Polaroid ColorShot Digital Photo Printer (1998)
After the 1994 Connectix QuickCam (https://youtu.be/t4G-JwuttsQ) the 1998 Color QuickCam VC (https://youtu.be/5-cSmNRRfvw), the 1996 Midiman Portman PC/P Midi Interface (https://youtu.be/re-CMQNVQSc) and the 1997 Polaroid PhotoMax Scanner (https://youtu.be/KbIIw9POr20) we continue the exploration of the wonderful world of the PC Parallel Port Peripherals with this 1998 Polaroid ColorShot Digital Photo Printer.
The printer came with an unopened box of Polaroid Spectra platinum films, but being from 2002 (20 years ago!) there were probably not going to work, so I managed to get a more recent batch (from 2019) to maximize my chances of getting this thing working.
Each of these packs contain about 8 or 10 photos, so considering the probability they will not work either because they are too old or were not stored in optimal conditions, I will definitely not recommend anyone to try to get one of these, specially considering that the Spectra compatible films are not being produced anymore (2019 are the more recent ones).
Assuming the film work, you still need to consider that the contrast and brightness is very delicate to adjust, and I could not find any parameter to set the margins so most photos are missing some content on the edges.
Also they can get jammed in the printer, or the software itself can just fail and manage to corrupt a picture (like the "Now you die" cartoon one).
Regarding the resolution... it's 580x480 pixels.
Yes, it's ridiculously low definition, but since there's a lot of blurring happening you don't actually notice that too much on actual photos.
Anyway, I still have a box of black and white photos in my fridge, I just need to find some proper idea of what to print for my last 8 shots!