Jollylook has released a new product. Sort of. It was launched via Kickstarter last year, but now it’s going retail. It’s the Jollylook EYE, and it makes instant prints of images on your smartphone. It’s not like the regular Fuji Instax printers, though.
This one doesn’t utilise WiFi or Bluetooth. Instead, it literally prints what’s on your screen. You’re even able to do multiple exposures to combine images together. And when you’re done, you have your print in just a few seconds.
Jollylook Eye – Instant prints from your phone without WiFi
The Jollylook Eye isn’t just an instant printer. It’s a camera of its own, in a way. Of course, it’s not the kind of camera you use to shoot regular photos. This one just shoots your smartphone screen. At least, that’s its intended purpose.
Hypothetically, you could use it to photograph thin backlit subjects on a light table, but that’s not an advertised use case. It’s purely for printing photos from your smartphone. It works similarly to the Holga Printer, released in 2018, and the Polaroid Lab, released in 2019.
It’s definitely not high-tech, but sometimes, the simplest way is the best way. Especially for something like this, where you might want that slight element of chaos in your images.
How it works
Using the device is pretty simple. Unfold the Jollylook EYE and load it up with an Instax film pack. Then flick through your photos til you find one you want to print and place the EYE on top of it. Pressing the shutter release exposes your shot, and a handle lets you wind out the print.
As I said, it’s pretty simple. There’s really not much to it at all, which means there are fewer things that can break or mess up. And if you find yourself regularly wanting to print your smartphone photos, it’s a good way to do it.
Images of sample prints sent to us by Jollylook appear quite good. Sure, they’re not going to be as crisp and detailed as those you’d get from 100-megapixel medium format, but if that’s what you want, you aren’t looking at devices like this.
I would be curious to see some of the sample prints from this in real life. I don’t notice any pixelation in the sample photos Jollylook sent, but we don’t know what phone was used nor the resolution of its screen.
So, I suspect your mileage may vary on that one depending on the phone you’re using.
Price and Availability
The Jollylook EYE is available to pre-order for $65 from the Jollylook website. Once pre-orders over, the price will go up to $85. Shipping begins May 25th.
