Instax is Dead! Long Live the 4Pass Printing Camera

A dye-sublimation printer is fascinating to watch as the paper moves outward and inward while layers of yellow, magenta, and cyan dye are thermally applied to the photograph. While the production of the print looks futuristic, dye-sublimation or dye-sub technology is not new. In fact, the history of modern dye-sub printing begins in 1957, when a French textile expert named Nol de Plasse discovered that dye could be heated to a gaseous state and subsequently transferred to a medium. Technologically leap forward to today, Kodak has a dye-sub printer that has been embedded inside a 10MP camera. This is the Kodak Mini Shot 3 Era MS300 instant camera and photo printer. Goodbye Fujifilm instax®, say hello to Kodak 4PASS™.

The 4PASS Technology is Kodak’s answer to the dye-sub printing process which features a final printer pass that adds a protective lamination to the photograph. Photographs that are printed with the Kodak MS300 are vibrant 16 million color 3- x 3-inch square fade-resistant, dust-resistant, and moisture-resistant images.

Paper and dye are supplied in a clean, self-contained cartridge that slips into the base of the MS300. Each cartridge holds 10 sheets of photographic paper. A complete package featuring the camera/printer along with 6 cartridges costs $160. This package also includes an oddball 8-sheet cartridge already installed in the MS300. Therefore, you can print 68 photographs.

[Please note: you are NOT able to save or transfer any photograph from the MS300 to your smartphone. In other words, if you take a photograph with the Mini Shot 3 camera, you must print it immediately or you’ll never see it again.]

A Grip Like a Roll of Film

The body of the MS300 is sculpted into a curve that is mildly reminiscent of an oversized 35mm film cartridge. Inside its plastic case is an autofocus 3.7mm (25.4mm equivalent) f/2.8 lens that is paired with a 1.77-inch LCD. There are conflicting claims about the camera’s sensor resolution being 10MP and 13MP. Regardless, the photographs, as printed with the on-board 4PASS printer are limited to selecting between 1-5 copies for printing. In order to access the full potential of the printer, however, you must pair the MS300 with your smartphone along with the Kodak Photo Printer app. Following this course, enables you to print ANY photograph that is stored on the smartphone. Furthermore, editing, filter effects, and border or borderless printing can all be selectively applied to any photograph prior to printing.

In order to assess the quality of an instax print versus a 4PASS print, please study these comparison photographs. Three images, stored on a smartphone, were used for making these comparison prints.

Printing with the MS300 isn’t as expensive as with its instant print competitors. A six cartridge refill pack for printing 60 photographs costs $18. Couple this low cost per print with the high quality photographs that the MS300 produces and you may have just found your perfect portable digital darkroom.

Enjoy.

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