Introduction

Nothing is quite like a classic Polaroid instant camera. Yeah, the photos are murky and the film costs as much as some standalone cameras, but for decades, it was the most magical format in all of photography. Point and shoot, shake the photo for a few minutes, and you've got an instant memory preserved in silver and celluloid.

Digital photography has reduced film into a niche artistic endeavor, and even the cheapest of the cheap pocket digicams are incredibly convenient compared to the old way of doing things. But instant prints are still charming, and something that digicams—convenient as they are—don't offer.

Enter the Polaroid Instant Z340. It's a Polaroid instant camera for the digital age. Like its ancestors, it's a point-and-shoot camera crammed into a big, ugly brick of a printer. Warts and all, it exists because it can spit out a real photo in short order, but it doesn't give up any of the advantages of digital photography. Read on to see how it stacks up.

The Polaroid Instant Z340 is available now at an MSRP of $299.