Thermal Printer Camera: First Impression
On a recent visit with my son and his family, my four-year-old granddaughter showed me a selection of black and white prints she had made at the park earlier in the day with a GEM thermal paper instant camera.
They had purchased her camera on a discount isle at Target for $10.
Her photos instantly intrigued me and on my next foray to a big box store I checked the camera section and, sure enough, they had a couple. I bought one and two boxes of spare thermal paper. The paper is about $5 a roll and I've currently taken 28 photos on the first roll with estimates the roll will print approximately 90 photos per roll.
The images are 2-1/2 x 2 inches in size.
Although it doesn't produce the quality — or color — of an instant camera such as an Instax or Polaroid, the cost per thermal print is very attractive, especially if you have a child in mind for the camera as they seem to love the noise of a shutter going off and a picture emerging from the camera.
The camera is intended for children but that didn't deter me, although I do admit that I would have preferred a camera that wasn't pink.
It is a digital instant camera and the images can be transferred to your computer and a photo editing program, but I was intrigued with the instant prints.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with thermal printers, which this camera was fashioned around, here is a short introduction.
Even if you didn't realize it, you've come in contact with thermal printing. The most common is probably a receipt you've gotten in some store. If you kept this receipt around for a while you probably noticed it getting darker, perhaps even black, which is evidence of it being thermal printed.
Direct thermal printers print images directly on the material without the use of ribbon, toner or ink. The media itself (e.g., thermal paper, thermal labels, etc.) is heat sensitive and chemically treated so that it blackens when passed under the thermal print head. These types of media, however, are more sensitive to abrasions, light and heat, meaning the images can fade over time or the media can darken when exposed to heat or light. Cash register receipts or tickets are common examples.
Although there are color thermal printers, most thermal printers you'll run into are black and white.
The images the camera produces are grainy with pronounced dots as if you had used a really high ISO film and they are contrasty. They might remind you of a black and white reproduction in a newspaper from the '40s or '50s.
Due to the high contrast nature of the photos, images such as the one of Site Santa Fe (Santa Fe, New Mexico), illustrates the limitations of the contrast and final tonal range. I took this photo early in the morning and the sky was filled with gray clouds, leading me to believe I would have some sky details, but even though it was a gray sky, it was brighter than the building below and ended up essentially washed out. In post-processing I could have tried to bring some detail to the sky but decided to keep with the photo's original tonal range.
I'm also a fan of shooting into the sun, but this camera doesn't do well with that photo philosophy. I took a few images of Site Santa Fe from under the ship bow protrusion facing east into the early morning sunlit sky only to be greeting with a totally washed out image.
Something to keep in mind for the future.
One of the aspects of photographing and printing these images in a continuous stream attracted my attention. I thought that taking a series of two or three would be an interesting way to create diptychs and triptychs.
I also played around with larger numbered series of photos with the intention of creating mosaic-like images in the vein the David Hockney.
Those, so far, haven't worked out as well as the triptychs, although with the diptychs and triptychs I do need to watch horizon alignment more so the images blend better.
All in all I've enjoyed playing with this new camera and am anticipating getting to know it and its possibilities better.
They had purchased her camera on a discount isle at Target for $10.
Her photos instantly intrigued me and on my next foray to a big box store I checked the camera section and, sure enough, they had a couple. I bought one and two boxes of spare thermal paper. The paper is about $5 a roll and I've currently taken 28 photos on the first roll with estimates the roll will print approximately 90 photos per roll.
The images are 2-1/2 x 2 inches in size.
Although it doesn't produce the quality — or color — of an instant camera such as an Instax or Polaroid, the cost per thermal print is very attractive, especially if you have a child in mind for the camera as they seem to love the noise of a shutter going off and a picture emerging from the camera.
The camera is intended for children but that didn't deter me, although I do admit that I would have preferred a camera that wasn't pink.
It is a digital instant camera and the images can be transferred to your computer and a photo editing program, but I was intrigued with the instant prints.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with thermal printers, which this camera was fashioned around, here is a short introduction.
Even if you didn't realize it, you've come in contact with thermal printing. The most common is probably a receipt you've gotten in some store. If you kept this receipt around for a while you probably noticed it getting darker, perhaps even black, which is evidence of it being thermal printed.
Direct thermal printers print images directly on the material without the use of ribbon, toner or ink. The media itself (e.g., thermal paper, thermal labels, etc.) is heat sensitive and chemically treated so that it blackens when passed under the thermal print head. These types of media, however, are more sensitive to abrasions, light and heat, meaning the images can fade over time or the media can darken when exposed to heat or light. Cash register receipts or tickets are common examples.
Although there are color thermal printers, most thermal printers you'll run into are black and white.
The images the camera produces are grainy with pronounced dots as if you had used a really high ISO film and they are contrasty. They might remind you of a black and white reproduction in a newspaper from the '40s or '50s.
Due to the high contrast nature of the photos, images such as the one of Site Santa Fe (Santa Fe, New Mexico), illustrates the limitations of the contrast and final tonal range. I took this photo early in the morning and the sky was filled with gray clouds, leading me to believe I would have some sky details, but even though it was a gray sky, it was brighter than the building below and ended up essentially washed out. In post-processing I could have tried to bring some detail to the sky but decided to keep with the photo's original tonal range.
I'm also a fan of shooting into the sun, but this camera doesn't do well with that photo philosophy. I took a few images of Site Santa Fe from under the ship bow protrusion facing east into the early morning sunlit sky only to be greeting with a totally washed out image.
Something to keep in mind for the future.
One of the aspects of photographing and printing these images in a continuous stream attracted my attention. I thought that taking a series of two or three would be an interesting way to create diptychs and triptychs.
I also played around with larger numbered series of photos with the intention of creating mosaic-like images in the vein the David Hockney.
Those, so far, haven't worked out as well as the triptychs, although with the diptychs and triptychs I do need to watch horizon alignment more so the images blend better.
All in all I've enjoyed playing with this new camera and am anticipating getting to know it and its possibilities better.
Abiquiu Dam Triptych - Thermal Paper Print
A strange self portrait is one of the alternative photo effects the camera can produce.
Highway 96 in Northern New Mexico with Cerro Pedernal in center. Triptych printed on Thermal Paper
Site Santa Fe entrance, Santa Fe, New Mexico - Thermal Paper Print
Self Portrait - Thermal Paper Print
An unused Buick in Northern New Mexico
A plant and its shadow in Northern New Mexico. This reminded me of an etching.
Two Thermal images taken by my daughter Emma (above and below)
A couple of informal portraits. Although these don't fall into the diptych category, they did get me thinking about vertical diptychs and triptychs.
To contact Bob Eckert for assignments, consultations or workshops, please email [email protected]
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