The Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer is a fun little instant camera that’s super portable, so you can take it anywhere. You can even customize your prints with different color modes and by adding the classic Polaroid frame to your prints. But how do you do that? We’re going to show you how.

Products used in this guide

How to shoot in different color modes

  1. Turn the Polaroid Mint Camera on by holding down the Power button for a few seconds. Once the power lights come on, you’re good to go.
  2. By default, the Polaroid Mint Camera is set to shoot in Color each time it comes on. Hold down the Mode button to cycle through Color, B&W, and Sepia. A light goes on above the one that is currently selected. You’ll also hear an audible beep each time it changes.

  3. Point the camera at your subject and push down on the shutter button. Your photo will be captured in the filter mode you’ve selected.

How to add a classic Polaroid frame to your printed photo

  1. Make sure the Polaroid Mint Camera is turned on. If it isn’t, just hold down the Power button for a few moments until the lights come on.
  2. Double check your camera and ensure that there is ZINK paper loaded inside. If there’s no paper, your photos won’t print. You can optionally save digital copies of your captures on a microSD card, but they can’t be printed out on ZINK paper at a later time.

  3. Hold down the Frame button until it beeps and the light is on. Now your prints will come out with a frame, and the bottom is thicker to leave room for captions or dates, just like old Polaroid photos.

Shooting in color, black and white, or sepia and adding a frame to your printed photos with the Polaroid Mint Instant Camera is super easy. Now that you know how to do it with your Polaroid Mint, it’s time to get out there and shoot some photos!

Our top equipment picks

In order to get out there and start shooting instant photos like the good old days, you’ll need the following equipment.

Our pick

Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer

$99 at Amazon

Point, shoot, print

The Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer is a compact and fun instant camera. It’s vertically oriented to feel like a smartphone, and it has a selfie mirror in the front. The camera also shoots in color, B&W, or sepia, and you can add a Polaroid frame, as well as use a 10-second timer. Photos get printed on 2 by 3-inch ZINK sticky-backed paper.

With the Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer, you’ll be able to shoot plenty of selfies and other subjects while printing them out instantly. The ability to shoot in three color modes is nice and adds variety to your shots, while the classic Polaroid frame makes scrapbooking even more fun with the sticky-backed ZINK paper.

Print your photos instantly

Polaroid 2×3" Premium ZINK Photo Paper 50-Pack

$25 at Amazon

Print and stick

Polaroid ZINK paper uses no ink or toner, so you don’t have to worry about that. ZINK paper is heat activated with color crystals embedded in the paper itself, providing vibrant color when your photos are printed. It comes in a variety of sizes, but the Mint Camera requires this size specifically.

The ZINK paper is nice because it doesn’t need ink or toner, so you just buy the paper sheets and nothing else. Photos get printed by having heat activate the color crystals, providing you with rich and vibrant color. This ZINK paper also features a sticky-back, so you can peel the adhesive off and slap your captures directly in your photo albums or scrapbooks.

Additional Equipment

As a precaution, you should also have digital copies of the photos you take with the Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer. Be warned that you can’t reprint these digital photos on ZINK paper, though.

SanDisk Ultra 128GB microSDXC Card

$22 at Amazon

SanDisk Ultra is a dependable microSDXC card that works with the Polaroid Mint Camera & Printer (up to 256GB capacity). Once inserted, the Mint Camera saves a digital copy of any photo taken.

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