Photography has never been faster to made and share than in our modern "insta" era, but over half a century ago, it was American scientist Edwin Land and his company Polaroid that helped the industry take a giant step forward in speed and ease. PBS NewsHour just aired this 5-minute segment that looks at Polaroid's history and influence.
In an entertaining holiday-themed video that's part educational and part "bah humbug," YouTuber Azriel Knight explains how Kodak managed to ruin Christmas for two decades of photographers. It's a fascinating story of schmaltzy ads, dead film formats, and a huge patent lawsuit that cost them almost $1 billion.
Polaroid Originals—the artist formerly known as The Impossible Project—made a sad announcement on its blog yesterday. After determining that the wide-format Polaroid Spectra cameras out in the wild "are now coming to the end of their useful lives," the company has decided to discontinue production of Spectra instant film.
Polaroid Originals has released its latest product, and it's an instant printer... with a twist. Rather than just printing digital files, this so-called "miniature table top darkroom" actually turns digital files into analog prints by projecting your phone screen onto a piece of instant film.
Fujifilm killed off the last peel-apart instant film when it discontinued its FP-100C back in 2016 despite an effort from Impossible founder Florian Kaps to keep it alive. But now, two years later, Kaps has just announced the re-birth and re-invention of peel-apart instant film: it's called ONE INSTANT.
The Hong Kong-based MiNT Camera has just unveiled the InstantKon RF70, a manual large format rangefinder instant camera for Fuji Instax Wide film -- the first with full manual controls.
Instant Dreams is an upcoming documentary film about the rise, fall, and rebirth of the Polaroid photo. Here's the 2-minute official trailer of this visually stunning film.
The Rezivot Instant Film Processor is a new camera add-on that lets you shoot Instax instant photos with vintage medium-format and large-format cameras.
As a photographer who still uses film, 2017 feels like the industry is in a bit of a time warp. Kodak is bringing back Ektachrome, Hollywood blockbusters are being shot on film, and apparently the part of Polaroid we care about exists again.
Fujifilm just announced its first square-format Instax photo printer, the Instax Share SP-3. The printer is aimed at users wanting to print smartphone images using Fuji's new Instax Square film.
Polaroid has a huge announcement scheduled for next week. The company's website now features a teaser for a September 13th reveal, and it sounds like Polaroid is going to make a splash by going back to its instant photography roots.
We know it's coming; Fuji's told us it's coming. The Fujifilm Instax SQUARE camera and SQUARE instant film has already made its teaser debut, but today, newly leaked photos give us our fist look at the new camera and its special square film.
Snapchat is known for popularizing the idea of the self-destructing photo, but did you know that long before Snapchat existed, Polaroid had already offered its own line of self-destructing Polaroid pictures? It was called the Fade to Black line.
Night sky photography—the milky way, star trails, that sort of thing—usually means a decent camera and a nice bright lens. But photographer Daniel Stein has managed to make it work using just a Polaroid SX-70 and some Impossible Project IP600 film.
Instant photography is alive and well, and if you need proof, look no further than Amazon's top selling items in Camera & Photo. For the second year in a row, Fujifilm's Instax products dominated the category over the Holiday shopping season.
We can't decide if this video is annoying or exciting; whichever it is, it's most definitely our first glimpse of Fuji's upcoming Instax Square instant camera.
Photographer Josh Gladstone of PhotoChemicals made this 11-minute video showing how you can use new Instax instant film on an old Kodak instant camera.
With the proliferation of digital photography in today’s modern market, perfection has become the new normal. Photography is an art practiced through initial capture, modern shooters using their camera to anchor a moment in time with as many potential options as possible be it color, tone, exposure or even as technology marches on, focus and perspective.
Polaroid hasn't given up on instant photography yet. Following up on the release of the Polaroid Snap last year, the Polaroid Snap Touch "instant digital" camera combines the features of both a digital and instant camera into a fun, affordable package.
Fuji made two announcements today. The first, a mirrorless medium format digital camera, rocked the industry. The second... is less dramatic. Fuji is currently developing a square format instant camera and square format Instax instant film.
Fujifilm just brought its Instax instant film into the world of black-and-white photography with the unveiling of its new Instax Mini Film Monochrome.
Impossible Project founder Florian "Doc" Kaps is not happy with Fuji. After several letters and detailed proposals on how his company SUPERSENSE would keep peel-apart packfilm alive, Fuji has declined his proposals and refused to work with Kaps. Our final hope, it seems, may sit with the company CatLabs.
Everybody is "reinventing" things these days, but even still, we would be lying if we said we weren't at least intrigued by the all-new Impossible Project I-1. It's the company's very first camera, or, as they put it, "The Original Instant Camera. Reinvented."
Fuji's Instax instant film was the bestselling item in Amazon's Camera category in the 2015 holiday season. It wasn't a fluke: the company's instant film business has been exploding in popularity in recent years.
Fuji announced last month that it's killing off the FP-100C, its last peel-apart instant film. Then last week we reported that Impossible Project founder Florian Kaps is now working to keep the film alive.
In the spring of 2014, I started a long-term photography project focused on Syrian refugee children. I traveled through Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon and photographed children who fled Syria since the war started.
Fujifilm's Instax brand of instant film has seen a boom in popularity in recent years -- it was the #1 selling product in Amazon's "Camera" category last Christmas season.
Sadly, the same can't be said about the FP-100C, Fuji's last line of peel-apart instant film. Today, the Japanese company announced that it will be discontinuing the FP-100C lineup, marking the end of Fuji's peel-apart-type film.
Film’s not dead, we know that. I love the nostalgia of instant film. The look of surprise when you can give a physical photo to your subject. The stories of photos the way they were when we were young. The way people over a certain age shake it while it develops.
I first got a Fuji Instax Neo Classic 90 camera. It’s mainly automatic and allows minor exposure adjustments. I longed for something a bit more manual. Then MiNT announced a new instant camera in March 2015 called the InstantFlex TL70. The camera is modern Twin Lens Reflex, with that retro look of older Rolleiflex.
Want an inside look at how The Impossible Project makes its instant film? The folks over at Highsnobiety recently paid a visit to the company's factory in Enschede, which it purchased from Polaroid and rebooted. The 3-minute video above shows various steps of the instant film creation process, from development, to assembly, to boxing it up for shipping.
In the digital age, there is a demand for instant gratification; however, is it possible that the perfect solution for the modern individual is an analog one? Instant film was a product introduced during the late 1940s and remains a popular option for instant physical prints to this day. Hold up your camera, press a button, and minutes later you have a fully processed physical image. And to think that it all started with a little girl’s simple question…
I recently took a Polaroid picture photo, but it turned out to be a dud... so I decided to dissect it for science!
Impossible launched its first lines of instant film in 2010 after acquiring Polaroid manufacturing machines and leasing an old Polaroid production plant. Although its efforts did bring "Polaroid pictures" back from the dead, its initial offerings suffered from poor image quality and slow development times.
There will soon be a great leap forward, though. Impossible is announcing today that it is launching Generation 2.0 film that promises to be better in speed, sharpness, and tonality.
The Impossible Project is continuing to branch out from the standard frame design for instant photos that made the original Polaroid pictures iconic. Last year the company launched a new line of film with colorful frames. This year it's the shape that's getting a makeover: the company has unveiled a new color instant film with round frames rather than square ones.
The Impossible Project CEO Creed O’Hanlon dropped quite the statement and statistic in an article on the resurgence of Polaroids by The Guardian.
"Teens," O'Hanlon said, "[are] turning their backs on digital for something more tangible." A fact he says is backed up by explosive growth in their sales to the 18-25 year old demographic.
Competition in the smartphone instant film printer industry is heating up. Companies like LifePrint and Fuji are tackling wireless mobile photo printers, and The Impossible Project has its analog Instant Lab.
Next month, a company called SnapJet is entering the ring. It's the "world's first slim, portable, open-source instant film printer" that helps you print your smartphone photos instantly on the go.
As of today, there's a new name in the world of instant photography; a name you'll definitely recognize; a name that you probably thought already made instant film cameras you just hadn't heard of; Lomography.
The Impossible Project, the ongoing effort to keep classic Polaroid cameras alive and well-fed, has added a splash of color to its catalog with three new special edition SX-70 that films sport gold, silver and colored borders instead of the usual white.
The Fujifilm Instax Mini 90 might just be that unusually sexy gem that will intrigue the masses and add a dash or two of fun into your photography. A camera that is going to have clients talking and friends gawking.
Fujifilm has confirmed that it will soon stop production of its FP-3000B film, which means that the only black-and-white instant film currently available in the 3x4 format will soon disappear forever.
Medium-format, questionable build and instant prints? Lomography has hit yet another trifecta with the new Diana F+ Instant Film, a low-fi shooter that adds instant printing capability to one of the company's most popular models.