The Kodak
Mini Shot Combo 3 is a digital camera/printer combination for 7.6x7.6
cm
(3x3") prints. There are more printers in different sizes of the Kodak
Mini Shot series plus other Mini size camera/printer combinations. They
all use thermal sublimation technology,
the photo passes 3 times
under a film that "melts" a wax of each color on the special paper + a
4th time for finishing. The Canon CP series printers use this
technology for quite some time and they have a very good reputation.
The "inks" are apparently very stable, Canon is
talking about 100 years of durability. The prints are kind of
waterproof.
There is a Kodak website for cameras or printers.
There are no precise
specifications on the web. The official camera app comes from a South
Korean firm. There is a Kodak Instant Square Camera Printer C300, wich
looks the same. Obviously
these are built by Prinics Co., Ltd.,
a firm with an annual turnover of more than 1 Billion US Dollar.
Prinics Co., Ltd. is a leading manufacturer and exporter selling photo
printer digital camera goods and services in different parts of the
world since 2013.
There are 2 apps, the Kodak Instant Printer
app and the Kodak Printer app. If you download the first, it will
launch and then download and open the second, because it is the newer
version.
Irritating. Although the newer version only lists the 2x3 cameras and
printers, it works with the 3x3 models. More irritation... The new app
is a printer app only. No way to remote control your camera. Irritation
complete. More info about the app can be found in the handling section
further down.
The camera
only comes with a
multiligual instructions sheet, only 2 A7 size pages in mini print for
each language. I have collected a bit of information at the end of the
page. There is a "Retro" version of this camera, a different housing of
the same camera. It's the same housing as the identical Agfa Realipix
camera, I tested 3 years ago.
The box.
What's
in the box: camera, cable only for charging, short instructions sheet,
strap. There is an 8 prints cartridge in the camera already.
A pack of 3 cartridges for 30 photos.
The front. Tiny lens with selfie mirror and LCD flash.
The
back: small LCD screen and control
buttons, easy to use. Around the O.K. button there are 4 buttons. The
camera always starts in "frame" mode, you have to switch to frameless.
Left side. Strap lug at the edge, USB charge socket with tiny lamp, reset button.
Right side. Image ejection slot.
Top. On/Off button, shutter button and 2 tiny LCDs for camera on and bluetooth.
Cartrige trap at the bottom open...
...and a cartridge.
The paper passes 4 times. Yellow first, magenta second, cyan third and
finishing layer last. If you want to see pictures of this, have a look
at the Agfa Realipix page, same for printing a photo from the smartphone app.
Camera ready for printing a picture.
Instructions. That's all you get.
The
basic
handling is very easy. The camera is relatively small and light. The
plastic is OK. Switching
the camera on is fine, you press the "On" button for a seconds and it
lights up. The
menu is easy, there is not much choice. With 4 buttons and the OK
button in
the middle you can access very few choices: white margin or not, some
filters, among which a b&w filter which is not accessible via the
app and flash or not. That's it. The screen is very small, not even 5
cm diameter. The captured
photo remains on the screen, it can only be printed immediately or
deleted. No way to adjust exposure, not before, not after taking the
photo. Take it or leave it. No way to keep the photo otherwise than
printing it. It's incredible: even in 2023 there is a new electronic camera with no memory at all!
As printing is very slow, it's a pain that you are forced to print on
the spot, be it windy or whatever. And only then you can take the next
photo.
There is no indication
of the number of photos left. If the cartridge is empty, the
camera tries to print and then gives a error message. The state of the
battery is not indicated as well. If empty, the camera shuts down with
an error message. These are basic camera features since ages, their
absence sucks. If you use the app, battery charge status is accessible,
so it would be possible...but no counter as well in the app.
The printed
photos are fine for exterior photos with infinity distance, with less
distance they are OK in good light down to ~25cm. Obviously there is no focussing, it's
rather fixed focus. In low light there can easily be some blur. For a year 2023 camera this is poor performance.
You'll get what you saw on
the screen, but as the screen is tiny, you can't see much. The printing speed is slow, heating the printer first
and then passing the paper 4 times takes a good moment, 1m25 on mine.
The new smartphone app works fine, if you just want to print photos taken with your smartphone. But
this is not what I want, I want to access the Kodak camera via my
smartphone.
You can still open the old app, it will launch the new app and easily
pair,
but as the old one is still open, you can return to the old app.
Pairing is more difficult then, but it's possible if you insist.
When paired to the old app, you
have access to the remote shutter of the
Kodak camera. Take a picture via the remote. The transfer to the
smartphone takes a moment. Now you have access to more filters
and some more features,
like post-treatment of the photo. You can even zoom into the photo and,
very important, you can save the picture to your smartphone! Finally,
you can print the picture via the app. The absence of a tripod socket
is bad, the
camera isn't very stable when it stands on its bottom.
If you save the pictures on your phone first, you will have a
3840 x 2880 pixel file, automatically a 2160 x 2160 pixel section is
chosen for print, indicated by a frame. You can move the frame if
wanted. If you zoom or print and then save the file, you will get a 896
x 896 pixel file only. Probably only this size is sent to the print
unit. That may explain why you can sometimes see jaggies on the
scans, hardly visible on the photo in your hand. The files have no EXIF
information.
Compared to the Agfa Realipix from 2020, the quality of the prints has
improved a lot. Some sample pictures scanned without post treatment at
400 dpi. The pictures look much bigger on the sceen, they are 7.6 x 7.6
cm (3x3") in reality. They look much sharper in your hand. So to be fair, first one about real size:
This is approx the size of the print, 76 x 76 mm.
Cologne, view from my office.
My Cologne veranda.
My Cologne house.
Photo via the app from my smartphone. Eupen, Belgium, main square.
Cologne center, main threspassing road.
Distance
1m, there is distortion well visible here, less on other photos, but
it's always present. If you look closely at the photo of my house, you
can see it nevertheless.
Cologne, St. Pantaleon.
Entrance to St. Pantaleon.
Cologne, new tax offices (1950s).
View from my atelier over the roofs of Cologne with Cologne Cathedral.
2.5m, interior photo w/o flash. In my Cologne atelier.
Photo taken via the app as remote for the camera. View from my office.
Zoomed into the photo and then printed.
~30cm, hand-held in low light. Quite OK.
Less than 15cm, that's a bit too near.
So the photos are ways better than those of the identical Agfa Realipix
3 years ago. That's a big improvement. Prices for cartridges are half
as well, it comes down to 40c a print. One would still wish a better
camera, at least a bit of memory. a counter and a battery charge indicator. And a new app for the camera AND
the printer.
The camera specifications so far:
Image sensor: 10 MP Effective pixels: 3840 x 2880, automatic 2160 x 2160 image section printed No storage media, no memory Focal length: 3.71mm (25.4mm in 35mm equivalent) Aperture: F1.7 Focus range: fixed focus, ~ 1m to ∞ Shutter speed: 1/50 for interior photos Sensitivity. ISO 125 for interior photos Flash: Auto or off, Auto is default
Printer Specifications
Photo capacity 10 prints per pack Image size 76 mm x 76 mm
Coulors 256 gradation / 16,700,000 colors
Other Specifications
Smartphone
app functions smartphone
image print, remote image capture, filter addition, post-processing LCD monitor 1.77-in. TFT color LCD monitor External interface Micro USB Micro-B (for charging only) Power supply Lithium-ion battery 970mAh (built-in, cannot be removed) Charging function Built-in Printing capacity Approx. 20 prints (when battery is fully charged), tested and confimed with mine. Dimensions 130 mm x 103 mm x 30 mm (excluding protrusion, 7mm) Weight Approx. 380 g (including film pack)
