Next time you’re on vacation and find yourself without a camera, try checking the mini-bar in your hotel room. Ace Hotel has announced that the mini-bar in each of their guest rooms will be stock with a refurbished Polaroid camera and limited edition packs of Ace Hotel branded Impossible Project B&W instant film. If you don’t plan on staying at any of their hotels, you can also purchase the branded kits through their website for $150 each.
There hasn’t been much activity in the PetaPixel Store since we launched the Leica Look-Alike skins in September 2010, but today that changes — we’re pleased to announce the new Polaroid Picture Frame and Mirror! It’s an awesome picture frame for your desk that looks just like Polaroid 600 instant film, and when there isn’t a photo inside it doubles as a mirror. Read more…
French design duo Zim & Zou (Thibault Zimmerman and Lucie Thomas) these papercraft versions of Polaroid and Leica cameras — they’re super realistic, except the colors are quite trippy! Read more…
Want to see how instant film for Polaroid cameras is made? How It’s Made recently paid a visit to The Impossible Project‘s factory in the Netherlands (purchased from Polaroid a few years ago) to give us a neat behind-the-scenes look at the processes that go into making the popular film.
Harry McCracken over at Technologizer wrote a fascinating piece about Polaroid founder Edwin Land and the history of the SX-70 camera.
“Don’t undertake a project,” an oft-quoted Land maxim goes, “unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.” The SX-70 was both.
Did you know that “SX-70″ was actually the codeword used by Land a quarter century before the SX-70 camera for his first instant film camera project? It was his 70th Special eXperiment (Land was a Harvard dropout and prolific inventor, inventing the first synthetic material capable of polarizing light when he was just 19-years-old!)
It’s a pretty lengthy piece, but a must-read for any Polaroid lover.
Needed a Polaroid picture for a project I’m working on, so I purchased a Polaroid One Step camera for $15 off a guy on Craigslist and a pack of Polaroid 600 film that expired back in 2003 for $26 with shipping from eBay. I was a bit concerned that the film wouldn’t work anymore, but found that the battery in the film pack still had some juice and that the film still developed, though the upper corners of the image are messed up.
Expired 600 film is selling for up to $50 to $60 a pack (10 photos) on eBay these days, even though new Impossible film for 600 cameras costs $24. You can also buy unexpired performance-guaranteed 600 film for about $5 a shot in bulk. Seems like a lot of Polaroid lovers are still snatching up Polaroid film while they still can.
Etsy seller Mariko Carandang sells handmade jewelry, and one of her products is this small treasure locket that’s meant to look a little like the Polaroid SX-70.
The treasure locket is perfect for those of us who find and get attached to small objects that get lost in the bottom of a pocket or handbag, but don’t quite fit in a wallet. It will keep those trifling but meaningful objects close to you at all times. You can use it to carry a tiny photograph or a good luck charm. Keep a scroll of paper with your favorite quote on it– a quote you mean to live by.
Not content with simply resurrecting traditional Polaroid instant film, The Impossible Project is also selling a special Black Frame version of its PX 600 Silver Shade film. The black borders give the instant film a pretty unique look, but packs of Black Frame film are pretty pricey: 8 exposures will cost you $24.
Spanish blog Duduá organized a fantasy cake contest in Barcelona at the end of April, and found amongst the many creative cakes was this sweet (pun intended) Polaroid Land Camera 1000 cake with an instant photo popping out the bottom. Read more…
