possible for as many people as possible. 'We believe this is the best instant camera for most people,' Polaroid's new CEO Dan Dossa tells me. Let's find out if the Flip lives up to such a lofty claim. A Nod to Its Roots Photograph: Polaroid As someone who was born in the 80s, it's impossible not to see the Flip's nod to its roots. The whole Polaroid family is suitably retro in its styling, but the clamshell design of the Flip, which sees the flash fold into itself and double up as a lens cover, is a clear nod to the One Step camera—just with rounder edges and an overall softer look. It's available in white with an orange and black lens panel or in all black and grey, with an orange shutter button. To my eyes, the white is the most striking of the two, but of course, it's also the most likely to get grubby and marked. My review sample has picked up its fair share during two weeks of snapping so far, some of which have become more engrained and difficult to remove. At least the lens is protected, though, and for a camera you'll likely want to be taking around with you, that's the most important thing—and one of the clear benefits over the recently announced, slightly cheaper Now Gen 3 family. Another notable addition here is sonar autofocus, a well-loved feature first developed by Polaroid in 1978 but that hasn't been seen on a new camera for decades. It works when you half press the shutter button to focus, and trigger an ultrasonic pulse from the small circle of dots that sit to the left of the lens. This pulse bounces off any nearby large objects and helps the camera to understand how far away the subject—or subjects—might be, reaching a distance of 0.4 to 4 meters. With this information, the Flip can theoretically then automatically choose the best option from its hyperfocal four-lens system, which you can literally hear the camera switching between them as the scene changes. There's a choice of lens for sweet spots at 0.65m, 0.85m, 1.2m and 2.5m, which roughly translates to a macro shot, a single person portrait, group of people or a landscape picture.
