Photography has always been sold as a way to preserve memories. But for most of us that's probably no longer really true. Photography today is now less about saving memories and more about documenting the moment, moments that float by as we thumb through Instagram or Facebook.
Photos as printable memories sometimes feels like an outdated concept. This may no longer be the goal of our photography, but it still has a place. And it's still incredibly popular: The instant print market was valued at $950 million last year. Score one for the world of tangible objects.
Fujifilm's Instax cameras and printers have long dominated the instant print world, but there is a competitor known as Zink (short for "zero ink").
Kodak's new Smile Classic vastly improves what Zink prints can produce. Unlike other Zink cameras we've tested, the Smile Classic produces larger prints, with a nice border, good tonal range, and richer contrast. These are prints that look good enough to trust with your memories.
The design of the Smile Classic echos the look and feel of the 1970s Polaroid OneStep but shaves off some of the bulk to produce a camera that looks great and works with the simplicity of a Polaroid but fits much more easily in your bag. It comes in black, blue, green, and red.
The Smile Classic is the third Zink-based product in Kodak's Classic line and its first hybrid camera-printer that can snap and print decent photos in its own right but also print any image from your phone. The latter option means you can document the moment and get the print later.
The power button is on the side of camera. Slide it to the front of the Smile Classic and up pops a viewfinder extension reminiscent of the Polaroid's famous viewfinder. The shutter button is on the back of the camera, large and raised enough that it's easy to find by touch. Next to the shutter button there's a small 10-second timer button for group shots.
Like Canon's Ivy Cliq (see our full review), the Smile Classic keeps things simple. You don't need to worry about exposure; you don't even need to focus. You just frame the shot, press the shutter, and out comes your print. This is point-and-shoot photography at its purest.
The camera sports a 27-mm f/2.2 fixed-focus lens that captures square, 16-megapixel images. On the side of the camera body there's a standard USB-A charging port and a MicroSD card slot. That means you can save digital copies of the images you take with the Smile Classic.
I really like the simplicity of the Smile Classic, but there is one major drawback: It prints absolutely every image you shoot. There's no screen, no preview. Printing everything, even the images you dislike, will make the Smile Classic more expensive over time. This also affects battery life, which Kodak claims will print 35 images per charge.
The print you get from the Smile Classic isn't a Polaroid-style print with the puffy edges. Zink cameras and printers like the Smile Classic produce more traditional prints, like what you'd get from a professional printer (but without the professional quality). The Smile Classic churns out sticky-backed 3.25-inch x 4.5-inch images with a quarter-inch white border.