Thermal Printer Camera Review: A Fun, Lo-Fi Instant Camera Alternative by Alec Pain

Written by Alec Pain (Alastair Place)

I recently purchased a thermal camera – and whilst not actually a film camera, I thought it would be of interest to review it and a separate thermal printer.

My reasoning is that they have an analogue feel to them – and I guess you could also say they are “lo-fi” given the prints that they make. I suppose you could also say that they are “instant cameras” because you take a picture and it rolls its way out of the front (or back) of the camera you are using.

Find thermal printer cameras on Amazon.

What is a Thermal Printer?

Thermal printers and camera printers work by using heat to transfer an image onto paper using a heat-sensitive coating.

You often see it being used as a very cheap and effective way of printing receipts and labels as it doesn’t require ink to print. I believe that there’s a printhead which warms up the paper and then transfers an image onto paper.

LETSHAHA Thermal Printer Camera

I bought this camera on eBay for around $20 (you can also find it here on Amazon). It didn’t appear to have a brand name attached to it, but I’ve subsequently found that it’s made by either LETSHAHA or GREENKINDER.

Like all thermal printer cameras, it is marketed for kids (and with a somewhat outdated mode of selling pink for girls and blue for boys).

I would say that carrying this around is easy – it fits in your (coat) pocket and whilst it does seem a little embarrassing out with such a garish camera, you get over it in time and soon forget until someone asks you what on earth are you taking pictures with!

Not having to spend money on very expensive ink is a big bonus. Being thermal means you will only ever get a black and white print. You do get a color jpg on the camera which you can then print in color should you wish – just remove the HD card and you can then transfer the images to your computer.

The quality is awful, and I’m not sure you would want to print them, but I guess it needs to be a certain format for the printer to be able to print the image thermally.

The camera is very easy to use. The orange shutter buttons is on the top, marked with a camera icon. Turning it on can also be a little embarrassing as you are presented with a ring-like noise that welcomes you to your camera.

I’ve not found a way of turning this noise off.

This is done on the back of the camera above the screen and you are presented with several options. One icon for taking photographs, a second for taking video (I have not tried this!), and then one for finding the photos that you have taken, and one for settings.

The settings enable you to remove the data stamp, put a timer on and also print differently: greyscale and lattice which you can see below. Most of my pics are on lattice setting as this was the default:

For refills (the camera comes with three rolls), you have to buy 57 x 25mm sized thermal rolls. Beware, for this camera, I found these rolls slightly too fat and had to remove some of the paper in order for the camera to work again, but you can always unspool half and then load both separately so as not to waste paper.

The prints are 48mm wide by 83mm high.

I tried the first set of shots out with the data stamp still on the pics. The date stamp is placed onto the image permanently. As you can see the quality isn’t fantastic but they do produce a pleasing low-fi look, with great contrast:

Shooting Double Exposures with the Thermal Camera

The camera doesn’t have a double exposure setting, but it is actually fairly easy. Instead of tearing off the paper when it is printed, simply roll the paper back and place it back into the printer.

If you really want things to line up, then simply mark the edge of the paper in pencil where it sticks out. You can also turn off the automatic printing and just take pictures. Of course, when you take a picture, there’s always a digital copy of it, so you can always do this later.

The lighter the image, the more you’re going to be able to get a second picture to work over the top of it. It can become very dense, and I would say that 3 (4 at a stretch) is probably the most exposures you can do.

There’s a bridge over the canal at Paddington, and I had some fun with silhouetted figures and the swirls on the side of the glass. Here’s the first one:

And then here’s the second:

And here’s the double exposure:

Here’s some more silhouettes:

And here’s a double exposure and a triple exposure:

You could also form a long “thermo-rama” by rewinding the paper and making sure there’s no gap between each image:

More Thermal Camera Experiments

This is the Lonely tree in Llanberis in Wales. I also took an Instax Wide picture here with a 4×5 Speed Graphic camera – so you can see a comparison.

Taking parts of pictures to form a whole can also be a lot of fun. I’d love to try this with 18-24 shots, too. Here’s a 3×3 version of the tree:

Invert Mode

The camera also has an inverse mode – which I found interesting to try.

Here’s a lamp post in my hometown. The inverse, original jpg is very Lomo Turquoise:

Self-Portrait Mode

To take self-portraits, you simply need to flip the lens over and you can see yourself in the screen. The inversion mode is also a great way of creating something that’s visually striking:

Shooting Upside Down

You could also try taking two pictures and flipping the camera on the second shot, taking two shots that blend together:

There was one aspect which I couldn’t work out – how to save an image or text to the camera.

You can view all of the jpgs on the 32gb mini memory card, but the jpg needs to be formatted in a special way in order to print. I just got “ERROR” when trying to print from there and so I decided to also buy a thermal printer.

Groov-e Mini Thermal Printer

The Groov-e printer is tiny: it’s around 90cm x 90cm. It is not available in the U.S., but you can find similar thermal printers on Amazon here.

You can’t take pictures with it, but you can print anything you have shot elsewhere – with one condition – you need to use your phone and a particular app called Fun Print (here on the Apple App store). It has annoying adverts on it sometimes, but they are usually 2-3 seconds long and can be easily dismissed. You then connect your phone to the printer.

The steps are fairly straight forward. Click on Picture images; select the picture from your library; edit the picture – i.e. crop, rotate, add text. Tick and then send to Print. You’ll get a preview and you can print either a Line Drawing or Graphics (see Images 7&8).

It seems to do a better job than the thermal print camera, and I think it has its uses. For instance, if you are laying out a zine and need an inexpensive way of seeing your images on a wall or in front of you.

Here’s the print next to the high resolution image I shot on the Zero Image 2000 camera:

It’s also perfect for printing your photographs on a large scale. Be warned that it can soon overheat and refuse to complete your print! This, I actually found to add to my creativity!

Here’s a couple of shots I took with the Holga on accidental B mode:

And here’s the results when printed in strips on the Groov-e printer. I nailed some pins into my wall and hung them up using paper clips:

In Conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed this review of the LETSHAHA thermal printer camera and the Groov-e thermal printer. I do think that this camera can help teach you a lot for not very much!

It’s a little like a Leica Monochrom or a film with only black and white film inside it (OK, that’s stretching it a little!) – you can only print black and white shots and that gets you and your eye used to looking for scenes that are high in contrast.

The images are instant and a lot of fun to play around with, with the benefit that you can use your experience next time you have a film camera in your hand.

Thank you so much, Alec! Alec is a regular contributor here at Shoot It With Film, and be sure to check out his other articles, like An Overview of Pinhole Film Photography: Exposure, Reciprocity, & 6 Cameras I Love by and Petzval 80.5mm f/1.9 MKII Bokeh Control Art Lens Review: It’s All About the Swirl.

You can also check out more of his work on Instagram.

Leave your questions about thermal printers below in the comments, and you can pick one up for yourself on Amazon here.

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Alec Pain

Alec Pain (AKA Alastair Place) is a pinhole and experimental photographer and a regular contributor for Shoot It With Film. Find his other articles here, such as How to Shoot Holgaramas and Finding Photography Inspiration Where You Live.

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