The Title: As an Era Ends, Celebrating the Polaroid
The First Paragraph: On Oct. 9, the last lot of Polaroid film will pass its "use by" date, and the era of instant Polaroid photography will officially be over, or at least for now.
The Unexpected Breaking News That Sort of Ruins An Otherwise Heartfelt Goodbye: Update | 12:51 p.m. After this post was written, Polaroid announced that they will resume production of instant cameras by the middle of 2010.
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polaroid is cool and all, but it's no kodachrome
I saw stacks of the stuff at a store in Hollywood the other week. It was one of your common or garden hipster clothes stores, Urban Outfitters I think. They've teamed up with another company and bought up manufacturing equipment from the last factory operating in Holland.
http://www.the-impossible-project.com
Polaroid hadn't been making most of its own film for the last few years. It was Fuji, re-branded. Most Americans don't know that Fuji made competing products that sold all over the world - except the USA. I learned this when visiting Florence in 2002, and was surprised by the stacks of Fuji instant cameras in a shop near the cathedral. Turns out Polaroid had an exclusive for America. I'll bet even money the "Polaroid" film you buy next year is once again re-branded Fuji (not that its a bad thing, they make great film).
I like Kodachrome.. it gives us those nice bright colours, the greens of summers, and it makes you think all the world's a sunny day.
Oh yeah.
Hey Anonymous, why don't you send me that 'even money'. Try reading Speckled Jim's link before you post. Fuji makes some instant products but the Impossible Project is on board to restart Polaroid integral film production and will now have Polaroid's brand too.
...I got a Nikon camera, I'd love to take your photograph, so mama don't take my kodachrome away.
:)
I remember my old Model 110-B roll film camera that had a Schneider-Yzerex lens that via a hole in the built in lens cover would stop down to f90. Everything would be in focus from 22 inches to infinity! It had shutter speeds from 1/500 to 10 seconds plus Bulb and Time Release, conversion lenses for close-up work, a meter, a coupled rangefinder, filters, two types of flash units (bulb and electronic), and a beautiful leather case to hold it all. Today they take the camera and convert it into a 4x5 sheet film shooter. Angelina Jolie bought one for Brad Pitt a couple of years ago. I like to think that whomever bought mine eventualy sold it to the conversion folks, and it is in the hands of someone who appreciates old masterpieces.