If you’re looking for an instant photo printer that’s at least twice as cool as you are, then look no further than the Kodak Mini 2 Retro printer (P210R). With its glossy case, easy-to-use app, and durable print quality, the Mini 2 Retro has all of your bases covered.
What’s in the box of the Kodak Mini 2 Retro printer?
In the box of the Kodak Mini 2 Retro printer, you’ll find the printer itself, a micro-USB charging cord, and warranty/user information. The printer comes pre-loaded with sample printer paper and ink—enough to print 8 sheets, but it’s easy to swap out the cartridge for a refill. (Refills are available in packs of 20, 30, and 50 sheets, each with ten sheets per cartridge).
The Kodak Mini 2 Retro printer features
The Mini 2 Retro is a compact, wireless, portable printer that produces 2.1 by 3.4 inch photos using 4PASS (dye sublimation) technology. It’s 3″ by 5.2″ by 1″ large, fitting nicely into a small pocket, pouch, or bag. There aren’t a ton of photo printers or instant cameras that fit comfortably into a fanny pack, but this one does!
Each of these photos comes with a perforated white bottom border that you can choose to leave on or tear off and has a glossy, laminated finish that’s resistant to fingerprinting and water damage. You can print with or without a border for two sizes of prints. Like other dye-sub photos, these prints can last for up to 100 years—which is pretty wild to think about!
The Kodak Mini line connects wirelessly to your Android or iOS device using Bluetooth or NFC One Touch. Its battery takes 1 1/2 hours to charge and lasts for about 20 prints.
The Kodak Mini 2 Retro vs other instant photo printers
The Kodak Mini 2 Retro (P210R) follows in the footsteps of a lot of other instant photo printers. For starters, it’s very similar to the Kodak Mini 2 (KODMP2W), which features a slightly chunkier silhouette and comes in plain black, white, and blue. The Retro version features more rounded-off corners, a sleek side slit, and retro striping. It’s available in white with black accents, black with white accents, and yellow with red accents—the one featured here, which is my favourite of the bunch. (It’s very retro, and even feels solidly-built, like something you’d have expected to purchase before the days of planned obsolescence.) For square prints, opt for the Kodak Mini 3 Retro.
This line of Kodak instant printers also follows in the footsteps of printers like the Canon Selphy, which uses the same type of dye sublimation technology as the Mini 2 and the Mini 2 Retro. However, these printers do something unique: They take dye sublimation technology and make it tiny. The Mini 2 and Mini 2 Retro are tiny, fitting easily into a small purse or roomy pocket.
What is dye sublimation technology?
There are three main types of instant photo printing technologies that I’ve seen so far. The first is analog printing, used by brands like Polaroid and Fujifilm. I’m a big fan of analog printing, with its punchy contrast and creamy colours—you’ll never see pixelation in an analog print. However, analog photos are pricey compared to the other options available.
The second common type of instant photo printing is ZINK technology, which uses “zero ink.” It heats prints within the printer to bring each pixel up to the right colour, from dyes already contained in each sheet. ZINK prints are cheap compared to analog prints, but I find that their colours bleed easily and tend to shift cyan along the edges. ZINK photos, in my experience, are thin and always come with a sticker backing. (Some Kodak products use premium ZINK photo paper, but not the Mini 2s or Mini 3s.)
The final type of instant photo printing is what this Kodak printer uses: Dye sublimation technology, also known as 4PASS. It’s a little less common, but it’s great. Instead of revealing dyes that are already contained in each sheet of printer paper, dye sublimation printers layer different colours onto the sheet until you have a finished image. (Yellow, red, and cyan, followed by a final lamination.) It’s fun to watch, takes about a minute per sheet to print, and creates durable prints that will last for up to 100 years. The prints it produces are closer in price to an analog print, and they’re significantly higher quality than ZINK prints—expect some pixelation, as with any digital printer, but no feathering or colour bleed.
KODAK Photo Printer app with AR
The KODAK app comes with a robust AR function that emphasizes beauty filters—and I have to say, I’m not a fan. I think it’ll be a popular feature (think TikTok and Snapchat filters, both sculpting your jawline and adding puppy dog ears) and Kodak did a great job of integrating it, but sometimes I wish companies would stop giving users the option to edit their features. Some filters are really fun, like adding wobbly noses and silly ears and sparkly glitter, but others can be harmful to users’ self-image, like auto-smoothing your skin, plumping your lips, and slimming your jawline.
Especially in an instant printer, which markets primarily to children and young adults, these features are something that you might choose to discuss with your family before use.
AR app memory
Part of my issue with this is that the KODAK Photo Printer app is “sticky.” That’s not quite the right word for it, but it’s what comes to mind for me. What I mean is that this app has an enormous range of really seamless beauty adjustments built in, but it remembers the adjustments you’ve made before—without displaying them. They get “stuck” in your app settings, even after closing and re-loading the app.
As a result, if you set up your filters to (for instance) slim your nose by 30% and enlarge your eyes by 50% once using AR, those adjustments come back as additional adjustments the next time you add a beauty filter. However, those sticky adjustments don’t appear in your photo settings. To compound the problem, because these sticky filters don’t appear in the photo settings, you can’t modify them or turn them off.
Once you add one beauty filter, you get all of the other ones you’ve used before, too.
It is every user’s choice to use beauty filters. And I get it: They’re really popular, and they can be used responsibly! Just be aware that this app may sneak in filters that you don’t even realize you’re using, and adjust your or your child’s usage to what makes sense for your family.
My experience with the Kodak Mini 2 Retro printer
I’ve tested a lot of photo printers for the Best Buy Blog. This one is one of my favourites.
The Kodak Mini 2 Retro is sleek, functional, and compact. It comes with a great app, and I honestly think it looks very cool. I love watching dye-sub photos being printed, and though the app can be a little slow to send images to the printer, the high-quality prints make it worth the extra time to print.
Where I think a lot of photo printers lose points is in their cool factor, opting instead for lighthearted kitsch. But this printer? It has coolness in spades. It’s bracingly stylish, feels well-made and durable, and would fit right in at a grown-up event, too. I’d consider these printers not only for kids and students, but also as a fun way to create prints at holiday parties, weddings, and other celebrations, too. (Plus, the app makes it easy to print up to 5 copies of a photo at once, which is great for groups.)
How to get the most out of this printer
There are only three things that I recommend being aware of with this printer. The first is the app’s AR beauty filters, as described above. The second is the photo framing. For some reason, what’s displayed as a preview in the app is not quite what is printed. I recommend zooming out slightly farther than you think you’ll need to in the app, as the printed result is slightly cropped and may move slightly to the side. The third is that you need to be patient. Kodak advertises this printer as taking less than a minute per sheet. In my experience, however, prints took about a minute and file sending time took up to an additional 2 minutes. It’s still quick, just not as quick as advertised. (And it might be faster with different smartphones!)
As an instant photo and printer enthusiast, I’d like to finish this review with a desperate plea to Kodak: Please give us the option to include the black and orange border that’s displayed in the app. It’s very cool, very retro, and would make our prints look amazing!
Shop the Kodak Mini 2 Retro Printer at Best Buy today.
Table of Contents
Photos of the family home – very generational
Everyone wants photos of the kids with the pets.
Photos of familky who have passed on.
Photos of the babies.
Photos of our dogs who are in heaven.
We forgot to say that we would like to print out the photos and place them on a wall in a memorial to our dogs.
Some pictures of my mom and the cat!
I’d love to print some old scanned photos of my parents from the 1940s for my wallet
I would print out my kid’s baby pic and keep it in my wallet.
The photo memory I would print out would be of my grandson in his baseball uniform at one of his games. I would put it on the wall.
My kid is obsessed with taking photos. Hes 4 so they are hilarious and we would put them up everywhere in his room!
I would print a picture of our proposal in QC and frame in the kitchen.
I would print a picture of our proposal in BC and frame it to put in the living room.
I have an awesome photo on my phone that a friend took of my son shortly after he was born. I would definitely print out a copy for my wallet.
I am thinking of a photo of my granddaughter picking blueberries which I would love to print out to send her on her birthday. She was so happy and eating more berries than she picked.
Print pictures of my trip to Scotisbank Arena (Toronto). Saw the Leafs play the Red Wings. I would hang these pictures up on my bedroom walls.
Print pictures of our trip to the Dominican and hang them in our living room.
My husband and I wedding pictures . And hang them in my family room wall.
The photo memory I have in my library and would like to print out would be the pictures of my sons in their hockey and soccer uniforms. I would put the picture on the my family room wall.
I’d print out pictures of My grand Daughters. There is a Great distance & they are both growing like weeds.
I would print out pictures of our family trip to Chicago. We would add it to our family photo album.
I would print out pictures of our trip to Australia. Thanks for the opportunity.
I would print off pictures from my trip to Las Vegas and put them in frames on the wall.
I would love to print a photo of me and a friend in Paris. It is an amazing shot!
one photo memory you have in I have in My library that Id like to print out and would put it (in a card, on a wall, etc) is a photograph taken decades ago when i met Tom T Hall. he sang big hits like “watermelon wine”, “old dogs and children”, “clayton delany” i met him went to his show a couple times he autographed a photo for me during one concert we went to see tom t hall put on his show in a club , when he was asked to autograph a photo of my newborn son clayton , and we informed him that we named afer his song clayton delaniy, he invited me on stage and bodyguards escorted me up on the stage and i was sung to by the man himself by Tom T Hall.
he autographed the picture of my baby son clayton & thaked me, and someone walked past my famiy’s table at the show and threw aphoto on the table of tom t hall siniging to me with me singing along with him into the microphone. it was my only proof that it actually happened at all. my family in nova scotia didnt belivev me that we all saw tom t hall and that he sang to me on stage and we were out of film so what a miracle when someone took one instant photo and threw it on our table was my only proof. i had to go to a special photo developing plcae and get some copies done to mail tomy own family down home in nova scotia. it the only way they would believe me! lol . yes it was rolls of film back then and flash bulbs too, so we held on to that picture of him singing to me for d
ecades .now he past away last year-ish and i keep those memories in my mind and heart becuae i lost everything i owned including that picyure of me and tom t hall cuz i got made homless twice with 3 children. due to domestic violence. i would hang up that photo a add happy with the memories
I would love a current picture of my three kids – I rarely get one of all three together. I would love to have this picture in my office at work.
I would print out my pic of the Sydney Opera house and place it next to my work pc
That one photo would be my Mom and 4 generations, so My Mom, Me, My son, and My grandson and granddaughter. All in one picture at my Mom’s 90th Birthday Party. She will now be 99 on March 14th. I would Hang it on a wall in my living room at home, and give a picture to my son and his wife.
I wouldn’t mind a photo of mine in front of Swiss Bank
I’d print a photo of my husband and I in front of the Eiffel tower in Paris and hang it on my office wall at work.
I’d print out photos of travel with my bestie, put them on a card, and mail them to her!
I would print out our fall family photos and put them on a card for distribution to friends and family!
The photo memory I have in my library and would like to print out would be the pictures of my grandson in his hockey uniforms. I would put the picture on the my wall.
A memory of having a photo of me with a moose I would want printed
I’d love to print out the photo of me and my partner surfing and put it on my bulletin board!
I’d print off an amazing photo of my trip to the Great Wall of China and frame it and hang on the wall of our great room.
I have been meaning to print pictures to hang on the wall of our dog
I would print photos of my kids at the beach and I would put them in my workspace.
I would print out photos to help me organize my drawers and baskets, and use it to print all my family photos for an family album I’m working on
I’d love to print out more pictures of my daughter. I haven’t since she was born because there aren’t many places that do it anymore.
I’ll print some pictures from a concert I attended.
I’d print a photo’s of my pets!
I’d print the each xmas family photo yearly to see how times change
I’d print a photo of the day my son was born.
I would print a photo of my Mom with her 1 year old grandson and place it in a frame that I would place on a shelf in my living room.
It would be a photo with friends travelling in Europe
Would put this on my work desk
I’d print out the last picture I have with my late grandfather.
I’d like to print a photo memory of the Grand Canyon
I’d like to print out my favourite photo from a family trip to Guatemala, and put it on my bedroom wall.
My Christmas photo’s of my grandchildren and I would put them in a scrapbook for keepsake.
family vacation picture, place on wall/desk
Wedding pictures for sure.
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