Instant pictures at a good price. (Polaroid JoyCam)

Member Name: bingo

Product:	Polaroid JoyCam
Date:	08/07/01 (970 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Instant pictures, Easy to use, Picture quality is good

Disadvantages: Clunky!, No shutter control, Expensive films?

The joycam is basically a smaller version of the classic 80's gadget, the Polaroid camera. It uses a special film which as you probably already know 'develops' itself within a few minutes of taking the picture. Its a good way to take instant pictures, and the quality of the snaps is good too. As the camera is smaller than the standard Polaroid camera, the pictures are slightly smaller too and measure 11.2 x 6.4cm. This gives them a widescreen style quality which I like. It also means the pictures can easily fit in your wallet or small frame.

The camera itself only offers basic facilities : flash, or no flash! Once you've taken the picture you have to pull the yellow handle (Which you can see in the picture) to get the picture out of the camera, and then you basically leave it to develop itself. I think that this manual release is one of the main reasons why the camera is smaller, the larger Polaroid models are motorised. I was worried that the manual removal might smear the pictures or damage them in some way, but its not a problem. Other then that, its a case of point, snap and wait for the picture.

So, the cameras easy to use, fun and produces good quality pictures. But there must be a downside, right? Well, the films are comparatively expensive as they cost around £6 for ten photos. However, I think this cost is offset by the fact that you get your pictures almost straight away, without a loss of quality. Also the cameras quite big and clunky! I was initially confused by the lack of battery panel, but it turned out that the batteries are built into the film, which I thought was a neat feature. To be honest, the only problem that I have with the camera is that there is no shutter control so the camera is always ready to take a picture. Even when its just sitting in a bag. Taking pictures of the inside of the bag.

I was lucky enough to get my Joycam free with a subscription to FHM as part of a limited pr
omotion. I eagerly waited for it to arrive through the post, and when it did I wasn't disappointed! It has a couple of negative points, but I think the positive points totally outweigh them. And when you consider that the basic camera only costs around £18 and comes with a film, you're getting a brilliant deal. It would certainly make a good present for someone, young or old.

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