One of Polaroid’s more memorable products of the seventies was the Face Place—the photo booth, with seat and curtain, many of us remember from trips to the mall. (Plenty of them still exist, though the analog ones are getting hard to find.)
Polaroid Face Place, courtesy of photobooth.net.
A tech entrepreneur has taken that idea and compacted it into a little portable box called the Instaprint, with a twist: Any photo made via Instagram, hashtagged with the character string shown on the front panel, will immediately pop out of the printer as soon as it’s uploaded. Judging by the writeup on Instaprint’s Website, it uses the Zink technology and thermal printing head of Polaroid’s GL10 printer, a product that I rather like. Needless to say, the possibilities for (let’s say) corporate party events or nightclubs are significant, and the Instaprint people are trying to finance their project through Kickstarter. They say a donation of $399 guarantees you a product, and counts as a preorder. (Not sure where that leaves them in terms of actual product-development financing, but I’ll leave the details to their VC.)
Much more at instaprint.me.
Anyway, I approve. There are people who dislike Polaroid Zink printers because they’re not built around analog film; I say the point is to exchange photos with people on the spot, through whatever means works, and I have one of those little guys and enjoy using it. So good luck to the Instaprint people, and I look forward to trying out their product in a couple of years.
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Like one of my old bosses usta say, I concur 1000%.
I used to assemble those FacePlace booths back in the Fall of 1977 in Woburn, MA. I may have done the very one pictured above!
The Digital Face Place revives the nostalgia of Polaroid’s Face Place, now transformed into the portable Instaprint. By merging Instagram’s instant sharing with Zink technology, it generates on-the-spot photos when tagged with the designated code. Perfect for events and parties, this innovation is seeking support on Kickstarter. Despite analog purists’ concerns, embracing the essence of instant photo exchange is paramount. As a fan of the practicality Zink printers offer, I’m excited about the Instaprint’s potential. Kudos to the creators, and I eagerly anticipate experiencing their creation firsthand.