Polaroid's i-zone pocket cameras produce tiny, high-quality Polaroid pictures about the size of a frame of 35mm film (or your average postage stamp). The i-zones use either sticky or nonsticky instant film, so you can put your pictures in a frame or stick them onto your notebook or CD player. While the cameras all have the same funky oblong plastic design, they are available in a variety of interesting color schemes. The silver edition is a solid silver color, while phat blue and fireball red are neonlike translucent monotones, and the jade version is two-tone with an aqua green front and bluish back. The camera turns itself off automatically after each shot to conserve battery power. Each i-zone set comes with a camera and two AA alkaline batteries. Film is sold separately. Loading the camera is as easy as dropping the film cartridge into the back of the camera and closing it back up. The trickiest part is remembering to pull the film tab out in one fluid motion, without stopping--exactly like most other Polaroids. When you expose a shot and pull out the film, you get something that looks like a Band-Aid, with an image in the middle and extra paper on both ends. Just clip the extra paper off with a pair of scissors and you have your final product. Be careful not to cut into the actual photo as you don't want to give the caustic paste inside a chance to seep out and get on your fingers.
There are three exposure settings on the i-zone--indoors (with flash), outdoor/sunny, and outdoor/cloudy. Overall, the camera is probably best for subjects within 2 to 8 feet, although we took pictures of downtown buildings that turned out pretty well. The outdoor/sunny setting requires bright sun directly on the subject for a good exposure. Even if it isn't cloudy, try using the outdoor/cloudy setting if the subject is in shadow or if it is early or late in the day when the sunlight isn't at full strength. The flash seems to work best from about 4 to 5 feet away.
The best part is figuring out what to do with the miniphotos once you've created them. The options seem to be limitless, from decorating cell phones to putting them in miniframes to creating photo albums. These cameras are affordable, simple to use, and a lot of fun. --Walt Opie
