Polaroid Discontinued--Boston Globe 02/08/08

[Troy]

I'd like to say something meaningful but all I can think is, "I really like Polaroids. This Sucks. It sucks hard."

 

[BobNewYork]

Just another case of "Mind over Matter".......They don't mind...and we don't matter!!!

Bob

 

[Terence]

Bought my first 545i last week. Bugger.

And having grown up near their plants, this sucks for the folks who work there. My brother worked in their ID tech department, but it was spun off and sold to Digimarc a couple of years ago when Polaroid had financial problems.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I'll continue using it while it lasts, and then I'll think about converting my 8x10" holders to wetplate or something and figure out what can be done with an 8x10" processor (I'm thinking: calendering press for albumen prints).

The price of 8x10", by the way, is about $15 a sheet from B&H, not $25. There are 15 sheets in a box.

 

[amuderick]

Let us not forget that Fuji can step in and fill this gap pretty easily. They already make excellent integral and peel-apart instant film products. It can't hurt to let them know your thoughts. I did.

http://www.fujifilm.com/mail/form.cgi?code=244-59899-54331

 

[BobNewYork]

Terence makes a good point. We're pissed because of the loss of a product. All these people who work there, however, are far more SOL than us.

 

[canuhead]

Last time I priced it up here it was closer to 20-25 per sheet by the time the gov't gets their share. Either way, it's serious coin and I'd rather put that into making photographs with T55.

T55 is the one I'd really like to see saved by some white knight.

 

[pauliej]

Where are the venture capitalists out there? Surely someone or some organization will see the potential for HUGE profits here and purchase the rights/etc. from Polaroid. There must be a future gold mine just from marketing to the APUG users, from the sound of these posts. Hopefully they will be listed on Wall St. and we can ALL profit from this calamity. Daddy Big-Bucks, where are you when we need you?

Paul

 

[mabman]

This is indeed a huge bummer. Huge bummer... does Fuji make instant 4x5 or 8x10 film, now?

Looks like they do for 4x5 - but somewhat limited - their FP-100C (100 ISO colour) and FP-3000B (3000 ISO B&W) are available in 4x5 as well as 3.25 x 4.25, and the FP-100B (100 ISO B&W) is only available in 3.25 x 4.25.

Since they've already got the basic tech, and Polaroid wants to licence it, maybe if we lobby Fuji hard enough they'll licence the full line from Polaroid.

 

[erikg]

55 P/N........R.I.P.

Indeed. It will be missed. Maybe fuji will pick it up.

 

[c6h6o3]

Polaroid's been the walking dead since Dr. Land passed on. No company founded upon and driven by the vision of such an iconoclastic engineer can very long outlast that founder. R.I.P. indeed. To me he was the greatest of them all.

 

[amuderick]

Fuji has an opportunity to pick up a nice chunk of film business which will basically be dropped into their laps. At $4 a sheet for P55 P/N, you know it is profitable for all concerned.

Since Petters Group purchased Polaroid they haven't wanted to be in the film business. Fuji obviously does (or they wouldn't be introducing a new rangefinder camera).

 

[Neanderman]

Polaroid's been the walking dead since Dr. Land passed on. No company founded upon and driven by the vision of such an iconoclastic engineer can very long outlast that founder. R.I.P. indeed. To me he was the greatest of them all.

Land was a fascinating man. I highly recommend the biography written about him back in the 80's.

Ed

 

[Terence]

Just got some Type 55 I ordered from Badger, and it has the dreaded discontinued sticker.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Polaroid threads merged.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

I've been rattling on about this for a couple of months now...ever since I couldn't get the Type 79 I ordered back in November...so I switched to a Fuji product (their 4x5 pack film) for testing. I get real nervous when there is only one vendor of a suitable product. But...Fuji does seem committed to the analog film market. Hopefully they will extend their license with Polaroid to cover more product types.

 

[Barry S]

Polaroid has obviously decided to play to their strengths as a company---prostituting their name for use on cheap-ass bottom of the barrel electronics.

 

[BobNewYork]

Of course on the other side - in the "goes around comes around" category; am I not right in thinking that the original 'instant imaging' patents were held by Agfa and that, at the end of WWII, the Allies declared all German patents null and void?

Just thought I'd set the cat among the pigeons!

Bob

 

[Captain Bedworthy]

Say it ain't so, Dr. Land

Well it had to happen. They dove into digital, and failed. Tooled up to make a line of truly useless cameras called iZone in hopes of using the "i" marketing to advantage, which failed. Then dropped the 3.25 X 4.25 versions of the 679 color and the Pos-Neg and others. What did we expect? What the entity that is Polaroid seemed to miss is they still held the basic patent on the instant print. Licensing it to Fuji was smart, but to little too late.
Only consolation is there's not enough in the coffers to support golden parachutes for the guys that managed it all into the ground. They'll be sitting beside other poor decision makers in the unemployment office ere long, and goodbye trophy wife.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Refusing to licence it to Kodak and suing was dumb. Part of the settlement required that Kodak demolish all instant film coating and pack making equipment. They did and paid Polaroid a whopping settlement which Polaroid used for more instant film which already was selling poorly. Kodak used to make Polariod film for Polaroid (B&W and color both) but quit when the new plant in Waltham was finished.

Agfa had some early patents but never developed it to a product. I believe the holder of the patents was Edith Weyde (sp?). Land invented the color versions, but could not make them work properly in a multilayer and contracted with Kodak to develop and coat the materials.

PE

 

[Photo Engineer]

A bit off-topic, but did you notice that Polaroid quietly quit making instant cameras? Sound familiar?

PE

 

[Phillip P. Dimor]

Not to be a jerk but I think we saw this coming 3 to 4 years ago.. and even then we were lucky to hang on to Polaroid for a bit longer.
It's expensive to manufacture, it's expensive for consumers, etc. The writing was on the wall. Use it while it's there, use it while you can find it.
It's sad, I used to live near polaroid and would hear stories from people whose grandparents had worked there. All the outdated and short-dated pack film would end up in trashbags, which would then be given to friends and family members by some of the coworkers. I remember a friend telling me how she always had polaroid instant film growing up for free, constantly.

 

[patrickjames]

I always preferred Fuji instant films over Polaroid. It is sad, but Fuji will continue making film and the world will continue on. Type 55 will be missed though. That film is one of the most beautiful I think.

Patrick

 

[PHOTOTONE]

Only consolation is there's not enough in the coffers to support golden parachutes for the guys that managed it all into the ground. They'll be sitting beside other poor decision makers in the unemployment office ere long, and goodbye trophy wife.

I'm not sure where this statement came from, but consider Polaroid (the original entity) went bankrupt years ago and its remaining assets were purchased by the Petters group. The Petters group is closing down instant film production to concentrate on its line of digital crap. Petters is not going bankrupt. The current managers and officials are not going away, so "golden parachutes" or the lack thereof do not apply.

 

[Renato Tonelli]

I'm pissed, again!... but I will get over it, again.
Two questions:
1) Supposing one had a chance of stocking up on Polaroid material: - what might be the optimum temperature that it could be refrigerated (not frozen) and for how long?
2) It is my understanding that Fuji's versions come in a pack, not single sheets. Is this correct? I could look it up, of course, and eventually I will but right now I am in a foul mood.