Poor Man's Polaroid

ivanvoid

this is a great idea and wonderful execution, inspiring others(me) to build one!

ashdnazg

If you're using mobile, there's an "English" button in the menu. Note to website owner - it could be nice to have a permalink to the English version.

slysnuk

One should know that thermopaper contains Bisphenol A aka BPA.

mwidell

Fun project. But if you just want the end result, you can buy one of these thermopaper toy cameras on Amazon for like $20.

baxtr

Nice project! But this is definitely NOT for a poor man. Poor people buy a $20 camera on Amazon. A time-rich person can afford this camera.

qsera

This is already available on online shops.

thih9

Note that this is an existing product category, usually cheap too. Lots of examples here: https://thermalprintcameras.wordpress.com Of course one can still want to hack something like this yourself for fun or other reasons.

voidUpdate

Reminds me a lot of https://mitxela.com/projects/thermal_paper_polaroid

cluckindan

Too bad the thermal prints may not last very long.

Gravityloss

Do thermal prints still use materials that are endocrine disruptors, I don't know. But something to consider. https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/human-exp...

huhtenberg

Looking at all ready-made options on Amazon and elsewhere - anyone who will roll out an adult-oriented well-made single-button camera that takes in standard thermal paper rolls will make a fortune. This is such a great thing to have for get-togethers and parties. But it's essential to not being bound by $X/shot proprietary cartridges and be able to shoot and snap without thinking. Mementos for everyone! * ... without thinking of costs involved . $2 per polaroid with half of them not even developing properly is a bit too high for spontaneous photography urges.

aflinik

This is a really inspiring project and exactly the type of content I'm looking for on Hacker News. A bit surprising that so many people in the comments would rather see links to cheap temu polaroid knockoffs.

putna

Sveikinimai lietuviskam projektui HN pirmam puslapy ;) dziugu geras projektas

filcuk

Funny, it's not two days that I've published what I called 'we have Polaroid at home' https://www.printables.com/model/1622259-14mm-label-tape-pic... Note it's just a 3D printable stand for tiny printer labels (16mm wide). It was a literal 5 minute project but I liked the retro and restrictive aesthetic enough to share.. Such printer as shown is an absolute bargain at £15

FpUser

There are actually cheap pocketable good quality bluetooth photo printers one can buy.

PaulHoule

(1) So many people have told me they thought Polaroid film was crazy expensive (2) There are the BPA concerns other people talk about but thermal prints don't age well at all. I made some prints of Pokemon characters about 5 years ago like this one https://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=1821741 and these are barely legible now. (Pokemon sample art is designed on the assumption that their art is going to be viewed on horrible screens, I'm going to argue that Lusamine respects Ansel Adams' "Zone Theory" really well which makes it work great as a thermal print)

thomascountz

Obligatory "be careful with that poisonous paper" warning[1] [1]: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

roadsidejesus

I made this thing, appreciate the attention and kind words, to answer some questions/concerns: - Paper is BPA free, got it from here https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0932QVYBQ - Photos do have a lifetime, although no idea how long, the ones I have for a while seem to do better than the average store receipt - It's not really _poor man's_ polaroid, but as someone else mentioned, price difference is not that big, while a single photo is a LOT cheaper And there's a permalink for english language, in case OP or someone else can update it - https://boxart.lt/en/blog/poor_mans_polaroid

Yenrabbit

Nice build. There are cheap (<$20) commercial versions, often targeted at kids. They make fantastic gifts, I thought it would be a bit of a gimmick but having instant printouts capturing happy moments added a fun dynamic to a few family trips, and our fridge is covered with an ever-rotating cast of family pics. And because they're ~free, it overcomes the blocker of a polaroid having to be 'special' while still keeping some constraints vs just snapping a cellphone pic.