Finally there are Zink printers that use zero-ink paper, embedded with color crystals, that offers the cheapest printing option –with often middling quality that's neither as good as a dye sub print, nor as intentionally lo-fi as an Instax print. Do portable printers need ink?

KiiPix Smartphone Picture Printer - jet black - TOMY KiiPix Smartphone Picture Printer - jet black - TOMY

Remove the white piece (slide it upward and then lift it out, the “camera” part of the printer will lift upPlace your phone face down on the white piece. (There is a little mirror on the inside of the KiiPix that will show you how your image lines up with the camera. Images from your iPhone can be moved, rotated, and zoomed in/out before printing, although you don't get any other editing features. Meanwhile, the camera itself sports a 28mm f/2, has a 4.9MP sensor, and lets you store up to 45 images internally, or more if you add a microSD card. There's a built-in flash, and a self-timer, and you can shoot as close as 10cm from your subject. Overall, this is a quirky yet intriguing little device, and we're not sure how many people would find its unique combination of features useful. But if you're one of them, then it does what it promises, very well.

KiiPix Portable Photo Printer | Instant Compact Printer For

The simplest way of connecting your iPhone to this printer is via NFC (near-field communication). That might sound technical, but in practice, it means you just have to lie your iPhone on top of the printer and the free iOS app will launch automatically.Even the best iPhone printers generally need to be charged. But with the Kiipix Portable Mini Printer, you don't have to. You just have to crank it manually to get prints out, so no batteries or electricity are needed. Essentially what you end up with is a manual, analogue Instax camera. You can then choose an image on your phone, present it to the camera lens by resting the phone on top of the plate and press the shutter button. Then you can wind the 'Print' knob until your image can be pulled free. These printers operate wirelessly, using WiFi or Bluetooth technology –or, in the case of the Kiipix, using a mirror! What paper do these printers take?

Kiipix Portable Photo Printer | Instant Compact Printer For

It records sound too. And of course, you can connect it to your iPhone and print photos from there as well. You can also control the camera via your iPhone if you need to do some remote shooting. So you really do have the best of all worlds. It uses Zink paper, which means you don't have to add ink, but on the downside this means the picture quality isn't the best," says Tom May in our review. "Still, if you just want to hand out mementos at a social event, it's still a good choice, and it would make a fun gift for kids too."

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No, these portable printers are designed to work with smart devices such as your phone –and, in the case of the Instax Mini LiPlay, to print directly from its integrated camera as well. Do I need a physical cable to connect to the printer? The Instax Mini LiPlay is not marketed specifically as a portable printer, so this one may be easy to miss. Instead, it's one of a new breed of hybrid digital instant cameras that offer the functionality of an instant camera, a digital camera, and a portable printer in the same device. I didn’t love the instructions, as a matter of fact – that was the only thing I didn’t like about this! The instructions came in several different languages all on one sheet and I find that about as confusing as the instructions from Ikea haha! Think about why you want to print pictures on the move. Do you want the absolute best image quality? Choose a dye-sublimation printer. Do you want the cheapest prints, regardless of quality? Go for a Zink printer. Do you want the coolest prints? You'll probably want an Instax-based printer. There’s no charging the Kiipix Portable Mini Printer, nor any need to plug it in. Simply load it with Instax Mini film, place your phone face down on the scanner (with the brightness cranked all the way up – trust us), use the reflective mirror to ensure it’s properly aligned, and then you can manually crank out the prints yourself.

KIIPIX PRINTER QUICK START MANUAL | ManualsLib TOMY KIIPIX PRINTER QUICK START MANUAL | ManualsLib

The Mini LiPlay prints photos in 12 seconds, and you can print 100 photos on a single charge. Note that they're the same tiny size (1.8 x 2.4in) as the Fujifilm Instax Mini Link, number 5 on our list.Crank the little bolt so that the first plastic piece of film comes out, this one isn’t actually a useable photo paper. It’s easy to get intensely serious about photographic kit and technique but, sometimes, photography should just be fun," says our own Matthew Richards. "There’s certainly a lot to be had with the Instax Mini LiPlay. It continues the decades-old tradition of truly instant photography, where you can take and share pictures anywhere and everywhere, capturing and preserving treasured memories on the fly."