Polaroid Impossible project; interview with the director and other media reports

wrench · Mar 16, 2009

Hi everyone,
I just found this article and thought you all might be interested. It's an interview with Dr. Kaps about the project and the plans for the next year.
Here's the link:
http://www.pdngearguide.com/gearguide/content_display/news/e3ibdac8851c0d781c14b387dd148bb9dee

Best, Laura

Christopher Walrath · Mar 16, 2009

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9000/4.6.0.167 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

Dangit. Someone beat me to it. Oh well.

vdonovan · Mar 16, 2009

The have ONE YEAR of funding to develop an entirely new film? Are they CRAZY?????

nickandre · Mar 16, 2009

it is called the "impossible project."

vdonovan · Mar 17, 2009

Oh yeah. Good point.

Tim Gray · Mar 18, 2009

Thats crazy. It's also interesting that the Polaroid stopped making the negative 2.5 years ago, long before the announcement.

FilmIs4Ever · Mar 22, 2009

I wish them the best, but at more than twice the price of the original Polaroid, no Medium Format Film being made, or LF, and Fuji still making perfectly-good Polaroid-type materials at a competitive price, this company is clearly not in touch with reality. . .

Photo Engineer · Mar 22, 2009

Did you notice that the original SX-70 formula was from the 70s? It is going to be hard to produce that on most modern equipment I think. IDK for sure, but this surely is "the Impossible Project".

I wish them good luck.

PE

PHOTOTONE · Mar 22, 2009

Photo Engineer said:
Did you notice that the original SX-70 formula was from the 70s? It is going to be hard to produce that on most modern equipment I think. IDK for sure, but this surely is "the Impossible Project".

I wish them good luck.

PE

The way I understand all the things I have read about "The Impossible Project" is that they are NOT going to try to exactly duplicate the original film, rather they are going to try to develop a product using current technology that will work in the Polaroid cameras. Since they have Ilford as a "partner" of sorts, they do have access to modern emulsion design and manufacturing.

Photo Engineer · Mar 22, 2009

PHOTOTONE said:
The way I understand all the things I have read about "The Impossible Project" is that they are NOT going to try to exactly duplicate the original film, rather they are going to try to develop a product using current technology that will work in the Polaroid cameras. Since they have Ilford as a "partner" of sorts, they do have access to modern emulsion design and manufacturing.

Of course, that was posted above! And, that is even harder, believe me.

Even with backup, it took us up to 5 years to get a new product off the ground.

PE

Alex Hawley · Mar 22, 2009

FilmIs4Ever said:
I wish them the best, but at more than twice the price of the original Polaroid, no Medium Format Film being made, or LF, and Fuji still making perfectly-good Polaroid-type materials at a competitive price, this company is clearly not in touch with reality. . .

I tend to agree.

EASmithV · Mar 22, 2009

I dearly hope they succeed.

IloveTLRs · Mar 22, 2009

I've never really been a Polaroid user ... but I wish them the best of luck

I'm wondering when their film comes to market, how expensive it will be.

nickandre · Mar 23, 2009

It can't be much more expensive than polaroid is now. I remember the good ol' days in 2004 when it was $10 a pack! I just ordered a pack and stuck it in the fridge for a rainy day. I hope I'll never need it!

There are more polaroid cameras out there than blades of grass in my backyard. Without film there are now that many useless cameras.

Has anyone seen polaroid's new camera? It's a digital P&S with a thermal printer built in. It's not polaroid, but it sure is cool.

Ektagraphic · Mar 23, 2009

Yes I have seen it. My sister made the stupid mistake of buying one! The quality sucks!!! I won't buy one. I think it is neat, but I won't buy "Polaroid" ( I can't believe they have the nerve to slap this name of TV and other shit!!!) because I want them to realize that it was a mistake to get rid of their film. I know this won't really work though.....After the company was sold, it all went down hill. There is a former Polaroid plant 10 min from my house. I have only driven by it once as it is pretty far off of the main road. They converted the equipment to making "film thin" solar panels. I think that is a beautiful idea, but I would rather see film rolling out.............

nickandre · Mar 23, 2009

Oh. Oh well.

railwayman3 · Mar 24, 2009

IloveTLRs said:
I've never really been a Polaroid user ... but I wish them the best of luck

I'm wondering when their film comes to market, how expensive it will be.

I remember my Father using a "snapshot" Polaroid model in the 1960's, so, if only for nostalgia, I, too, wish them luck. The problems which I see are those of R&D within a reasonable time (and a year passes very quickly!), and then the very limited market...there are always passionate enthusiasts (me included) for unusual and old processes , but the price is still a limited factor for anyone. And I can't see Joe Public digging his (or his Dad's) old polaroid out of the attic now.

FilmIs4Ever · Mar 24, 2009

tiberiustibz said:
Has anyone seen polaroid's new camera? It's a digital P&S with a thermal printer built in. It's not polaroid, but it sure is cool.

Can it produce a print in 20 seconds? The whole point of Polaroid, with me, is to be friggin' fast, quick, and easy.

Sorry, keep forgetting that about 90% of people on this forum are burned-out IT guys who hate their jobs, not people that actually try to use this stuff on the professional level. . .

Ektagraphic · Mar 24, 2009

tiberiustibz said:
Oh. Oh well.

Sorry if I came off a little harsh. I just realled loved Polaroid. I know that I can still get Fuji, but it feels diffrent. My grandfather died of cancer when I was young and some of my fondest memories of him are when he would shoot pictures of me with his Polaroid. It is just one of those things that have been there all of my life and it is tough to see it go away.

FilmIs4Ever · Mar 24, 2009

Ektagraphic said:
Sorry if I came off a little harsh. I just realled loved Polaroid. I know that I can still get Fuji, but it feels diffrent. My grandfather died of cancer when I was young and some of my fondest memories of him are when he would shoot pictures of me with his Polaroid. It is just one of those things that have been there all of my life and it is tough to see it go away.

OK, so get a Fuji Instax or Instax Mini and keep shooting. You can gripe all you want about it not "really" being Polaroid, and there is a subtle difference between the 100- color films. But, frankly, the Fuji 3000 is better. . .

As for some of the consumer crap they were making. Good riddance.

Too bad though that Fuji doesn't make some of the Spectra stuff. Poor law enforcement guys still shooting Polaroids gotta buy all new cameras.

Michael W · May 25, 2009

An article about this project in today's New York Times. It seems that part of their problem is that the chemistry used to be made in the USA & then shipped to Europe to be included in the packs. So they have the assembling technology & have to work out the chemistry for themselves.

skyrick · May 26, 2009

NYT Polaroid article

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/technology/26polaroid.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Chazzy · May 26, 2009

Great article. I hope that they are successful!

David A. Goldfarb · May 26, 2009

I was going to post a new thread when I saw the article, and then I saw that there was already a post about it in an existing thread, so it was unnecessary.

Threads merged and both moved to the "Toy Cameras and Polaroid Cameras" forum from "Product Availability," since this looks like it's going to be an ongoing discussion.

athanasius80 · May 27, 2009

Fingers crossed.

Polaroid Impossible project; interview with the director and other media reports

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