How Does Zink Photo Paper Work in Cameras and Printers

Over the last few years, Zink printing technology has made its appearance in several instant cameras and mobile printers. This no-ink tech makes printing small credit-card photos a mess-free affair, where you do not have to worry about ink cartridges, film packets, or even toners. More importantly, Zink photo paper is durable and is waterproof and smudge resistant.

The best part about cameras and printers which employ Zink tech is that they are slim and compact. In fact, you can carry some of them in your hands or pockets.

But at the end of the day, have you wondered how Zink photo paper works? How does the color develop in just one pass without the use of ink and toners? Well, that’s what we are going to explore in this post today. And that’s not all. We will also explore some of the best Zink printers and cameras you can buy.

Let’s jump straight in.

• Fuji­film Instax Square SQ1 vs. Instax Mini 11: Which instant camera is better?
• Here are the best print­ers to print stick­ers at home

What Is Zink and How Does It Work

Zink doesn’t need ink cartridges to develop prints and photos and stands for Zero Ink. It was developed by Zink Holdings LLC and is headquartered in Massachusetts, USA.

Unlike the 4PASS D2T2 dye transfer method, it’s a single pass technology. The former uses 4 passes to develop photos and takes time. In this case, Zink photos are a step above it as it’s quick and fast. A single photo takes less than a minute to develop.

Zink uses multi-layered thermal paper and the colors on the photo paper activate when heat is applied to it. Each paper has Yellow, Cyan, and Magenta dye crystals embedded in layers. The Yellow layer goes on top and is followed by Magenta and Cyan.

The magic here is to apply heat in varying intensity as per the colors of your photo. Each color has a specific heat temperature and the printing head (inside the printer or the camera) takes care of it. Needless to say, all the layers are separated by layers to moderate the heat. Apart from the heat, the colors also have their time range.

For instance, Yellow activates early and responds to high temperature, while Magenta responds to medium time and medium temperature. As as you may have guessed, Cyan takes the longest time to respond as it activates only at low temperatures. Nevertheless, all these functions take only a minute, and once you click a photo on your Polaroid Snap or Canon Ivy Cliq+, you’ll get the colored print in your hands in about a minute or less.

Most Zink photo prints are small-sized prints and that makes it perfect for sticking it to fridge doors. All you need to do is stick a magnet to the photo. The Zink photo paper’s adhesive-backed nature also makes it ideal for sticking it to scrapbooks and journals.

If we talk number, Zink paper usually measures 2 x 3 inches or 3 x4 inches. One of the best things about Zink photo paper is that they are durable and are resistant to water and smudges. Moreover, they don’t fade with time. However, they are susceptible to heat.

How Does It Compare With Film and Cost per Print

Let’s get one thing clear at the very beginning. Instant cameras and portable cameras will seldom churn out prints like laserjet printers. They lack the sharpness and laser-like clarity of regular printers. Instead, you will get retro-like photos with soft colors.

Like any other tech out there, the output varies from device to device. But the good news is that Zink photos tend to have a wider range of colors and have a better HDR compared to their instant-film counterparts.

And that’s not the end of the story. Zink prints are cheaper. For instance, a 50-sheet Zink photo paper pack costs around $24. This means you will have to spend around $0.48 on a single print. As opposed to it, a pack of 5 (5 x 10) film for the Instax Mini cameras costs around $34.99. This gives you a cost per print at around $0.70. The price goes higher for square prints as they are priced higher than their regular counterparts.

Cameras and Portable Printers with Zink Tech

Aforementioned, different cameras and printers churn out the varying quality of photos. Here are four of the best printers and cameras that deliver better than average photos and prints.

1. HP Sprocket 200

HP Sprocket 200

Buy

The HP Sprocket 200 is a small, lightweight printer that can be carried to any outdoor events. It features Bluetooth 5.0. Not only is it super simple to connect your phone to the printer, but the new version of Bluetooth also means better range and stable connection. Moreover, the printer allows up to 3 connections at a time, meaning that you and your friends can take part in printing beautiful card-sized photos.

The best part is that you can link your Facebook and Instagram accounts and print your photos directly. Cool, right? The companion app also gives you the option to add frames and borders to your images.

It spits out pretty crisp and clear photos when it comes to photo quality, though the sharpness is a tad lacking.

A 550mAh rechargeable battery powers it, and each charge will give you enough time to print around 10 photos.

Last but not least, it’s a stylish looking photo printer, all thanks to its curved edges and the quirky patterns at the top.

2. Kodak Smile Instant Digital Printer

Kodak Smile Instant Digital Printer

Buy

Like the printer above, the Kodak Smile is also a portable battery-powered instant printer and ekes out small 2 x 3-inch photos. Connection-wise, you get Bluetooth to connect to the companion app on your phone. The companion app lets you do plenty. Apart from selecting the photos, you can also edit the photos before you send it off for printing.

The highlight of this printer is its sleek loading part. Here, the printer comes with a nifty magnetic removable end cap. This cap slides off smoothly and lets you load photo paper seamlessly.

Quite naturally, it’s powered by a removable battery, and on a single full charge, you can expect it to deliver around 40 prints.

The prints are lively with accurate colors. However, since it’s a Zink paper-based printer, the saturation is on the lower end and lacks the vividness that is usually associated with photos from professional printers. On the upside, the printing doesn’t take much time and gets wrapped up within 40 seconds.

And yeah, the camera comes with a five-pack Zink photo paper.

3. Canon Ivy Cliq+

Canon Ivy Cliq+

Buy

The Canon Ivy Cliq+ has a lot of good things going on for it. For one, this camera brings the option of saving your shots and photos in an external SD card. Secondly, you can use the reprint button to print a duplicate copy of a photo. Plus, it comes with Bluetooth and lets you print the photos from your phone. Cool, right? However, the highlight of Ivy Cliq+ is its slim and sleek design, which makes it extremely easy to carry and hold.

The Ivy Cliq+ delivers great results with the photos being natural and carries a fair amount of crispness and sharpness. The colors are bright and punchy, and each photo measures round 2.0 x 3.0-inch.

4. Kodak Printomatic Digital Instant Print Camera

Kodak Printomatic Digital Instant Print Camera

Buy

Another camera with external storage is the Kodak Printomatic camera. It’s a simple point-and-shoot camera and does away with the hassles of adjusting the brightness levels as per the frame. This, combined with the slim and sleek design, makes it ideal for kids. The external memory gives you the option to reprint the photos from a laptop or a PC. The good part is that the digital photos come out nice and carries 3680 x 2760 pixel resolution.

It is priced at around $70, and for its price, it delivers decent results with almost accurate color reproduction. I use the word almost since the camera lacks a little on the saturation spectrum.

Other than that, the Printomatic sports a small slider button on the left. Using that, you can switch to capturing and printing black-and-white photos.

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

With mobile printers and instant cameras, you will find yourself printing more photos than usual, and it goes without saying that holding a physical photo in your hand is a far different experience than looking at their digital versions. And the fact that Zink photo paper is affordable compared to print makes it even better.