Impossible Project's color Polaroid film finally going on sale, shipping August 2nd
By Laura June 
posted July 30th 2010 10:31AM
posted July 30th 2010 10:31AM
posted July 30th 2010 10:31AM
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it's impossible.
@wbeardell
More like it's UmPointless. I have a photo printer that makes amazing quality prints direct from a digital camera. Nobody needs instant prints on location, which is why Polaroid hasn't been doing so well.
@wbeardell
its ironic when you think about it.
Polaroid stops making the stuff because no one is buying it because lets face it, Polaroids look like crap, they are outdated technology, and the grainy, blurry, bad color effects can be emulated perfectly with software.
Then people complain that they stopped making it (even though they weren't buying it) so they start making it again.
20 bucks says after a month or two they will stop selling it again once the hipsters realize taking and then scanning the Polaroids, so they can post them on facebook, takes to much work. Especially when they can just do the fake Polaroids from their iPhones.
@SirNoDroin it's not that no one is buying, just not enough to keep their pretty margins. (i.e. not growing at 25% per year like iPhones)
Polorid is loved by investigators as it is "direct to film" and provides quick feedback on scene. Being direct to film means that it is harder to contest in court because there's no room for darkroom or digital hijinks... that is very important to quite a few people.
@mabhatter If your market isn't growing, you should kill the product. That's what a smart company does. That's real life, not design school fantasy world.
My girlfriend has a Polaroid that she never uses. I think she finds it much easier to upload pictures straight from her phone.
She may also be getting to old to care about being ironically hip.
The perfect story for ALT.
@Funke Tobias Dr Yeah, I'm still confused about this whole "alt" thing and Engadget isn't helping... :/
Bonerific
Holy Crap! That's $1.83 per picture.
Teens and college pukes love this old Polaroid tech. It lets them pretend they're creative geniuses without actually doing much work.
I remember being a kid and wondering why polaroid film cost so much. I guess some things never change!!
what a stupid idea.
Next up: Betamax tapes!
@HansImGlueck
I still have a ton of betamax videos.. and my Sony beta player works flawlessly
@HansImGlueck We still used Beta tapes last year at Rogers TV ;)
@HansImGlueck I use Digibeta every day...i hate it
you gotta take something to the Universal Studios Florida concert (that mom and dad's trust fund also paid for)
Arnt they selling 8-track players on urban outfitters now? If not I should go ahead and start doing so!
i love taking Polaroids but who wants to lugg around that huge camera.
I wanted to post a link to some polaroids i took some years ago. They’re just showing a model in a bath tub, but the special contrasts of the film give them a really nice touch. I still think that film is superior to digital sensors – digital photography is just way way cheaper. You also aren’t able to reproduce the chemical phenomenons of a polaroid with photoshop.
Since you’re all being so negative, i won’t post that link.
@Pizzicato I'm with you on the film superiority business, but the bathtub business is hipster all the way. They've got tons over at LATFH.
@Pizzicato yes you can http://hipstamaticapp.com/
@Pizzicato you can do the chemical phenomenons in a computer; chemical reactions are all just mathematics, you program those mathematics into a computer, and you can reproduce the same effect. Its just a lot of mathematics, and people are lazy.
The thing is, people like film better because it takes less work to produce the same effect.
Other in low-low light, i really don't see a difference between film and digital these days.
@Pizzicato Post the link
@SirNoDroin
Uhhh, what? That made no sense.
@bradbrok obviously you failed both chemistry and math
@SirNoDroin
Hah, more like why beat around the bush and make it difficult and copy something analog? Why not just go to the source? That's what I'm talking about. Creating a photoshop action that spontaneously creates an unpredictable 'analog effect' is pointless when such a product exists.
@SirNoDroin
And where's the soul in your doctored digital images?
Don't get me wrong, I own and shoot 5D mk II, but I can't see anyone shooting that 40 years from now impressed with its classic qualities. It was designed to be consumed and tossed. The genius in Polaroid was the physical attributes of the print, not the flat image on a computer screen. Polaroids in person look far better than any scan.
@SirNoDroin
And assuming I know nothing of math or chemistry is pure trolling. Especially when it is my field.
@Pizzicato - "Since you’re all being so negative" - I see what you did there.
@SirNoDroin
Easier? Hardly. It's much easier for a hack photographer to get the software to do the work for them. Film photographers do the work themselves, either in setting up the shot or in the darkroom. And it's not all mathematics or science.
It's called "Art".
Don't believe his lies.
@MikeOfAllTrades Solid Memento reference. +1 sir.
To late I already bought Hipstamatic! :-)
http://hipstamaticapp.com/
@fuzzylollipop
you work for them or something? this is a comments section not an advertising board.
@fuzzylollipop
Thanks for the tip fuzzy, I just downloaded it and it's totally sweet!, I think I'm gonna have trouble using the regular cam on my iPhone anymore
If you've never shot with a folding SX-70, you're missing out. And this material is not just "point and shoot" and watch it develop.
Polaroid wanted to please the masses of consumers.
Impossible is designed for artists and is not for the faint of heart.
Yeah, this new stuff relies too much on the "expired" look, I just wish Polaroid hadn't stopped producing type 55. I was able to shoot 4x5 B&W negatives with my 600SE, it's a beast! It's still fun to shoot with, kinda like listening to LP's with their warm soft crackle :) http://www.flickr.com/photos/polaroidian/sets/72157612159405759/
saying "you can do it with a computer" doesn't cut it. you cant hold the chemistry in your hand. There is a soul to analogue that doesnt exist with a computer. I pity you if you think a computer has more heart and soul than the harsh chemistry of analogue.
@eminencegrise
Finally!
@eminencegrise your just romanticizing a medium, I pity you.
I wouldn't expect many tech-geeks (of which I consider myself) to appreciate the magic that is Polaroid film. For one, when most people think of Polaroid, they think of the cheap plastic cameras from the 80's and 90's...they don't think of the state-of-the-art workhorses from the 60's and 70's WHICH STILL WORK PERFECTLY like the 195 the 600se (both of which have leaf - as opposed to focal plane - shutters and can, therefore, achieve flash synchronization anywhere between 1 second to 1/500th of a second...a feet that 99% of the digital cameras made TODAY cannot do!) Then there's the SX-70, which is, quite simply, (and I know I'll get plenty of shit for saying this but...), the greatest camera ever made...NOTHING will ever come close to its genius (and I love my Canon 5D Mark ii). The SX-70 represents the perfect marriage of science, enginering and art: a true SLR capable of capturing 1:1 ratio images, which spits out a self-developing picture that's done in two minutes and, oh yeah, folds up into your pocket. Magic.
But most importantly, you simply have no idea the SOCIAL effect that Polaroid has. Trust me, I'm a photographer and NO ONE responds to you taking their picture with a digital camera the way they do with a Polaroid...their eyes light up...something magic happens...and I can't tell you how many friendships I've formed on the basis of that moment.
Here's a link to my some of them:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/donsangria/sets/72157623118311556/
@dwalheim
Totally agree. My family owned a Polaroid 100 series, as well as a "Swinger" or 2. Now THOSE made for some memorable vacations. Instant pictures. I missed that later in life, waiting for the prints from the 35mm cameras to be developed, even if I only had to wait an hour.
Sure, Photoshop can do a lot, but to me there's a difference between being creative with software and being creative using one's own talents.
@JackInLA
:]
Film? Who the f*** uses film anymore?
@d3sc3nd3ncy
www.flickr.com/analog/
www.apug.com
hundreds of thousands of people. Most are film > digital > back to film converts.
http://support.the-impossible-project.com/entries/167813-will-you-be-producing-new-peel-apart-film