The Computer Graphics Group

Support for Polaroid Film Recorders

Polaroid Corporation, manufacturer of the Polaroid Palette and Palette Plus, Polaroid Digital Palette CI3000, CI5000, and HR6000, and Polaroid ProPalette 7000 and 8000 film recorders, declared bankruptcy on October 12, 2001. In a press release on the same date, Gary T. DiCamillo, chairman and chief executive officer of Polaroid, was quoted as saying "...we intend to continue shipments of our core instant imaging products..." (i.e., instant cameras and film), and "We will also continue to pursue opportunities to maximize the potential of our Opal and Onyx instant digital printing technologies" (a new Polaroid thermal process for printing to plain paper). The only mention of other Polaroid products in the press release is the statement "This process will result in the disposition or elimination of non-core products and businesses...". In simpler words, the film recorder operation has been dumped. Production of Polaroid film recorders has been halted. There are reportedly a large number of previously manufactured Polaroid film recorders still sitting around in warehouses or in Polaroid dealers' inventories, and these should be available very cheap as dealers try to get rid of them, but the future as far as support (repairs, technical support, etc.) is very shaky. Because of this uncertainty, the Computer Graphics Group will NOT be selling any Polaroid film recorders, new or used, regardless of how attractive the prices may be.

However, the Computer Graphics Group is committed to helping existing Polaroid digital film recorder users get the most out of their Polaroid film recorders wherever possible. We carry current driver software for Polaroid film recorders. We are also investigating possibilities for repair of Polaroids after Polaroid stops offering repairs. Check this web site periodically for updated information.

The next section gives background information on the various Polaroid film recorder models. The section following that describes the various driver software packages that have been used to operate Polaroid film recorders. To skip directly to the driver software section, click here.

The (original) Palette, Palette Plus. Polaroid originally entered the film recorder business with the production of the Polaroid Palette video film recorder. This unit attached to the video output signal from IBM PC's, and copied the computer screen onto film. Consequently the resolution of the image on film was exactly the same as the computer's monitor. The earliest Palettes were designed for the CGA video adapter card, which was a video card with a top resolution of only 320 x 200 with only 4 colors. Later the Palette Plus was released, to support the IBM EGA video adapter card, which had 640 x 350 resolution and a whopping 16 colors. With extremely low resolutions like these, the slides these Palettes produced were, of course, awful. The video Palettes have two 9-pin D-type connectors, each with 2 rows of pins, on the back. One connector is for connection to the computer's video output, and the second one sends the video signals on to the next device, usually the computer's monitor. This way it was not necessary to disconnect the monitor in order to connect the film recorder to the computer's video output. The video Palettes also have an RS-232 Serial connector to allow control of the film recorder from the computer (mainly to tell the film recorder when to take a screen picture - no picture data was transferred via the RS-232 serial port). Because the resolution of these old IBM video cards was so low, there was no need for fancy optics, and so the 35mm camera portion (generally referred to in the film recorder industry as a "camera back") on the Palette and Palette Plus was a flimsy plastic number. The 35mm camera back was removable, and could be swapped with an optional instant Polaroid 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 sheet film back, for instant Polaroid prints. Polaroid Palettes were marked with the model numbers of the form 72-xx, including 72-19, 72-20 and 72-25 (there was also a model 72-10, which had two RCA video connectors on the back instead of the two 9-pin D-type connectors, and was designed to copy TV-type video, not computer output). Both the original Palette and the Palette Plus are completely worthless now, since there are no longer any video cards manufactured with resolution lower than VGA (640 x 480), and the signals and voltage levels (analog) for the VGA and above video cards are incompatible with the old CGA/EGA signals and levels (TTL), so the original Palette and Palette Plus will not synch up to any modern computer video.

The Digital Palettes. Polaroid replaced the original Palette with the "Digital Palette" series. With these film recorders, the image is created ("rasterized") in the computer, and then sent down to the film recorder in digital form. In this way, the resolution of the film recorder can be higher than (and independent of) the computer's video card and monitor. All modern film recorders are digital.

The first Digital Palette was the Model CI3000. This unit had a quoted resolution of "2K". This meant that there were (theoretically) 2048 pixels across the wide dimension of the image, compared to 640 pixels on a VGA display, or 1024 on an XGA display. The CI3000 had a standard IBM PC-type parallel (Centronics/printer) connector on the back, and the digital data was passed down to the film recorder from the computer just like to a printer, using a special "printer driver" installed on the computer. Since Macintosh computers had no parallel printer ports, the CI3000 was an IBM-only device. Next came the Digital Palette CI5000. This unit had a quoted (again theoretical) resolution of "4K" = 4096 pixels across the wide dimension of the image. The CI5000 had both a parallel printer connector and SCSI connectors on the back, so connection to either a PC or a Macintosh was possible. The last model in the Digital Palette line was the HR6000. This unit also had a quoted resolution of 4K=4096 pixels, and both PC parallel/printer and SCSI inputs. The CI3000 and CI5000 were discontinued by Polaroid when the HR6000 came out, although third-party software to drive the CI3000 and CI5000 is still available - see our Software Drivers section for more information.

The biggest problem with all the Polaroid Digital Palette models, was that they were all just modifications of the same low-resolution original Palette video film recorder. Polaroid simply replaced the video circuitry with digital interface circuitry, but the original units still had the same low-resolution CRT tube and the same flimsy plastic camera back. While Polaroid did make some improvements over the years to the Digital Palettes, it is just too much to expect a film recorder originally designed for only 320 x 200 resolution to output 2048 pixels, much less 4096. The result was a very soft, "unfocused" slide compared to competing brands. It is doubtful if any of the Polaroid Digital Palette models had a true resolution much greater than 700-800 pixels. While Polaroid did sell a lot of Digital Palettes, the unaware purchaser could have gotten a much better film recorder with a Lasergraphics LFR, LFR Plus, or Personal LFR, a Montage FR1 or FR2, or even a Mirus Turbo or Agfa ProColor.

The ProPalettes. The Polaroid ProPalette film recorders were completely redesigned from the ground up, using a bigger and better CRT tube, and better electronics. The ProPalettes were the first film recorders produced by Polaroid which were in any way competitive in quality to other lesser known brands like Lasergraphics. The ProPalette 7000 has a quoted resolution of 4K=4096 pixels across the wide dimension of the film, and the ProPalette 8000 has a quoted resolution of 8K=8192 pixels. It is doubtful if either of these actually fully meet these resolution specs, but they are much closer than were the Digital Palettes. Both machines have both parallel/printer and SCSI inputs. It is too bad Polaroid did not come out with these models years earlier, fewer Polaroid customers would have been stuck with Digital Palettes. ProPalette 7000's and 8000's may become available at very cheap prices from dealers trying to unload them due to Polaroid's bankruptcy, but we urge caution until the issue of whether anyone buys Polaroid's film recorder operation is settled; if nobody does, there may be NO technical support and NO repair service for any Polaroid models, even those under Warranty.

The Bravo. Recognizing the poor image quality of their Digital Palettes, Polaroid was an early investor in the long-since defunct Mirus film recorder company. Polaroid sold some Mirus and Mirus Turbo film recorders under the name "Polaroid Bravo". These units look like a shallow rectangular box; if you lift the lid on top of the unit, the camera back will be seen pointing straight down toward the floor. Polaroid pulled out of the Mirus deal years ago, probably because the Mirus units weren't much sharper than the Digital Palettes, if at all, and in addition were SLOW. The Polaroid Bravo film recorder units are identical to the Mirus and Mirus Turbo units, and all comments on our Mirus page apply.

OEM models. Some Polaroid Digital Palettes were relabeled and sold by other companies. In particular, GCC Technologies sold some Digital Palettes under their label. Lanier may have also sold some private-labelled Digital Palettes. The specifications, software support, etc., for these are identical to the Polaroid models.

The Computer Graphics Group carries current driver software to interface most Polaroid film recorders to both Windows and Macintosh computers. For a complete history and description of Windows software drivers, click here. To jump directly to a table summarizing the driver software available for various versions of Windows, click here. For a complete history and description of Macintosh software drivers, click here. To jump directly to a table summarizing the driver software available for various versions of the Mac OS, click here .

A summary of the Polaroid film recorder models and their corresponding Windows support software is shown here. A free evaluation copy of Raster Plus Windows is available at www.graphx.com. The evaluation copy has all the features of Raster Plus, but will only image for 14 days before you have to buy it (and you can't just set your computer's clock back - it knows that the time has expired, and also will not allow you to reinstall it). Raster Plus Windows for the Digital Palette CI3000/S, CI5000/S, and HR6000, and ProPalette 7000 and 8000, is list priced at $995. You can buy it at the Graphx web site, but you will have to pay the full list price there. Call the Computer Graphics Group at (800) 999-2034 for our current Raster Plus Windows pricing information.

The Computer Graphics Group is currently offering a tradein credit for any Polaroid film recorder (working or not) on the purchase of a new Lasergraphics film recorder. Lasergraphics has essentially taken over the film recorder market, due to their products' high quality and reliability, and reasonable pricing. The 4K resolution Lasergraphics Personal LFR Plus, perfectly adequate for most slidemaking applications, is priced at $5995, before the tradein discount. For those who need the absolute maximum in sharpness, the 8K resolution Lasergraphics Mark III is priced at only $8995, before the tradein discount. See our Lasergraphics page for more information.