Polaroid i-2 new instant camera

blee1996 · Sep 7, 2023

It seems Polaroid built a quite interesting new instant camera with manual control and decent glass lens.

Discover the Polaroid I-2 Instant Camera

Designed for craft, the Polaroid I-2 is the first analog instant camera with built-in manual controls and is equipped with the sharpest-ever Polaroid lens.

i2-camera.polaroid.com

My all time favorite instant camera is Polaroid SX-70, followed by the Mamiya made 600 SE. Nowadays there are enough innovative camera designs from Lomo, Mint, and Nons spanning wide range of price point.

But my biggest gripe is that none of the current film are that good. I hope someone can bring back peel-apart Polaroid type 55 or at least Fuji FP-100C/3000B packfilm.

Nitroplait · Sep 7, 2023

Peel-apart or it doesn’t matter (to me).

Mackinaw · Sep 7, 2023

Interesting camera, but kind of pricy at $600.00 USD. As for Polaroid film, the B&W stuff, to me, is very good, and the color film is much better than even a few years ago. And forget peel-apart film, it's gone for good.

Jim B.

Alan9940 · Sep 7, 2023

Considering that an SX-70 came in at about $1,300 (adjusted for inflation) back in the day, it seems to me that the I-2 is priced reasonably given the automation and control that it brings to the table.

madNbad · Sep 7, 2023

After years of owning a SX-70, I gave it away in 2013. A few years ago, I was given a SX-70 Alpha 1 and this summer, it went to Retrospekt for an overhaul and updated for 600 film.
Looking at the cost of a refurbished SX-70 from Retrospekt or the even more expensive Mint cameras, the price of the new Polaroid cameras are in line with those and offers a bit more.
I have noticed that even using 600 speed film, it still requires an enormous amount of light to get the best results. Polaroid continues to make improvements on their film and the 600 is miles ahead of their offering in the original 160 speed.

Andrew O'Neill · Sep 7, 2023

Pretty cool looking but it doesn't appear to be an SLR, like the SX-70. I'll keep my SX-70.

Henning Serger · Sep 7, 2023

Looks promising.
Definitely a development in the right direction. And maybe / hopefully that will finally motivate Fujifilm to offer high(er) quality, more sophisticated cameras for their instax line as well.

Best regards,
Henning

Cholentpot · Sep 7, 2023

I have two SX-70s. One Sonar and one manual. I'm just about done with my first pack of film and it's pretty good stuff, to my eyes when exposed well it's just about as good as Instax. Issue is I can't really afford to shoot SX-70 film. However it is far more satisfying to shoot the SX-70 as it is to shoot an Instax.

I'm wondering if the I-2 is as fun to use as the SX-70 or does it feel like an Instax Wide.

Patrick Robert James · Sep 7, 2023

I was never much of a fan of the SX-70. I always thought I was going to break it. I don't recall any other good instant cameras (aside from a Spectra Minolta one) that took the integral film. This looks pretty nice.

The price doesn't seem outrageous to me. I'm not a huge Polaroid guy (aside from the old Type 55) but I wouldn't mind having one of these. Finally a decent camera.

ant! · Sep 8, 2023

Henning Serger said:
And maybe / hopefully that will finally motivate Fujifilm to offer high(er) quality, more sophisticated cameras for their instax line as well.

Yes, I'd love a more controllable Instax Square or even better Wide! Currently I use a SQ6, which I guess is the most controllable Instax around (which means switching flash off and toggling in between near/farfield mode). Aperature control and a bit more control over the focus is all I would want...

I like the Instax films... Polaroid I only used about 15 years ago with a friends camera (which might have been the original Polaroid films? But the film for that camera was already not available anymore, so we had to remove a tab from the film and used a ND-filter, then it worked fine...), but never one of the higher-end cameras.

JParker · Sep 8, 2023

ant! said:
Yes, I'd love a more controllable Instax Square or even better Wide! Currently I use a SQ6, which I guess is the most controllable Instax around (which means switching flash off and toggling in between near/farfield mode). Aperature control and a bit more control over the focus is all I would want...

The most controllable and feature rich Fuji instax cameras are the Neo 90 classic, and if I remember right the mini Evo, the hybrid instax cam.

I would also like a more sophisticated and higher quality instax camera, especially for the square and wide format.

Alan Edward Klein · Sep 8, 2023

The Polaroid I2 allows 600 or SX70 film. What's the difference in the film?

What are the filters for the Polaroid Now?

Do you really need the manual focus ranther than range and the aperture priority mode of the I2 over the Polaroid Now?

Compare the Polaroid I-2 Instant Camera

Designed for craft, the Polaroid I-2 is the first analog instant camera with built-in manual controls and is equipped with the sharpest-ever Polaroid lens.

i2-camera.polaroid.com

ant! · Sep 8, 2023

JParker said:
The most controllable and feature rich Fuji instax cameras are the Neo 90 classic, and if I remember right the mini Evo, the hybrid instax cam.

I would also like a more sophisticated and higher quality instax camera, especially for the square and wide format.

Ah, yes, forgot this one, but it's only Instax mini... The SQ6 has also a (limited) exposure compensation, a macro mode and double exposure, so not a huge difference the Neo 90 has additionally. It seems it has additionally the Party mode for flash with slower shutter speed, focusing moving things, and maybe a bit more exposure compensation range (the SQ6 has up/down, the Neo 90 one additional +2) and bulb exposure.

As said, aperture priority and better focus control would be all I would want. And a better viewfinder. The "party mode" seems useful too.

armadsen · Sep 8, 2023

Alan Edward Klein said:
The Polaroid I2 allows 600 or SX70 film. What's the difference in the film?

What are the filters for the Polaroid Now?

Do you really need the manual focus ranther than range and the aperture priority mode of the I2 over the Polaroid Now?

Compare the Polaroid I-2 Instant Camera

Designed for craft, the Polaroid I-2 is the first analog instant camera with built-in manual controls and is equipped with the sharpest-ever Polaroid lens.

i2-camera.polaroid.com

SX-70 film is ISO 160, while 600 film is ISO 640 (i-Type is the same film as 600 just without a battery in the cartridge).

The filters are just for fun. None of Polaroid’s cameras have manual focus. The I-2 has a LiDAR rangefinder for continuous autofocus. Their other cameras have a simple 2 range focus system. The manual exposure modes on the I-2 will give a lot more control over the camera and the final results same as on any camera.

BobD · Sep 8, 2023

That ad is terrible. It seems they don't want to show us what the camera looks like. It must be ugly.

Polaroid i-2 new instant camera

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