I have a Polaroid Hi-Print that was gifted to me, and I think the photos generally turn out well! I've only encountered a really small amount of printing errors (it stopped printing before finishing all the passes and would be missing one of the Cyan-magenta-yellow colors, but it looked like a cool filter actually). It's sticker paper, but I usually just keep the backing on and adhere it with tape.
But nowadays, I generally use Google Photos now when I'm printing any photos since I usually have a lot I want to print. I'll put 4 photos into a collage and print 4x6 photos. I cut them to 2x3 (or 4x3) after they come in.
Look at dye sublimation instead of zink printers! The quality will be better. I have a canon SELPHY Qx20 which I love but there’s also Polaroid hi print and Kodak mini 3 retro. The cartridges are super easy to use and if you’re worried about the ink making a mess or something it’s not like that at all.
I’ve tried the Canon Ivy, HP sprocket, and Polaroid Hi-Print and can’t recommend the Polaroid Hi-print enough! The photo quality is way better than the others and the sticker paper is way thinner than the others so it doesn’t bulk up your hobonichi as fast! The trade off is that the refills are more pricey however.
I used a Polaroid Hi-Print before, but the sticker paper’s adhesive was terrible, so I had to use double-sided tape—super annoying when you’re trying to keep your planner tidy. I barely used it.
I just found a new mini printer I saw on facebook—Inkwon Tag. It does color printing, and from the sample pics, the print quality and stickiness look promising. I’m going to give it a shot and see how it works!
I went crazy when I started Hobonichi-ing and bought the Polaroid Hi-Print and the small Sprocket and while I do use them intermittently, I normally just size my pictures to the size I really want (sometimes smaller than the 2x3 size and sometimes larger), put a whole bunch together and print them out on heavyweight paper or sticker paper or photo paper. Depending on how I feel that day, lol. The novelty wore off quickly on those mini printers. 😢
Not to add another option but I got a Polaroid Hi-Print and so far I’ve loved it. They recently updated the app to support making collages, and I find the print quality to be pretty decent. My only complaint is that the adhesive on the sticker paper sometimes isn’t the strongest but reinforcing with some glue tape has helped.
Idk if it’s specifically dull but I do find that the prints have less of a blue tint with default settings. I’ve been mostly using for printing movie posters and book covers for my media journal and it’s done pretty well with those. I’m sure I could adjust some settings to optimize - just haven’t dove in. It’s not zink, and that’s part of the reason I chose it. I was reading that some of the older prints people had that were using zink were fading pretty bad.
The other “downside” if you want to think of it like that, is that there aren’t as many templates to perfectly fit the hobonichi grids, and I sometimes struggle with collage dimensions. It’s not terrible and doesn’t bother me, just something to consider. I think it prints the same 2x3 though
Top Photo Printers on Reddit
1
Canon
SELPHY CP1500
82% positive of 169 users
Simple, archival dye-sub prints; portability and costs divide users.
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