I love the idea of Polaroid, but the thing is that you'd need a LOT of money to be able to continue using it. Personally, I want to get my hands on a Polaroid but as I compared the prices of film, I decided to get the Fujifilm Instax Mini instead, which is also additionally more portable and easier to get packs of films.
It's a great way to improve the quality of your photographs, since you naturally will evaluate more of what to and what not to shoot. Most people spray away with digital cameras simply because you can delete the files. It creates bad habits, because you automatically will care less and less about each capture simply because you rely so heavily on the fact you can delete any file you feel like. It's irrelevant how many captures you can create, because with photography you only got 1 frame to add in what you wish to express. Make it count. The most important time of any photograph is the time spent before the shutter is pressed.
@@Perception_ I find the 'instant-ness' of the instant camera both its novelty and its drawback. Being a photographer by trade, I'm trained to find or wait for the perfect shot, but I'm also inclined to take as much as I need as a lot of moments happen in just a split second, which is something that's hard to do with an instant camera. I find that I can only use it in certain scenarios, like when I purposefully take artistic photos or in highlights of special events. I'm still inclined to use my digital cameras because I can control all the aspects of it (SS, F-stop, etc) unlike most instant cameras where it's mostly automatic (so in some conditions you just hope for the best 🤞🏽).
@@lunalovegood30 If you did have the experience then you would know less is more, and would pratice it. That's what experience is. For most people a Polaroid camera is just a simple creative tool to goof around with, and not a main go to setup for business purposes. That's pretty self explanatory when you look at its functionality.
@@Perception_ yea, and that's what I use it for - only a supplement to my photography. Which is why I found the guy in the video who said 'digital is fad' ridiculous. I feel like he only said that to make himself edgy. Doing film doesn't make anyone better, the same way that using digital also doesn't.
Robert R Nah, even in terms of the debate vs film cameras and digital, many people like Tarantino still say things like “film is just better” despite the fact that digital can create the exact same look as film (including grain and all) and is just much less expensive and time consuming. Sentimentality towards a medium may keep it around and kicking for a while, but it certainly isn’t enough to keep it on top forever. Digital’s here to stay.
@@watsonxox7145 exactly, an example of a great film would be the original BenHur movie which was shot in the 1959, it still looks amazing. People moved to digital though because it's more efficient and less time consuming.
I was born in 2001, i didn't live the golden age of instant photos, but i loved the way some antique photos around my house had that feeling of value. I purchased a Polaroid Snap Touch for my birthday, I'm happy with it, is like having a hibrid. Its a shame that the company stopped the production of original cameras :(
i am twice your age and i did not either. I am a new grand father and realized when my grand son was born that most of my photos since the age of 14 have been digital.
@@PHlophe wow congratulations gradpa! Mmm so you are 40 approx... My dad is 60 hehe so his photos are not digital at all when he was a child; and the final thing, my whole family is from places that were far away from the capital city of Peru, and didn't have the access to them until 10 or 5 years later the popularity of that artifact in the USA.
@@lincheers8818 OMG thank a lots i'm 41 . Peru is actually on list of countries to visit, i don't want to be 60 and retired and then think of traveling . 2 of my colleagues are from a little town called PUerto maldonado, they'd gone to visit their family down and there i saw the pictures and its where i want to be. One in particular, her grand father is 104 years old. he beat the covit TWICE and he can still drive his own truck and unload bananas from it. i speak a bit of spanish but i understand 80% ish of the language. My dad was born in Argentina it helps a little.
For those who have developed their own photographs, the final statement of this documentary is true: it is magical to see the image appear out of what seems to be nothing. I first experienced this with Polaroid in the 80s and it primed the pump for my later experiences working in the darkroom. Digital is convenient, but like with great music, there is something much more authentic about analog and acoustic.
I also agree with your last statement. Imagine that with our phones, we all take countless digital photos and just hoard them and almost never look at each one, we know that those files are just going to be there if ever we need them. But with analog, there’s something about being limited to only a number of shots when taking a picture of a special moment and being able to hold it in your hands, placing it next to your bedside table or putting it in a physical album, that just make the whole experience more special.
I personally studied digital photography. Our professor was ADIMENT on learning how to shoot properly in camera, through the viewfinder, as if it were film and each image costs you. That really helped solidify thinking before taking photos, composing and exposing properly. Film & instant cameras can definitely help slow you down and help you learn the basics, for sure. I remember being a kid carrying around disposable cameras all the time before digital cameras became affordable, with a limit of like 30-50 photos LOL
Me looking at my 12 color printer that took me 30 hours to learn and close to 1000$ dollar in paper and ink in experimentation: You lied to me you are not special!😢
Electronic music, ironically, deffinitly agrees with you, with so many new and old analog synthesizers, effects, and ect showing up all the time. Heck my PC's audio runs threw a small hybrid Vacuum tube amp before it gets to my headphones just because I love how it sounds (and the switch to turn it on has a deeply satisfying "clunk" so that's also a win)
I was fortunate to work at Polaroid. Dr. Land was a true visionary and a great man. The fall of Polaroid is directly linked to Gary DiCamillo, the last CEO when we filed chapter 11 and the company eventually sold to Bank One and the rest is history. Any Polaroid product seen today is basically sold under a license agreement.
I was lucky, dad worked for Polaroid in the 80s through the very 2000's. Much of my life is recorded on Polaroid film, mostly because we constantly got production samples and experimental formulations of film on a regular basis when dad worked at Norwood. My favorite film to work with was the 664 (B+W), with the 669 (color) pack film being a close second choice while using a Polaroid ProPack camera. The Fuji version that survived much longer than the original Polaroid versions were great, and in some cases, superior to the original version, but the experience was somehow not quite the same for me. My major photography regret is that I never got to use type 54 film or even the post-Polaroid revival attempt.
Try watching some old episodes of The Electric Company. Easy Reader is very young Morgan Freeman. "top to bottom, left to right / Read'n stuff is outta sight!"
He didn't envision the iPhone. Can we stop putting the iPhone on a pedestal? He envisioned the digital camera and camera phones that predated the iPhone by 10 to 15 years.
And not only that, in my design classes (I'm studying industrial design) my teacher and other professors of my career have the thought that Apple took "inspiration" for their electronic devices of other designers, like Braun, an example of this is is Braun's Radio and the Ipod or Braun's lei speaker and the Apple Mac. My opinion here is, not only the iphone shouldn't ve on a pedestal, the whole apple company, the one who is creating a toxic habit of selling stealth ideas.
I'm also tired of so and so "envisioning ____ before there was a _____". Everybody had dreams of a portable whatever. Thinking of an idea is a very small part of inventing/implementing it.
The comparison to iPhone is probably because like most US people, is ignorant of Nokia (who's engineers basically invented the GSM standard) and their various camera feature-phones dating back to the late 1990's. Because of the balkanised nature of US cellphone networks, Nokia never bothered with doing distribution deals with hundreds of little cellphone telcos, that it would have taken to get a decent foothold in the USA. For the rest of The World, Nokia was king (at least until that Microsoft mole Stephen Elop became CEO and screwed up the company by forcing Windows Mobile onto Nokia phones).
Fujifilm's Instax had a lot of the Millennials grasped with their marketing. Having an instax was considered hip and cool in an age full of DSLRs and smartphone cameras. They partnered with different companies like Disney and Sanrio, even had Minions to make special edition sets. They made films with designs on the frames. They keep on trying to stay relevant with the times and it actually keeps them in the game. I think that's what Polaroid failed to do. Similar to how nokia and blueberry fell on the onset of the smartphone era. Proper Marketing and reinvention.
Polaroid had a great feel and aesthetic and I still love looking at them today. But it wasn't just Kodak they litigated against. They had the patents so tied up that no-one else could get a foot in the door. We used to have to use 5'x4' polaroid backs in work and the costs were a nightmare. We breathed a sigh of relief when the digital age took off
"Digital is a fad" LMAO nope! By all mean i am glad they've saved Polaroid, but digital is here to stay, to only thing that will change are medium that holds digital contents, higher capacity per dollar, speed and longevities.
@@keithh.2624 ther o could be the worst nuclear war imaginable and as long as there are human electricity as a thing Is not going any where. fancy tech maybe but you can make batteries by hand. and the primary way of generating electricity is still the dynamo that is 190 years old. for how to use the dynamo steam boilers are also still used in nuclear,coal,gas plants and are really old
I absolutely love my SX-70, and i rarely leave home without it if I'm heading out for anything else than a quick shopping trip. There's just something heart-warming and intimate about having an actual photo album rather than some random post on Facebook.
I revived my grandfather's Polaroid Impulse AF with the new film offers. After getting pictures from it a co-worker bought his own used Polaroid for parties. We both use them alongside our extended DSLM equipment because they're just so much fun and people love the Polaroid pictures. Also Polaroids or Fuji Instax became a well received wedding gift so far :-)
I really want to thank everyone at Impossible Project for keeping instant film alive in our modern age. I really can't imagine a world where we can't get to experience the magic of having a physical photo come out of an object and you get to slowly wait for your picture to be revealed. It is very cool and fun.
Unlike digital cameras ...you have limited shots with a Polaroid...each shot costs a certain amount...so one tends to capture a moment only when its special...and having a tangible copy adds to the charm...I just bought one for my sister n she loved it
Agreed. I hate that the film costs so much, but on the other hand, I kinda like having to be more "perfect" in taking a photo rather than just haphazardly taking a bunch of them that I can delete.
There are practical reasons for instabt film. Mostly for the same reasons photobooths still exist. Sometimes you just want a physical photograph quick.
I still have my ‘89 Polaroid. My grandma got it for my birthday. It’s in the attic but now I’m going to get it out and use so I can pin all the photos on a wall in my living room.
He never mentioned one hour processing - it may have contributed to Pola's demise. You could drop off a roll of film at the convenient drive thru kiosk, do your shopping, and pick the pictures up on the way home. Beautiful 4x6 prints, not the semi sharp, thick, square pics that came from Pola at a very high cost. Yes Polaroids are great for family photos and portraits, but try to capture a scenic landscape or a beautiful flower with one, and you'll run for 35mm (digital or film) . . . Oh btw, I can take my memory card to Fuji Digital Services and get prints in an hour, or huge 20x30 enlargements in 8 hrs (at less than $10 each). Those 20x30s look so great up on the wall, you'll feel like an artist (we all are artists in fact, just gotta express it). Also btw, Polaroids are great, they're just a niche product.
Yep. Just some absurd hipster nonsense. And tbf, the guy is either an idiot or knows he's full of nonsense too. Digital is not going to be replaced by older technology.
My father used the SX-70 in his business. Polaroid had decades to get it right, but they just ate off their huge market share in the instant picture market. They never, ever, conquered the price of film (as if they tried) and never, ever, made a decent photo. At least with Kodak, in a Nikon camera (for instance) could produce an extraordinary picture in the right hands...
It's like the modern "buy cheap instant printer, but pay out the wazoo for the ink" thing. Make money on the supplies. Which in theory sounds good, but they could have made the film a LOT cheaper and would have helped them stay in business longer. Instead of 60% markup, 25% would have been fine.
The idea of a Polaroid has always been on my mind, I finally managed to get my hands on one that I genuinely loved (supercolor 635cl) and even though the film is a little expensive every shot for me is worth it, I love the look, the fact that I can hold it, and the iconic white border. I’ve seen and have used instax but it just doesn’t feel the same to me :(
I think today polaroid has become popular again because the images are not altered. The assumption is that all images are altered at some level, but polaroid prints out the world as it is.
As a kid, the Polaroid Land camera was advertised extensively on television. I loved the idea that you could have your photo right away! I was also a huge fan of Jacques Cousteau, and endlessly admired his features about marine animals. What I REALLY wanted, though, was the Polaroid SEA camera! Did I mention I was a little? If there's a Land camera . . . Later, I had a Polaroid camera for Xmas. I loved it, but my paltry allowance wouldn't buy much film. I tried the earlier Impossible film, and it was pretty bad, but if the quality is better now, I'd like to give it another whirl.
well, Impossible Project instant films are still way more expensive than regular 35mm color films in my country. Even Polaroid cameras and films still considered as a luxury stuff since the 80s
I remember when I got a Polaroid from my father when I was a kid (around the mid 90's). I really loved the concept and thought it was pretty fun. However the film was so expensive that my father told me not to photograph every dog turd I find in the park because he won't buy me more. :D Of course the digital era came and I got a digital camera around 10 years later. Even though I wasn't interested in photographing turds any more I was able to make as many pictures as I wanted and it didn't cost us a penny. Another few years passed and smartphones became a common thing. Basically free digital pictures flooded the internet/social media (and our phone's storage). Polaroid slowly became obsolete. It was revolutionary once, but digital technology reigned supreme...
I remember when we had our first Palaroid camera and it could have only 10 photos per 1 cartridge. I am not sure how many years ago it was, definitely more than 20 :) It was so fun and fancy to have it. Who else had it?
My dad had, now I do, where you had to pull the photo out of the camera, peal it, and wait. Wonder if I can get film. Be cool to shoot the next time I'm over at my sister's.
I’d love to have a Polaroid if I could afford it. I’ve purchased a cheap instant camera recently and really love it. There is something special about registering moments with it.
Last week I took a lot of photos with my Polaroid OneStep+ during a school trip and everyone was so amazed by the camera. It’s just so fun to take pictures you can’t delete.
Humans inherently display attention deficit when it comes to things that are readily available and too plentiful. To elucidate, i remember growing up in the 80's looking through photo albums filled with film prints every once in a while and treasured every single photograph in it. Now with all the latest smartphone, digital cameras (DSLR and mirrorless DSLR), i can hardly go through the photographs, no matter how meaningful, due to the sheer volume of images to sort through. I miss having less and valuing it all the more for it.
Wow that's something to think about..for some reason I took this indepth in a philosophical standpoint and I can see lots of lessons and ideas up for grabs..
I know, right?!! I think about the same thing.. I wanna print the digital photos but too lazy to pick the best pictures. I miss those times where only limited number of pictures I could take.
The difference between instant imaging today and 30+ years ago is that Polaroid (or Fuji Instax) is not basically "the only game in town", today it's a choice and some people like analogue photography.
Problem is not the Polaroids itself. Love having it, don't mind paying for the film neither. The image has more value and feel to it but I don't know what to do with the image. Most of the time just sitting someone and being forgotten but those forgotten image are paid from my pocket.
Love Polaroid! One of the many cameras that founded my love for photography. The SX70 is still such a miraculous piece of tech. People can’t believe it was made in the 70’s. I also remember being one of the first pioneers for the Impossible Project. Spent so much money on film that barely developed and then overtime it faded too lol damn I still love it though despite its imperfections.
The only way Polaroid is gonna make a comeback is if they make cameras that store photos, but also let you view them before printing. That is the only edge digital has over the polaroid because you can view it. But also people sometimes didn't want instant photos, but selective processes.
Re: "Digital is a fad" - Obviously this is likely not the case, but I can instantly see at least couple of scenarios where perhaps Digital photo viability and sharing our lives online becomes more seriously problematic: 1. There's no such thing as anonymity on the Internet. Currently most of us can live out our digitally connected lives freely but were a totalitarian government or time of war to arise, this freedom (past & present) could easily be used against us. This could be seen with the recent rise of the Taliban, who are now using data collection technology once used by the Americans to perform background checks on the populace to now hunt down and kill people who sided with the Americans or their values. People in the general Afghan public are desperately trying to delete their Internet data histories but they are now up against military grade software. Were everything you had used software-wise suddenly used against you, would you have any much idea on how to delete everything down to the bone? Do you really think VPN technology offers true anonymity? Etc. Everything is hackable and this is why even in the 21st century, the Russian secret services still use old fashioned type writers and non-digital cameras to perform their work. But whereas they do it to elude detection in their illicit activities, were the vibe & freedoms of society to significantly change for us, we may have to adapt to a similar environment (reverting back to old technologies for only they are truly safe/anonymous). 2. Many people say that they loved using Polaroid cameras but the cost of the film was a significant expense & downfall. As it currently stands, it costs virtually nothing (if anything at all) to take and store endless Digital photos. And data storage has significant (and often hidden) environmental impacts because of the massive energy consumption of storing the trillions of files etc that we do online. At the moment, we aren't being charged much for this, but as the energy costs and environmental impacts of data storage continue to boom, in the future these costs may have to translated more direct to us in the form of taxes and charges. And were you to re-enter a world where you started being charged for "Digital Film", where would that leave you as a consumer in terms of feeling the benefits of digital over instant film? Right now we still live in a world where Digital comes free and few people are that clued up on things like data accessibility, dangers and environmental costs. But I could see all of this being set to change a lot over the next couple of decades and with that, possibly a new dawn in society for old technologies which can't be digitally accessed and hacked.
"I think digital is kind of a fad" LP record owners: "I think the cassette is kind of a fad" Manual car drivers: "I think automatic transmission is kind of a fad"
Honestly I think a lot of the nostalgia people get from looking at film images is more down to the optics than the medium, and especially since a lot of people mainly see images taken on smartphones with very small sensors. If you stick a nice vintage lens with a lot of character on a digital camera with a larger sensor and then get it printed, it's going to have more of that aesthetic. Even just sticking an old Helios 44-2 on my Canon M50, the resulting images look an awful lot like they might be decades old
It gets so expensive to keep using those, inconvenient to carry around, and I can take many more photos on my phone and have them printed later into "polaroids" for a fraction of the price..
Great story. I wanted one growing up but I couldn't afford... It was an impossible dream for a little boy growing up in the dusty streets of South Africa, but I remained really fascinated by the technology throughout the years.
I have a Fuji Insta and my son loves it. I love it. I have hundreds of pictures cause it is just an amazing feeling. My son loves seeing it come out and then we wait for the picture and we just laugh. Sometimes they are amazing sometimes they are moved but it is the experience that makes it amazing. And I wanted the Polaroid but they cost a lot that is why I have just kept my Fuji for now.
I have a Polaroid 600 (restored original) that takes pictures relatively well. I like it just as a cool camera. If I want to take serious photos I’ll go to something else. Out of all the instant camera makers, like FujiFilm and Kodak, Polaroid is still the most well known.
Excuse me , these cameras still sell and at very high prices. I love my instax mini 11, I had the 7th model too. I also had another Polaroid that costed $100 and the film was more expensive than the instax mini 11 film. They're not cheap. People still collect the old ones since they're not made anymore. If they were slightly more accessible they'd still be more popular.
Page 1 of 2. Polaroid was a very important film for commercial, product, portrait or fashion photography. It was the golden proofing method for either exposure, ligthing or composition. Aftermarket companies like NPC made Polaroid film backs and holders in 35mm, Medium format and large format. The backs and holders fitted perfectly in back door or glass plate of your camera. The proofs were so popular and iconic that a few times I paid models or hair/makeup artists with proofs and they were more than happy to have them. The Polaroid Land 185 or 180 with glass lens, manual exposure and Copal shutter were the cameras to have in a professional studio. The film was peel-apart Series 100, yielding a larger and sharper picture. The 185 also became a tool for cinematographers. (Stanley Kubrick used Polaroids for lighting and composition). It also could sync in X with Norman and Speedtron strobes.📷🎥
I saw somewhere that not alot of people have physical photos anymore and as someone that loves photo albums, I'll always like things like polaroids and getting photos developed. Probably gonna get a fujifilm sometime in the future.
One product the documentary did not cover was the Polaroid i-zone camera of the early 2000s. It didn’t last long and film was expensive, however it was still fun ti use. The camera took tiny pictures and had an option of having film that had sticky backings.
The original Polaroid Land camera, the one that you had to wait a couple of minutes before peeling the developer off, took very high quality pictures. Then Polaroid came out with the Polaroid SX-70 and it was a piece of crap. If the temperature was too cold they didn't develop right. If the temperature was too hot they didn't develop right. If the temperature was just right they were still crappy pictures. Years after the advent of the SX-70 Polaroid still had not improved the picture quality. Additionally the format of the original land camera was a typical 3 X 5 print of normal thickness while the SX-70 was a smaller square photo that was too thick to fit into photo albums well. My folks used their Land camera until it became impossible to find film for it...keep in mind that was long before the internet days. We never upgraded to the SX-70, the quality was just too poor to justify the price of the film. I ended up buying a SLR camera and waiting the two days for the prints to come back to the local Fotomat. Of course, these days that's turned into a digital SLR and everything is posted to the web, sent email or texted.
While operating my portrait studio from '78 to '95, I had an instant passport camera made by Polaroid using Type 669 film or whatever that pack film was called. Still have the Polaroid back for my Hasselblads for taking test shots and had an SX-70 just for the fun of it. Got suckered into shooting a few rolls of Polaroid's crappy B&W 35mm film. Had that Polaroid-like hand cranked developer thingie that Kodak made and got sued over. Today I have an Instax Wide 300 which I use for family and fun photos. My favorite Polaroid story involves my dad. He got one of the early models where the print develops in the camera - you then open the back and peel it off and coat it with that awful smelling goop. It's Christmas morning and he's going to try it for the first time. Got the Wink light on the camera - takes a picture - reads the directions to give the tab a firm pull - he yanks on it and the whole roll comes out.
I grew up with the Kodak Instamatic X-15 in the 1970s and a Polaroid in the 1980s. Despite the existence of film for the former and the cost of film for the latter, I finally broke down and bought them again this week. Like the shopkeep in the video says, there is just something so satisfying about analog.
It's always interesting to see a giant like Polaroid be at deaths door, only to make a surprise comeback. Kudos to the folks at Films not Dead for bringing Polaroid back.
@@35mm21 Really? I wasn't aware of that. I donated my 35mm Minoltas and that was a mistake if what you said is true. Kodachrome 25 and 64 may never be equaled especially when scaned in super high definition.
Remember when Apple fired Steve Jobs? Had he not came back to the company for a second run, we wouldn't be living in the iPhone era today, and Apple would be history. Polaroid is essentially that company that Apple could have become, after 40 years of excellence they forced out Edwin Land for a single mistake with Polavision, and then the businesspeople who took over with barely any insight to the actual engineering could only keep the company afloat for the next 20 years, they couldn't keep it growing. It wasn't digital that killed Polaroid, it was the preceding decades of zero innovation. Spectra, one of the staples of that era, was an amazing camera system, but it was just a perfect execution of Polaroid's preceding inventions, not a new one on its own, which is what the company would have needed to stay alive.
I think Apple without the iPhone or the other non computer/laptop/tablet related products could have survived but just won’t be as big or profitable as they are today.
@@johnl.7754 There is nothing original with iPhone. Only thing it did was good UI and marketing. As mobile networks improved we would have still gotten something.
When I was 7 in 1997, my Grandfather got me my Polaroid camera for Christmas. I still have it & love it very much. My Grandfather passed away nearly 3 months ago unfortunately.
taylor swift released 1989 in 2014 and the album’s aesthetic is the late 80s so she used a Polaroid for the album photoshoots. this made the instant camera become popular again. Polaroid Corporation chief executive Scott Hardy reported that the 1989 Polaroid concept propelled a revival in instant film, especially among the hipster subculture who valued the "nostalgia and retro element of what [their] company stands for".
What makes the sx70 the Cadillac of instant cameras is not the fact that it folds up, but that it is an slr camera, solving the biggest issues most consumers have with taking good Polaroid photographs, the framing of your subject.
Digital photos just can't replicate the feeling of holding a piece of the past in your hands. I still want an instant camera so bad because now I can't find anywhere that print outs photos anymore :/
I used to have a swinger! Got it for 5$ at a thrift store. Shame the film isnt made anymore, as with other films I have for my other polaroid cameras. I still keep them for nostalgic sake, but I would love to use them
The invention of Polaroid cameras was millions of times more groundbreaking than the iPhone! Polaroid was truly one of a kind, paving the way for instant photography while iPhone is popular because of the brand, not thanks to the technology itself as there have always been many competitors who offer phones with the exact same or higher level of functionality
At the end of the day no matter what brand produces it, it’ll always be called a Polaroid picture. Same with bandaids and chapsticks. There’s just no other name 🤷♀️
Polaroids have been making a come back on the west coast especially in Seattle. If you walk into a coffee shop or downtown you’ll see somebody with a Polaroid camera. Since it doubles as both a camera and a fashion statement.
I found a Onestep Land Camera Sears Edition at my local flea market for $5 with its original leather bag! I love it, but it uses SX-70 film, which is honestly expensive.
I have a very nice Canon T5, but I shoot the old "A" and "T" and film EOS cameras. Back in 85 I coveted, I can remember which, Nikon, but somehow I became hooked on Canon. I now own better film cameras that I only have dreamed of back then.
Comparing those shots to smartphones, limited photo but really captures all the complete story of the picture. Smartphones can captures all your moments wherever you go but never in mind watching those photos. rather than just piling in your phone memory and nothing more.
Digital cameras are cheap and really good. I am pretty sure most middle to low class family doesn't have money to burn for analogue experience. I thank polaroid for its contribution for camera development. My phone's camera works just fine (pun intended 😉)
I love the idea of Polaroid, but the thing is that you'd need a LOT of money to be able to continue using it. Personally, I want to get my hands on a Polaroid but as I compared the prices of film, I decided to get the Fujifilm Instax Mini instead, which is also additionally more portable and easier to get packs of films.
It's a great way to improve the quality of your photographs, since you naturally will evaluate more of what to and what not to shoot. Most people spray away with digital cameras simply because you can delete the files. It creates bad habits, because you automatically will care less and less about each capture simply because you rely so heavily on the fact you can delete any file you feel like.
It's irrelevant how many captures you can create, because with photography you only got 1 frame to add in what you wish to express. Make it count. The most important time of any photograph is the time spent before the shutter is pressed.
@@Perception_ I find the 'instant-ness' of the instant camera both its novelty and its drawback. Being a photographer by trade, I'm trained to find or wait for the perfect shot, but I'm also inclined to take as much as I need as a lot of moments happen in just a split second, which is something that's hard to do with an instant camera. I find that I can only use it in certain scenarios, like when I purposefully take artistic photos or in highlights of special events. I'm still inclined to use my digital cameras because I can control all the aspects of it (SS, F-stop, etc) unlike most instant cameras where it's mostly automatic (so in some conditions you just hope for the best 🤞🏽).
@@lunalovegood30 If you did have the experience then you would know less is more, and would pratice it. That's what experience is.
For most people a Polaroid camera is just a simple creative tool to goof around with, and not a main go to setup for business purposes. That's pretty self explanatory when you look at its functionality.
@@Perception_ yea, and that's what I use it for - only a supplement to my photography. Which is why I found the guy in the video who said 'digital is fad' ridiculous. I feel like he only said that to make himself edgy. Doing film doesn't make anyone better, the same way that using digital also doesn't.
Exactly. If it was less expensive I would've used it as much as digital ; same for color analog
I always thought that all instant photos were called a polaroid, didn’t know it was actually the brand’s name
Just like band-aid and chap stick
kleenex too. that's how you know you have an iconic brand.
Porsche... It's not a car 😏🤣
Q-Tips
Escalator as well..
Polaroid is still so ubiquitous with instant-photography, that many Zoomers will call any instant film a "Polaroid."
What is a zoomer?
@@Nutty... i think he meant "boomers"
@@tommylodhia7480 what is a boomer? Is it a boomerang?
@@Nutty... zoomer means a member of gen z. Boomer means baby boomer. Two different generations using “Polaroids”
Ikr, they all have instax and keep calling em polas or polaroids kinda sad that fujifilm overtook polaroid
I just took like 8-10 Polaroids Last weekend still love it
idk what to say
Lol cringe.
I love polaroid
Same! Took a trip to Miami with my Polaroid this weekend. Took 16 photos total!
@@mishumishu8813 you must love alot
"I think digital is a fad", yeah i am pretty sure that's what horsecart driver thought of car as well
The internet is just a fad
@@bobr9207 ur watching this video from the internet :-|
It’s incredible you can’t grasp the difference between technology and aesthetics. 🤦♂️
Robert R Nah, even in terms of the debate vs film cameras and digital, many people like Tarantino still say things like “film is just better” despite the fact that digital can create the exact same look as film (including grain and all) and is just much less expensive and time consuming. Sentimentality towards a medium may keep it around and kicking for a while, but it certainly isn’t enough to keep it on top forever. Digital’s here to stay.
@@watsonxox7145 exactly, an example of a great film would be the original BenHur movie which was shot in the 1959, it still looks amazing. People moved to digital though because it's more efficient and less time consuming.
I was born in 2001, i didn't live the golden age of instant photos, but i loved the way some antique photos around my house had that feeling of value. I purchased a Polaroid Snap Touch for my birthday, I'm happy with it, is like having a hibrid. Its a shame that the company stopped the production of original cameras :(
They still make instant film cameras. Take a look at their website
i am twice your age and i did not either. I am a new grand father and realized when my grand son was born that most of my photos since the age of 14 have been digital.
@@jordenconrad8827 Hehe thanks, that day i realize that, still is not so cheap for me, so someone must keep working 😅
@@PHlophe wow congratulations gradpa! Mmm so you are 40 approx... My dad is 60 hehe so his photos are not digital at all when he was a child; and the final thing, my whole family is from places that were far away from the capital city of Peru, and didn't have the access to them until 10 or 5 years later the popularity of that artifact in the USA.
@@lincheers8818 OMG thank a lots i'm 41 . Peru is actually on list of countries to visit, i don't want to be 60 and retired and then think of traveling . 2 of my colleagues are from a little town called PUerto maldonado, they'd gone to visit their family down and there i saw the pictures and its where i want to be. One in particular, her grand father is 104 years old. he beat the covit TWICE and he can still drive his own truck and unload bananas from it. i speak a bit of spanish but i understand 80% ish of the language. My dad was born in Argentina it helps a little.
For those who have developed their own photographs, the final statement of this documentary is true: it is magical to see the image appear out of what seems to be nothing. I first experienced this with Polaroid in the 80s and it primed the pump for my later experiences working in the darkroom. Digital is convenient, but like with great music, there is something much more authentic about analog and acoustic.
I also agree with your last statement. Imagine that with our phones, we all take countless digital photos and just hoard them and almost never look at each one, we know that those files are just going to be there if ever we need them. But with analog, there’s something about being limited to only a number of shots when taking a picture of a special moment and being able to hold it in your hands, placing it next to your bedside table or putting it in a physical album, that just make the whole experience more special.
I personally studied digital photography. Our professor was ADIMENT on learning how to shoot properly in camera, through the viewfinder, as if it were film and each image costs you. That really helped solidify thinking before taking photos, composing and exposing properly. Film & instant cameras can definitely help slow you down and help you learn the basics, for sure. I remember being a kid carrying around disposable cameras all the time before digital cameras became affordable, with a limit of like 30-50 photos LOL
Me looking at my 12 color printer that took me 30 hours to learn and close to 1000$ dollar in paper and ink in experimentation: You lied to me you are not special!😢
Electronic music, ironically, deffinitly agrees with you, with so many new and old analog synthesizers, effects, and ect showing up all the time.
Heck my PC's audio runs threw a small hybrid Vacuum tube amp before it gets to my headphones just because I love how it sounds (and the switch to turn it on has a deeply satisfying "clunk" so that's also a win)
Unless you can't tell whether what you're listening to is analog or digital. You're demonstrating confirmation bias.
I was fortunate to work at Polaroid. Dr. Land was a true visionary and a great man. The fall of Polaroid is directly linked to Gary DiCamillo, the last CEO when we filed chapter 11 and the company eventually sold to Bank One and the rest is history. Any Polaroid product seen today is basically sold under a license agreement.
Anything sold under the name of Polaroid is of terrible quality.
What did the last CEO do wrong that caused the fall of Polaroid?
I was lucky, dad worked for Polaroid in the 80s through the very 2000's. Much of my life is recorded on Polaroid film, mostly because we constantly got production samples and experimental formulations of film on a regular basis when dad worked at Norwood. My favorite film to work with was the 664 (B+W), with the 669 (color) pack film being a close second choice while using a Polaroid ProPack camera. The Fuji version that survived much longer than the original Polaroid versions were great, and in some cases, superior to the original version, but the experience was somehow not quite the same for me.
My major photography regret is that I never got to use type 54 film or even the post-Polaroid revival attempt.
nobody cares ! 🤷♂
@@sanimsyed6262 if you didnt care you wouldnt have commented saying that, so you do care mr weak man
@@sanimsyed6262 i do
my pro pack camera whit fuji fp 100c peel apart film take best instant pictures possible,but unfortunately film is discontinued
That’s the youngest looking Morgan Freeman I’ve ever seen!
And at :20 the voice over is Gene Wilder.
Try watching some old episodes of The Electric Company. Easy Reader is very young Morgan Freeman.
"top to bottom, left to right / Read'n stuff is outta sight!"
He was on Sesame Street.
I don’t think Polaroids should die out at all. It’s so cool that you can immediately print a photo you just took.
He didn't envision the iPhone. Can we stop putting the iPhone on a pedestal? He envisioned the digital camera and camera phones that predated the iPhone by 10 to 15 years.
And not only that, in my design classes (I'm studying industrial design) my teacher and other professors of my career have the thought that Apple took "inspiration" for their electronic devices of other designers, like Braun, an example of this is is Braun's Radio and the Ipod or Braun's lei speaker and the Apple Mac.
My opinion here is, not only the iphone shouldn't ve on a pedestal, the whole apple company, the one who is creating a toxic habit of selling stealth ideas.
iphones stand on the shoulders of giants. Apple users need to accept they are often buying repackaged features.
What can you expect from a polaroid enthusiast? He himself puts "polaroid" brand in a pedestal.
I'm also tired of so and so "envisioning ____ before there was a _____". Everybody had dreams of a portable whatever. Thinking of an idea is a very small part of inventing/implementing it.
The comparison to iPhone is probably because like most US people, is ignorant of Nokia (who's engineers basically invented the GSM standard) and their various camera feature-phones dating back to the late 1990's.
Because of the balkanised nature of US cellphone networks, Nokia never bothered with doing distribution deals with hundreds of little cellphone telcos, that it would have taken to get a decent foothold in the USA. For the rest of The World, Nokia was king (at least until that Microsoft mole Stephen Elop became CEO and screwed up the company by forcing Windows Mobile onto Nokia phones).
Fujifilm's Instax had a lot of the Millennials grasped with their marketing. Having an instax was considered hip and cool in an age full of DSLRs and smartphone cameras. They partnered with different companies like Disney and Sanrio, even had Minions to make special edition sets. They made films with designs on the frames. They keep on trying to stay relevant with the times and it actually keeps them in the game. I think that's what Polaroid failed to do. Similar to how nokia and blueberry fell on the onset of the smartphone era. Proper Marketing and reinvention.
Polaroid had a great feel and aesthetic and I still love looking at them today. But it wasn't just Kodak they litigated against. They had the patents so tied up that no-one else could get a foot in the door. We used to have to use 5'x4' polaroid backs in work and the costs were a nightmare. We breathed a sigh of relief when the digital age took off
"Digital is a fad" LMAO nope! By all mean i am glad they've saved Polaroid, but digital is here to stay, to only thing that will change are medium that holds digital contents, higher capacity per dollar, speed and longevities.
Digital is not here to stay, no more then electricity. Sharpen your carving tools fellow future stone agers🤗🤗🤗
@@keithh.2624 ther o could be the worst nuclear war imaginable and as long as there are human electricity as a thing Is not going any where. fancy tech maybe but you can make batteries by hand. and the primary way of generating electricity is still the dynamo that is 190 years old. for how to use the dynamo steam boilers are also still used in nuclear,coal,gas plants and are really old
@Richelle Noble-Taitua Jesus….
My girlfriend loves Polaroids, I got her like 2 or 3 over the last few years. I like them too but what I don’t like is the expensive ass film lol
Lucky girlfriend
@@DiscentG More like I’m the lucky boyfriend haha
@A H Thats what I do a few times a year. We’ve just passed our 3rd year anniversary a couple months ago
@A H Hahahaha
yeah 20$ for a 8 sheets is scam , that why i am more into fujifilm
I don't know if it's just me but I feel like there's something nostalgic and special with Polaroid photos that digital images don't have.
Yeah, it's like the quality and lighting gives it the old fashioned style sort of
I absolutely love my SX-70, and i rarely leave home without it if I'm heading out for anything else than a quick shopping trip. There's just something heart-warming and intimate about having an actual photo album rather than some random post on Facebook.
true theres something heartwarming about an actual physical photo then one in a gallery.
I revived my grandfather's Polaroid Impulse AF with the new film offers. After getting pictures from it a co-worker bought his own used Polaroid for parties. We both use them alongside our extended DSLM equipment because they're just so much fun and people love the Polaroid pictures. Also Polaroids or Fuji Instax became a well received wedding gift so far :-)
I really want to thank everyone at Impossible Project for keeping instant film alive in our modern age. I really can't imagine a world where we can't get to experience the magic of having a physical photo come out of an object and you get to slowly wait for your picture to be revealed. It is very cool and fun.
3:15 "A camera that would be like the telephone and something that you would use all day long"
Seems like this man was ahead of his time
Unlike digital cameras ...you have limited shots with a Polaroid...each shot costs a certain amount...so one tends to capture a moment only when its special...and having a tangible copy adds to the charm...I just bought one for my sister n she loved it
Agreed. I hate that the film costs so much, but on the other hand, I kinda like having to be more "perfect" in taking a photo rather than just haphazardly taking a bunch of them that I can delete.
I mean the intro already explains why polaroid fell when digital cameras came to rise. Nostalgia is the reason to why it still exist today.
There are practical reasons for instabt film. Mostly for the same reasons photobooths still exist. Sometimes you just want a physical photograph quick.
I still have my ‘89 Polaroid. My grandma got it for my birthday. It’s in the attic but now I’m going to get it out and use so I can pin all the photos on a wall in my living room.
He never mentioned one hour processing - it may have contributed to Pola's demise. You could drop off a roll of film at the convenient drive thru kiosk, do your shopping, and pick the pictures up on the way home. Beautiful 4x6 prints, not the semi sharp, thick, square pics that came from Pola at a very high cost. Yes Polaroids are great for family photos and portraits, but try to capture a scenic landscape or a beautiful flower with one, and you'll run for 35mm (digital or film) . . .
Oh btw, I can take my memory card to Fuji Digital Services and get prints in an hour, or huge 20x30 enlargements in 8 hrs (at less than $10 each). Those 20x30s look so great up on the wall, you'll feel like an artist (we all are artists in fact, just gotta express it).
Also btw, Polaroids are great, they're just a niche product.
IDK, Kyle just sound so hipster. "Digital is a fad" just rubs me the wrong way
Yep. Just some absurd hipster nonsense. And tbf, the guy is either an idiot or knows he's full of nonsense too. Digital is not going to be replaced by older technology.
Guys leave him alone he's just quirky and kawai af. Someone should tell him that he's being recorded on a digital camera.
And then describes the wonders of learning how to use an instant film camera, while sounding like he could be speaking about a digital camera as well.
Everything he said was cringe. "take a quick picture...its like Instagram for the analog age"
Same. I was like "um no you dumbass"
My father used the SX-70 in his business. Polaroid had decades to get it right, but they just ate off their huge market share in the instant picture market. They never, ever, conquered the price of film (as if they tried) and never, ever, made a decent photo. At least with Kodak, in a Nikon camera (for instance) could produce an extraordinary picture in the right hands...
It's like the modern "buy cheap instant printer, but pay out the wazoo for the ink" thing. Make money on the supplies. Which in theory sounds good, but they could have made the film a LOT cheaper and would have helped them stay in business longer. Instead of 60% markup, 25% would have been fine.
The idea of a Polaroid has always been on my mind, I finally managed to get my hands on one that I genuinely loved (supercolor 635cl) and even though the film is a little expensive every shot for me is worth it, I love the look, the fact that I can hold it, and the iconic white border. I’ve seen and have used instax but it just doesn’t feel the same to me :(
the most impressive thing here is the video of young Morgan Freeman
Where
@@daoistsaintmasterofthenasc6220 3:30
You hear about the issue with the Antarctica team doping? It was a Polaroids scandal
Disgusting. Take my like.
This made me feel the annoyed. Take my like too.
There's the door, you degenerate punner! Dont let my like hit you when get out too!
" A young Morgan Freeman" LMAO
IKR!!! I only ever see him as an old guy in the movies
@@ExponentMars he looked old in this very add too
I’ve grown up watching Morgan Freeman
He was on the Electric Company that came on right after Sesame Street.
In my country we used to saw Polaroid's only in theme parks, beaches, special places. Photographer's used to took photos with them for money.
I think today polaroid has become popular again because the images are not altered. The assumption is that all images are altered at some level, but polaroid prints out the world as it is.
As a kid, the Polaroid Land camera was advertised extensively on television. I loved the idea that you could have your photo right away! I was also a huge fan of Jacques Cousteau, and endlessly admired his features about marine animals. What I REALLY wanted, though, was the Polaroid SEA camera! Did I mention I was a little? If there's a Land camera . . .
Later, I had a Polaroid camera for Xmas. I loved it, but my paltry allowance wouldn't buy much film. I tried the earlier Impossible film, and it was pretty bad, but if the quality is better now, I'd like to give it another whirl.
a sub water kit existed for reflex sx 70 cameras
well, Impossible Project instant films are still way more expensive than regular 35mm color films in my country. Even Polaroid cameras and films still considered as a luxury stuff since the 80s
I worked for years at Polaroids Norwood MA facility. It is still alive in me. Thank you for sharing a great time in history.
I am from Poland and I remember someone had one in the early 90s, I was so impressed as a kid! I never got on myself but I still love the idea
I remember when I got a Polaroid from my father when I was a kid (around the mid 90's). I really loved the concept and thought it was pretty fun. However the film was so expensive that my father told me not to photograph every dog turd I find in the park because he won't buy me more. :D Of course the digital era came and I got a digital camera around 10 years later. Even though I wasn't interested in photographing turds any more I was able to make as many pictures as I wanted and it didn't cost us a penny. Another few years passed and smartphones became a common thing. Basically free digital pictures flooded the internet/social media (and our phone's storage). Polaroid slowly became obsolete. It was revolutionary once, but digital technology reigned supreme...
I'd say take a photo of every dog turd you encounter and be the niche collector of crap.
I remember when we had our first Palaroid camera and it could have only 10 photos per 1 cartridge. I am not sure how many years ago it was, definitely more than 20 :) It was so fun and fancy to have it. Who else had it?
Now it's only 8 :(
My dad had, now I do, where you had to pull the photo out of the camera, peal it, and wait.
Wonder if I can get film. Be cool to shoot the next time I'm over at my sister's.
The Fuji film cartridges are only 10 photos as well.
@@okok72277 The Instax line still has 10 per cartridge.
"polaroid" is so iconic that it is considered a word replacing "instant film"
I’d love to have a Polaroid if I could afford it. I’ve purchased a cheap instant camera recently and really love it. There is something special about registering moments with it.
Ebay has a ton of cheap Polaroids, mostly sx70s or 600
Last week I took a lot of photos with my Polaroid OneStep+ during a school trip and everyone was so amazed by the camera. It’s just so fun to take pictures you can’t delete.
Humans inherently display attention deficit when it comes to things that are readily available and too plentiful. To elucidate, i remember growing up in the 80's looking through photo albums filled with film prints every once in a while and treasured every single photograph in it. Now with all the latest smartphone, digital cameras (DSLR and mirrorless DSLR), i can hardly go through the photographs, no matter how meaningful, due to the sheer volume of images to sort through. I miss having less and valuing it all the more for it.
Wow that's something to think about..for some reason I took this indepth in a philosophical standpoint and I can see lots of lessons and ideas up for grabs..
I know, right?!! I think about the same thing.. I wanna print the digital photos but too lazy to pick the best pictures. I miss those times where only limited number of pictures I could take.
The difference between instant imaging today and 30+ years ago is that Polaroid (or Fuji Instax) is not basically "the only game in town", today it's a choice and some people like analogue photography.
Hell of a lot easier, and quicker, to post to Facebook and Instagram with digital than analog.
Problem is not the Polaroids itself. Love having it, don't mind paying for the film neither. The image has more value and feel to it but I don't know what to do with the image. Most of the time just sitting someone and being forgotten but those forgotten image are paid from my pocket.
This was certified Big for Business ™
“Only 20 dollars. Or 175 dollars today” yeah that’s the same people who say I should be able to buy a house right now
It's funny how even huge companies sometimes fails to keep up with the novelties
Love Polaroid! One of the many cameras that founded my love for photography. The SX70 is still such a miraculous piece of tech. People can’t believe it was made in the 70’s. I also remember being one of the first pioneers for the Impossible Project. Spent so much money on film that barely developed and then overtime it faded too lol damn I still love it though despite its imperfections.
I love Polaroid.
I got my dads original old Polaroid, still works after 25 years, looks brand new.
The only way Polaroid is gonna make a comeback is if they make cameras that store photos, but also let you view them before printing.
That is the only edge digital has over the polaroid because you can view it. But also people sometimes didn't want instant photos, but selective processes.
Umm I’m sorry but I think I’ve seen you before I think you commented something about your dad how are you doing now ?:D
Re: "Digital is a fad"
- Obviously this is likely not the case, but I can instantly see at least couple of scenarios where perhaps Digital photo viability and sharing our lives online becomes more seriously problematic:
1. There's no such thing as anonymity on the Internet. Currently most of us can live out our digitally connected lives freely but were a totalitarian government or time of war to arise, this freedom (past & present) could easily be used against us. This could be seen with the recent rise of the Taliban, who are now using data collection technology once used by the Americans to perform background checks on the populace to now hunt down and kill people who sided with the Americans or their values. People in the general Afghan public are desperately trying to delete their Internet data histories but they are now up against military grade software.
Were everything you had used software-wise suddenly used against you, would you have any much idea on how to delete everything down to the bone? Do you really think VPN technology offers true anonymity? Etc.
Everything is hackable and this is why even in the 21st century, the Russian secret services still use old fashioned type writers and non-digital cameras to perform their work. But whereas they do it to elude detection in their illicit activities, were the vibe & freedoms of society to significantly change for us, we may have to adapt to a similar environment (reverting back to old technologies for only they are truly safe/anonymous).
2. Many people say that they loved using Polaroid cameras but the cost of the film was a significant expense & downfall. As it currently stands, it costs virtually nothing (if anything at all) to take and store endless Digital photos. And data storage has significant (and often hidden) environmental impacts because of the massive energy consumption of storing the trillions of files etc that we do online.
At the moment, we aren't being charged much for this, but as the energy costs and environmental impacts of data storage continue to boom, in the future these costs may have to translated more direct to us in the form of taxes and charges. And were you to re-enter a world where you started being charged for "Digital Film", where would that leave you as a consumer in terms of feeling the benefits of digital over instant film?
Right now we still live in a world where Digital comes free and few people are that clued up on things like data accessibility, dangers and environmental costs. But I could see all of this being set to change a lot over the next couple of decades and with that, possibly a new dawn in society for old technologies which can't be digitally accessed and hacked.
Try instant photo printer for mobile, it lets you choose which picture to print from your phone
@@Coram_D30 you have a good memory. My dad is doing better
@@AllenHanPR great to hear
"I think digital is kind of a fad"
LP record owners: "I think the cassette is kind of a fad"
Manual car drivers: "I think automatic transmission is kind of a fad"
Safety razor users: Cartridge razor are fad.
In the UK automatic transmission is still kind of a fad.
Honestly I think a lot of the nostalgia people get from looking at film images is more down to the optics than the medium, and especially since a lot of people mainly see images taken on smartphones with very small sensors. If you stick a nice vintage lens with a lot of character on a digital camera with a larger sensor and then get it printed, it's going to have more of that aesthetic.
Even just sticking an old Helios 44-2 on my Canon M50, the resulting images look an awful lot like they might be decades old
It gets so expensive to keep using those, inconvenient to carry around, and I can take many more photos on my phone and have them printed later into "polaroids" for a fraction of the price..
Great story. I wanted one growing up but I couldn't afford... It was an impossible dream for a little boy growing up in the dusty streets of South Africa, but I remained really fascinated by the technology throughout the years.
Archie , if you lived in Kwazu natal Durban or Keptown you would have been able to afford one.
I have a Fuji Insta and my son loves it. I love it. I have hundreds of pictures cause it is just an amazing feeling. My son loves seeing it come out and then we wait for the picture and we just laugh. Sometimes they are amazing sometimes they are moved but it is the experience that makes it amazing. And I wanted the Polaroid but they cost a lot that is why I have just kept my Fuji for now.
Business insider back with another banger🔥🔥
I've got 100s of Polaroid photos from my parents when I was growing up in the early 2000s
I have a Polaroid 600 (restored original) that takes pictures relatively well. I like it just as a cool camera. If I want to take serious photos I’ll go to something else. Out of all the instant camera makers, like FujiFilm and Kodak, Polaroid is still the most well known.
Excuse me , these cameras still sell and at very high prices. I love my instax mini 11, I had the 7th model too. I also had another Polaroid that costed $100 and the film was more expensive than the instax mini 11 film. They're not cheap. People still collect the old ones since they're not made anymore. If they were slightly more accessible they'd still be more popular.
Page 1 of 2.
Polaroid was a very important film for commercial, product, portrait or fashion photography. It was the golden proofing method for either exposure, ligthing or composition.
Aftermarket companies like NPC made Polaroid film backs and holders in 35mm, Medium format and large format. The backs and holders fitted perfectly in back door or glass plate of your camera.
The proofs were so popular and iconic that a few times I paid models or hair/makeup artists with proofs and they were more than happy to have them.
The Polaroid Land 185 or 180 with glass lens, manual exposure and Copal shutter were the cameras to have in a professional studio. The film was peel-apart Series 100, yielding a larger and sharper picture.
The 185 also became a tool for cinematographers. (Stanley Kubrick used Polaroids for lighting and composition). It also could sync in X with Norman and Speedtron strobes.📷🎥
I saw somewhere that not alot of people have physical photos anymore and as someone that loves photo albums, I'll always like things like polaroids and getting photos developed. Probably gonna get a fujifilm sometime in the future.
One product the documentary did not cover was the Polaroid i-zone camera of the early 2000s. It didn’t last long and film was expensive, however it was still fun ti use. The camera took tiny pictures and had an option of having film that had sticky backings.
The original Polaroid Land camera, the one that you had to wait a couple of minutes before peeling the developer off, took very high quality pictures. Then Polaroid came out with the Polaroid SX-70 and it was a piece of crap. If the temperature was too cold they didn't develop right. If the temperature was too hot they didn't develop right. If the temperature was just right they were still crappy pictures. Years after the advent of the SX-70 Polaroid still had not improved the picture quality. Additionally the format of the original land camera was a typical 3 X 5 print of normal thickness while the SX-70 was a smaller square photo that was too thick to fit into photo albums well. My folks used their Land camera until it became impossible to find film for it...keep in mind that was long before the internet days. We never upgraded to the SX-70, the quality was just too poor to justify the price of the film. I ended up buying a SLR camera and waiting the two days for the prints to come back to the local Fotomat. Of course, these days that's turned into a digital SLR and everything is posted to the web, sent email or texted.
2:18 i actually have one of those cameras, bought it at a yard sale, no idea if it works, but im glad i bought it since i love collecting old things
Considering instant film is now by far the most popular form of film photography, I'd think this should be the rise and fall and rise again....
Kyle is what A.I. comes up with when it thinks of a Polaroid user.
While operating my portrait studio from '78 to '95, I had an instant passport camera made by Polaroid using Type 669 film or whatever that pack film was called. Still have the Polaroid back for my Hasselblads for taking test shots and had an SX-70 just for the fun of it. Got suckered into shooting a few rolls of Polaroid's crappy B&W 35mm film. Had that Polaroid-like hand cranked developer thingie that Kodak made and got sued over.
Today I have an Instax Wide 300 which I use for family and fun photos.
My favorite Polaroid story involves my dad. He got one of the early models where the print develops in the camera - you then open the back and peel it off and coat it with that awful smelling goop.
It's Christmas morning and he's going to try it for the first time. Got the Wink light on the camera - takes a picture - reads the directions to give the tab a firm pull - he yanks on it and the whole roll comes out.
I grew up with the Kodak Instamatic X-15 in the 1970s and a Polaroid in the 1980s. Despite the existence of film for the former and the cost of film for the latter, I finally broke down and bought them again this week. Like the shopkeep in the video says, there is just something so satisfying about analog.
3:27 Morgan Freeman was young? I thought he was always an old man.
It's always interesting to see a giant like Polaroid be at deaths door, only to make a surprise comeback. Kudos to the folks at Films not Dead for bringing Polaroid back.
Damn I remember when they paid Andre’ 3000 to revamp their company with that song
They didn’t pay Outkast a dime for that lol
I started the photographic part of my carrier as an artist in the early 70s and never dreamed that Kodak would someday quit making film.
@@35mm21 Really? I wasn't aware of that.
I donated my 35mm Minoltas and that was a mistake if what you said is true.
Kodachrome 25 and 64 may never be equaled especially when scaned in super high definition.
Remember when Apple fired Steve Jobs? Had he not came back to the company for a second run, we wouldn't be living in the iPhone era today, and Apple would be history. Polaroid is essentially that company that Apple could have become, after 40 years of excellence they forced out Edwin Land for a single mistake with Polavision, and then the businesspeople who took over with barely any insight to the actual engineering could only keep the company afloat for the next 20 years, they couldn't keep it growing.
It wasn't digital that killed Polaroid, it was the preceding decades of zero innovation. Spectra, one of the staples of that era, was an amazing camera system, but it was just a perfect execution of Polaroid's preceding inventions, not a new one on its own, which is what the company would have needed to stay alive.
I think Apple without the iPhone or the other non computer/laptop/tablet related products could have survived but just won’t be as big or profitable as they are today.
@@johnl.7754 There is nothing original with iPhone. Only thing it did was good UI and marketing. As mobile networks improved we would have still gotten something.
@@johnl.7754 They probably could have, at least after a bankruptcy or two, but they would be just another HP or Dell.
Definitely as soon as you stop innovativing you start dying.
The importance of marketing amiright?
When I was 7 in 1997, my Grandfather got me my Polaroid camera for Christmas. I still have it & love it very much. My Grandfather passed away nearly 3 months ago unfortunately.
Something about instant cameras just gives much more satisfaction.
taylor swift released 1989 in 2014 and the album’s aesthetic is the late 80s so she used a Polaroid for the album photoshoots. this made the instant camera become popular again.
Polaroid Corporation chief executive Scott Hardy reported that the 1989 Polaroid concept propelled a revival in instant film, especially among the hipster subculture who valued the "nostalgia and retro element of what [their] company stands for".
It was already popular on Tumblr before that album
I made myself feel stupid when he said "it talks to you", I thought back then?! Then I realized they didn't mean literally.
you were an only Chile. Back then
@@PHlophe do what now?
@@PHlophe go home Lechiffresix, you're drunk.
We had a Polaroid when I was a kid. I still have this photo of me on a fishing trip covered in a net… good times.
I went fujifilm. I own an instax and use it for my family photo album (I also got the fujifilm xpro 3. It's a good brand over all 🤷♀️)
What makes the sx70 the Cadillac of instant cameras is not the fact that it folds up, but that it is an slr camera, solving the biggest issues most consumers have with taking good Polaroid photographs, the framing of your subject.
Love doing instant photography I will contribute the most I can to preserve this art form !
The SX-70 had a Sonar Autofocus system. This sonar system was eventually sold as a separate product for OEM applications of all kinds of equipment.
Digital photos just can't replicate the feeling of holding a piece of the past in your hands. I still want an instant camera so bad because now I can't find anywhere that print outs photos anymore :/
maybe try the fujifilm instax camera. they have a lot of varieties and their films is a lot more cheaper than polaroid.
there are so many places to print out digital prints everywhere
Pictures on polaroids look soo aesthetic and cute ! , It's nice to have a hardcopy of some pictures for coming back to old memories 😄,
Still can't believe that I finally got to see a young Morgan Freeman in this video for the first time.
Wish instant film for older polaroids would be produced again
Polaroid had a place in laboratories for a time. You could photograph the screen of an instrument and glue it in your lab book.
I used to have a swinger! Got it for 5$ at a thrift store. Shame the film isnt made anymore, as with other films I have for my other polaroid cameras. I still keep them for nostalgic sake, but I would love to use them
The invention of Polaroid cameras was millions of times more groundbreaking than the iPhone!
Polaroid was truly one of a kind, paving the way for instant photography while iPhone is popular because of the brand, not thanks to the technology itself as there have always been many competitors who offer phones with the exact same or higher level of functionality
iPhones are only groundbreaking in a cultural aspect, iPhones are famous and everywhere.
Wait till 1989 Taylor version for Polaroid sales to skyrocket again
At the end of the day no matter what brand produces it, it’ll always be called a Polaroid picture. Same with bandaids and chapsticks. There’s just no other name 🤷♀️
This will be in my dream list , One day I will buy one Polaroid camera
"What's very hip, very 1960's?"
"Uhhh.... swinging?"
"*WE'LL CALL IT 'THE SWINGER', GENIUS, PERFECT FOR TEENS*"
Right lol 😂
I still have my Polaroid and after over 30 years of sitting in storage she roared back to life again and still takes great pictures!
Polaroids have been making a come back on the west coast especially in Seattle. If you walk into a coffee shop or downtown you’ll see somebody with a Polaroid camera. Since it doubles as both a camera and a fashion statement.
I found a Onestep Land Camera Sears Edition at my local flea market for $5 with its original leather bag! I love it, but it uses SX-70 film, which is honestly expensive.
My mom still uses 35 mm disposables. She let's the digital collect dust.
I have a very nice Canon T5, but I shoot the old "A" and "T" and film EOS cameras. Back in 85 I coveted, I can remember which, Nikon, but somehow I became hooked on Canon. I now own better film cameras that I only have dreamed of back then.
Comparing those shots to smartphones, limited photo but really captures all the complete story of the picture. Smartphones can captures all your moments wherever you go but never in mind watching those photos. rather than just piling in your phone memory and nothing more.
Digital cameras are cheap and really good. I am pretty sure most middle to low class family doesn't have money to burn for analogue experience. I thank polaroid for its contribution for camera development. My phone's camera works just fine (pun intended 😉)
The pull-apart Polaroid film is still being used today by the fashion industry, it's like a niche secret