
SnapJet: A portable, open source Polaroid printer for smartphones - lhh
http://snapjet.com/
======
roywiggins
I think people here aren't getting what this is. It looks like it transfers
the image from the phone to a polaroid film cartridge optically. It's
basically a smartphone version of a Daylab enlarger.

Which is super-bleeding-cool, because there aren't many important moving parts
not provided by the smartphone or the film cartridge. It's not a scanner and a
printer. The only way to beam an image to it over bluetooth would be to embed
a smartphone screen and backlight into it, which I gather it is not doing.
It's taking an analog "contact print."

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joshstrange
Let me start by saying I really like the idea of a portable color picture
printer. That said the idea of scanning in a picture I have digitally to print
it seems a roundabout way to approach this problem. A few google searches
revealed this [0] which is a small printer made by Polaroid to do just that
(Note: it's a little older and does not work with iPhone but does work with
some Android phones). It's $130 (not though Amazon and not prime) and has 4.5
stars (I skimmed the low reviews and I'd bet SnapJet would suffer from the
same issues: battery life, picture quality, streaking after a few uses). It
would appear that Polaroid is no longer in the stand-alone mobile printer
business as they don't list the product on their site and it's only on
reseller/auction sites now.

I find it hard to believe that the team behind SnapJet can deliver a product
as good for close to the same price as Polaroid. Also I'd bet that Polaroid
had a good reason for pulling the plug on their mobile printers (Demand,
quality issues, high printing costs, etc). This seems like a very high risk KS
(not that there are a large number of "sure thing" KS projects but still).

Lastly I see no mention of printing over BT/BLE which is the only reason I
would buy it.

[0] [http://smile.amazon.com/Polaroid-CZA-20011B-Instant-
Mobile-P...](http://smile.amazon.com/Polaroid-CZA-20011B-Instant-Mobile-
Printer/dp/B0019UGCLG/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1416858635&sr=1-1&keywords=polaroid+pogo&pebp=1416858645210)

~~~
martey
> _Lastly I see no mention of printing over BT /BLE which is the only reason I
> would buy it._

The Kickstarter page - [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/snapjet/snapjet-
a-slim-...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/snapjet/snapjet-a-slim-
portable-open-source-instant-film-p) \- has more details:

"We've also included an OLED display, USB, and BLE connectivity. So all the
tinkerers and photographers out there can control exposures, hack, and
reprogram the SnapJet."

~~~
joshstrange
See my earlier reply on that sentence:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8654227](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8654227)

~~~
kclayton
Hey joshstrange, You can't print over bluetooth--this connectivity is for
control of the printer's scanning mechanism. It also allows reprogramming or
custom exposures. SnapJet uses an analog method of obtaining the image because
it simplifies the device electronics and mechanics. This translates to ease of
use and yields good picture quality. It also tackles compatibility issues.
Compare its function to the impossible instant lab--this is a similar device
that uses a larger lens system instead. SnapJet isn't meant to function
exactly like a traditional printer, but instead as an extension for your
smartphone to recreate the fun of Polaroid photography. We're also stressing
the open source aspect. It's a fun gadget that works in a simple way so people
can hack and improve upon it.

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msandford
Alright so a bunch of people don't seem to understand how this thing works,
and aren't reading the Kickstarter.

This is not actually a PRINTER. It's a photo paper exposer.

What's the difference? Printers work by somehow applying ink to paper. Photo
paper works by already having the ink impregnated within it and exposing it to
light causes the ink to become active and the result is that you get an image.

So the phone is an integral part of the process; without it you have no
colored light source and thus, no printer.

Why did they use the word "printer" when it's not actually a printer in the
technical sense of the word? Because the difference is lost on most people.

[http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/printers.htm](http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/printers.htm)

EDIT: changed to a better link

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cphuntington97
I would buy one without the "screen scanner" because I'm an otherwise
knowledgeable user and scanning the display sounds clunky and stupid.

~~~
Renaud
It doesn't scan in the traditional sense of an office scanner does. This
Snapjet doesn't uses a line of CCD to scan a digital picture and then print it
on paper.

The kind of scan it does is simply to run a slit along the smartphone. The
light from the smartphone that goes through the slit simply illuminates the
light-sensitive front face of a Fuji Instax Mini instant film.

What this is doing is neither printing or scanning: it's transferring the
image -in the optical sense- directly from the screen to the light-sensitive
photo paper.

------
bootload
_"... prints out a high resolution color image on Instax Mini or Polaroid
300PIF film. ..."_

Access to Film is the weakness here. Polaroid used to be pretty cheap & widely
available ~
<[https://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/tags/polaroid>](https://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/tags/polaroid>)
Then Polaroid stopped producing it.

Want to get that 5x4" old-school Polaroid look? try the _" Impossible Instant
black lab"_ ~ [https://shop.the-impossible-
project.com/shop/cameras/impossi...](https://shop.the-impossible-
project.com/shop/cameras/impossible) It uses the old 600 Polaroid format with
new film chemistry. I love the way Impossible is improving the film. It's
getting close to what the Polaroid reproduced at it's peak. cf
<[https://www.the-impossible-project.com/>](https://www.the-impossible-
project.com/>)

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microtheo
I love it, it is so retro and simple! I hope they will deliver an app for
Windows phone as well! I just wonder how they can align the display on the
device (if you have some less famous android phone) and how they can detect
how much light exposes the film!

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comboy
I'm a bit skeptical. I don't know about you but my smartphone screen isn't
always super clean. And yes, you can clean it before using it, but I'd love to
see how quality looks like in a closeup.

~~~
deganii
Disclaimer: co-founder of SnapJet

Hey comboy, SnapJet is resilient (to some degree) with respect to minor
smudges. Naturally a clean screen would be best. We have some closeups on
website and kickstarter page. [http://kck.st/1vGjko0](http://kck.st/1vGjko0)

Best, Ismail

~~~
joshstrange
So why use scanning over BT picture transfer or the like? Scanning an image
you have a digital copy of feels on par with holding your laptop over a
flatbed scanner to print an email...

Also how does this support phones like the iPhone 6/6+ or Nexus 6?

~~~
joshstrange
So I just looked on KS and found this response:

> @Abdul thanks for the question. Our optional app doesn't need to know that
> SnapJet is attached. All it has to do is display the desired image at the
> right scale and position - and SnapJet will scan/print it. This is part of
> what makes SnapJet so simple - any app can work with SnapJet as a print-
> source, just by displaying the desired photo.

> You can think of it as a photocopy machine, where the "paper" is the phone
> screen. The paper doesn't need to know that it is being copied.

So it sounds like you can use their app to display the image you want scaled
to their scanner... But how do you position your 6/6+ so that it's lined up?

~~~
isaacdegani
Hey joshstrange, SnapJet's top has a corner registration feature and you can
tell the app what model your phone is to adjust the position/size.

~~~
joshstrange
Ok but my phone won't be able to fit flush with the scanner as the corner
guards you have in your video/pictures would cause it to be 1/4" or so off the
scanning surface. How do you account for that? Also I feel like phone cases
are going to play hell with this.

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chx
Well, I am surely not social enough but my phone-to-paper picture usage
involves mostly postcards and there are excellent apps for that already. It's
so much easier to snap a picture on the phone click two buttons, a week later
someone gets a postcard than printing and then sending it as a physical
postcard.

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leeoniya
why not just use NFC or bluetooth?

seems like a lot of additional engineering/hardware for worse quality. even
the minor hassle of a cable connection would be worth it, no one is going to
carry this thing around, it's gonna be on some desk somewhere where a dock or
cable would easily be no problem.

~~~
ismaildegani2
Hi leeoniya,

Actually, I think the scanning approach actually simplifies things quite a
bit. Let's see if I can explain this properly:

You can think of SnapJet as performing the same operation as holding a phone
about 10 inches away from an old film camera, and opening and closing the
shutter. Light comes out of the phone, and hits the film after being focused
by a lense. The picture then develops from a chemical reaction based on the
incident wavelengths of light. The novelty in SnapJet is simply that we reduce
that 10 inches to 1mm - i.e. we focus the light using optical fibers rather
than a traditional lense.

This actually makes the device super-low-tech. The optical fibers are just
plastic, and so the device technically doesn't need any electronics
whatsoever. The current printer we're kickstarting has batteries and a PCB in
order to support Fuji's film cartridges (and make the user experience a little
smoother). But we're imagining future versions that work entirely without
batteries or motors and are ultra-slim, like 5-7mm.

Hope that makes more sense!

~~~
leeoniya
i consider this much more complicated than the couple hundred lines of code
that it would take to simply send the image electronically, eliminating the
need for cropping, straightening denoising and a whole lot of other
corrections you need to do when scanning. it would not be as universal and you
couldnt do it with older flip phones, but then again you cannot lay a flip
phone face down, flat onto a scanning surface.

~~~
leohutson
I don't think you're quite getting it. This is an analogue printer, there is
no scanner, light from the display of the phone is used to expose photo
sensitive paper.

~~~
leeoniya
ah, ic. interesting.

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JonLim
I'd be interested in picking one up so I can print little pictures of my niece
(and future nieces and nephews) on the fly for their enjoyment, but Dec 2015
is just a bit further away than I'd like.

Happy to pick one up when they're out for realsies though, hope you reach your
funding goal!

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jrobn
LG PD239W Pocket Printer (BLE/NFC)[0]. How is SnapJet better than this?

[0] [http://m.lg.com/us/cell-phone-accessories/lg-
PD239W-pocket-p...](http://m.lg.com/us/cell-phone-accessories/lg-
PD239W-pocket-photo-printer)

------
moe
This looks like it could be a fun party gag, if it was about the size of an
iPhone or smaller and very cheap.

But at this size and price point? I don't see the appeal over one of the
mobile dye-sub printers, some of which are smaller than this device.

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deutronium
Wouldn't you get a better resolution though with a portable dye-sub printer,
as theres no intermediary optical process.

To clarify this, I've got a Canon one that uses C M Y layers if I recall
correctly and outputs at a resolution of 300PPI.

~~~
isaacdegani
Hey deutronium, dye sub printers and SnapJet have different use cases; dye sub
printers take ink and aren't something to throw into a bag to take with you.
SnapJet is more of a fun gadget for Smartphones than a professional photo
printer. It uses film cartridges and makes interfacing with a smartphone
really easy. Cheers! Isaac

~~~
chx
Basically: fund this idea if you want the 7mm future device to happen because
at this moment the dye sub printer looks superior. Some dye sub printers have
the ink and the paper together in one cartridge. If not, then you can have
multiple paper size -- think stickers. While larger than a smartphone, they
can have a comparable footprint to a 7" tablet, for eg. compare the Canon CP
910 at 178 x 128 x 60.5 mm to a Nexus 7 tablet at 198.5 x 120 x 10.45 mm.

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brador
I love the idea, but the polaroid paper is 0.75 a print. I see people buying,
using a few times, then shelving. If it was somehow possible to get that price
down to 0.20 or even 0.10 per print this would take over the world.

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brianmtully
There seems to be a lot of comments on how this product seems dated. It prints
polaroids. Polaroids are dated. Relax, it's fun low tech.

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hnriot
shown with the iPhone 4, what's up with that, it's really a contact printer
(as in the old days with an enlarger, except the phone's screen is the light
source)

bigger screens like the iPhone 6 will crop since it's a contact print.

The guy shakes the fuji instant print, reminiscent of polaroid, but no longer
makes any difference, kind of funny.

the results will be horrible looking and cropped. Waste of time.

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joshuak
Fun idea. I love it when people think outside of the electronics... and
anything that helps keep polaroid film around gets my vote.

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isaacdegani
Just hit 500 backers (and 42% funded) on Kickstarter!

~~~
redindian75
can I use Bluetooth to beam the picture into SnapJet instead of scanning it
in?. Coz, the when scanned, the brightness depends on how bright my screen is,
proximity sensor off, smudges on screen, misaligned phone, possible screen
interruptions like incoming SMS, notifications, statusbar, etc. BT is clean
and since u are targeting smartphones, its hard to find a phone without BT

~~~
joshstrange
That's the big unanswered question, I like the idea but scanning seems dated
and prone to issues (especially since I have a larger phone that wouldn't fit
in those corner guards). Ideally I could get a BT/BLE-only model for cheaper
but they won't be offering that. Best case it can scan or use the optional app
to do BT/BLE transfer.

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srik


