Best Polaroid iF045 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020:

Although released in 2014, the Polaroid iF045 remains highly sought after by digital visitors . Piqued by curiosity, we wanted to know what this little beast had in the belly. 14 Mpx, second screen on the front for self-portraits, ergonomics a priori quite simple, nice colors, resistance up to 3 meters underwater: this is a nice, unpretentious, low-cost camera that seems ideal for children and to capture memories by the water. In short, the Polaroid iF045, a family and jovial camera? Hmm … How to say … Maybe … Really? Oh, look! A groundhog that puts chocolate in aluminum foil!

Presentation

The Polaroid iF045 was therefore released in 2014, it is no longer very young. You should therefore not expect 4K / UHD video, a touch screen, Wi-Fi or NFC, in short, all the latest technological refinements, especially given the price at which it is sold (around 70 € at when we do this test). However, history to put things in context, remember that in 2014, on the side of waterproof compacts, the Olympus Tough TG-3  occupied the high end, the Canon PowerShot D30  appealed to large divers and Nikon proposed the Coolpix S32 , a waterproof digital camera specially designed for children. Back to the future !

Best Polaroid iF045 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020

1. Polaroid IF045-TURQ Turquoise 14.1 MP 5X Zoom Waterproof Digital Camera

2. Polaroid 14 MP Waterproof Digital Camera w/ 2.7″+1.8″ TFT Dual Display, Colors May Vary

3. Polaroid SNAP Touch 2.0 – 13MP Portable Instant Print Digital Photo Camera w/ Built-In Touchscreen Display, Black

4. Polaroid Polaroid IF045-ORG 14.1 Megapixel IF045 Digital Camera (Orange)

5. Polaroid Originals OneStep 2 VF – White (9008) – LATEST EDITION

Getting started

Right out of the box, something is wrong. This Polaroid iF045 is light, very light … too light. Literally as well as figuratively. Even by manipulating it with your fingertips, it gives the impression that an excess of enthusiasm and a little too strong pressure would be enough to crush it, as its all-plastic body sounds terribly hollow. No need to look for the battery, there is none: the beast draws its energy from AAA batteries which will allow it to reach the delirious autonomy of … 70 views – or little more if you do not abuse from the flash (we’ll come back to this). 

And of course, the charge indicator does not indicate the charge, but the estimated remaining usage time based on your current usage. That is, if you do nothing, the indicator is full, if you start using the device, the indicator will visibly decrease. Convenient … There is a USB mini-B connector, but it is only used to transfer images to another computer and not to recharge any rechargeable batteries that you would have liked to use. Note that the compact uses microSD cards.

From an aesthetic point of view, the Polaroid iF045 fully assumes its flashy side. In its metallic blue livery accompanied by chrome notes for the lens and the buttons, the good side is that you will not forget it in the white sand. The build quality is decent: we have seen worse, but we regularly see much better. Given for a watertightness at 3 meters, we are nevertheless very, very skeptical given the battery door with the approximate locking and the total absence of a gasket. That’s good, that gives confidence … But it is not worth the 1/4 “thread to fix the beast to a tripod, thread directly molded in the plastic: even once stowed, it still moves!

More

The ignition of the device is disturbing since it takes a long press on the ad hoc button. Is. The 2.3 “rear screen with a 4/3 ratio is … passable. The 1.8” front screen, a key element of the Polaroid iF045, is meanwhile execrable. In other words, with its TN panel, you will not see much if you deviate from the axis: practical for group self-portraits! Navigating the menus is confusing. Access to the menus is via the “Menu” key which is not called “Menu”. 

The transition from photo mode to video mode is done by the M key, because … why not? Oh yes. Because M stands for “Mode”. The zoom controls also serve as up and down arrows, when the M and Flash keys serve as right and left keys, because … why not, once again ? Besides, the flash is a perfect opportunity to treat yourself to a big laugh. So imagine: you want to take a flash photo, you press the flash button, you are about to shoot and … nothing. A nice message “Charging the flash” blinks happily for 5 to 10 seconds before letting you take this damn photo: practical!

Equally practical, the zoom and focus system. The box does speak of a 5x zoom, but make no mistake, it is a digital zoom. And the rear screen makes you understand it! When you zoom, the image is enlarged digitally. In other words: the pixels are magnified to the point where … you can’t see anything. But really, nothing. So when you zoom in with the Polaroid iF045, you frame blindly: nice! The development, for its part … well … there is none. In any case, you never know where it is done, or even if it is done; that, you won’t find out until after the shot: awesome! And the absurdities, this compact connects them. 

Reactivity

The reactivity of the Polaroid iF045 speaks for itself: it takes a long time to start, it takes a long time between two images and, in addition, there is not even a burst mode. Note that if you wish to use the self-timer, the only time available is 10 seconds; point bar. Fortunately, the development time is relatively short … since there is not really any development.

Image quality

Little Polaroid iF045, what do you have in your stomach, literally? Well, a 14 MP sensor, probably CCD type, of an unknown diagonal. We just know that the lens is a 4.8mm aperture at f / 2.8. Okay, given the angle of view, which is more like a 35mm than a 28mm, that would rather mean that the sensor would be 1/3 “. Okay, either. The processor? No idea. Any so no need to drown the fish in the water (or the iF045 in the pool), pictures are better than a long speech.

Video

The Polaroid iF045 films at the relaxing rate of 30 images per second. It’s better than 25. It’s less good than 60. The definition? VGA, why? What do you mean, even for a camera released in 2014, 640 x 480 px, it’s ridiculous? Rhooo, you are a bad tongue. Come on, as they are nice at Polaroid, you have the option of opting for the definition of QVGA. And if you forgot what it corresponds to, it is indeed 320 x 240 px. Or 76,800 px in total, if you prefer big numbers. Needless to say, the image is really bad, accompanied by a non-existent focus, not even saved by a barely audible sound …

STRONG POINTS

• Its name is Polaroid.
• It exists in blue and pink.

WEAK POINTS

• Deplorable image quality.
• Video in VGA.
• Digital only zoom.
• Capillotracted ergonomics.
• Second TN screen unusable.
• No gasket.
• Ridiculous autonomy (70 views with two AAA batteries).

CONCLUSION

The Polaroid iF045 is an extraordinary camera and full of surprises: when you tell yourself that it cannot do worse, well, it does worse. And even when he has hit the bottom of the improbable, he does not hesitate to plunge joyfully into the absurd. In short, if it was not called Polaroid, not sure that it would deserve to be sold … It still wins a star, because we can not put less.

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