The good:
1. The colour reproduction is generally quite good in most situations. The digital prints have better clarity and precision than analogue instant film.
2. The dynamic range and the resolution of the prints are quite good. It might be the characteristics of zink paper/printing looks like there is a layer of metallic tint finish when viewed against the light.
3. It has a cost per print ratio advantage in comparison with analogue instant film for now.
4. The printing time is reasonably quick. It's interesting to see the 4-pass printing process with the kids.
The bad:
1. Digital printing devices have battery life disadvantage against the analogue cameras and film. May need a battery bank when using outdoor.
2. There is overheating warning it needs to take a short break to cool down after every 6 to 7 prints. The zink printing process is temperature sensitive.
3. The resolution and clarity of the small LCD screen on the device is quite poor by today standard. The image quality of most modern day mobile phones surpass this camera. If instant camera/printing is not required it's cheaper to get the printer only version.
4. There is no memory card and cannot save photos for later editing or printing (quite analogue in this respect).
5. Potential reliability issue with the cartridges. So far I have one unusable cartridge. The roller (ink) came off due to spring malfunction and 10 zink papers wasted. Kodak might want to allow customers to order replacement cartridges without the zink papers in the future.
6. The new Kodak Photo Printer app is very basic in comparison with the competition. It needs to improve significantly i.e. no text or graphics can be added to the photos or removable slips; editing options are very limited.
7. The Kodak Photo Printer app has issue with border printing. In the app it shows the 1:1 photo to be adjusted within the border. In reality the prints only barely add the border on the image without adjustment meaning the outside edge of the image is covered by/crop away by the border.
8. The prints struggle to reproduce certain colour gradient or dynamic range i.e. the sky of sunrise/sunset (red/orange/blue/purple/white); colour reflection on the coast/beach/sand (yellow/blue/white)
The ugly:
It's a lot of plastic waste for 10 prints. Kodak definitely needs to consider providing outlets for cartridge recycling in different countries. These products are not for the environmental friendly or conscious consumers as it stands.
