End of Polaroid

[innit Geezer]

My father loved his Polaroid camera. Whenever company came over or during the holidays there were pictures waiting to dry all over the living room. A great photographer but -- as always a decade or 2 behind, he gets good use from his old film Nikon. "But it was expensive and it was state of the art in it's day" he exclaims.

www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/weekinreview/28kimmelman.html?hp

[Ardbeg... innit]

I bought a Polaroid in about 1967. It wasnt the new fancy ones like Gary shows above, it was a traditional bellows model like this



That was before they made the film that self developed with the fading black covering. So you had to take the shot, pull out the tab which brought out the film, pull out the film, start counting to 15 for B/W or 60 for color, then pull the protective cover off of the film, let the film dry and then wipe some chemicals on the photo to protect it from scratching. All for about $1 a shot in 1967 dollars.

[sarcasm]Very simple[/sarcasm] and practically broke me trying to use it on just my paper route earnings. Managed to sell the thing just before the new fancy models with the improved developing system came along a couple years later.

I must admit to a bit of "Abe Vigoda Syndrome" here. My first response to this thread title was "I thought they went under years ago".

[Chicago Jake]

I maintain a tiny "photo museum" of past cameras in my living room. So far, my collection contains a Brownie box camera from the 1940s (my Dad's), an AE-1 from the seventies, and my film EOS from the nineties. But the AE-1 is currently out on loan to my niece who is taking a photography course in high school.

[Merlot Joe]

I used to love our Polaroid camera. You didn't have to wait for the film to be developed. They used to be great at parties.


Joe.

[innit Geezer]

I hope my father destroyed or permanently hid any x-rated pictures he might have done with my mother. I'm sure Polaroids saw lots of hot and furry action in the 60's.

[Ardbeg... innit]

Gary, you better hope your father got rid of those, or else you need to save up for the therapy that will be needed to recover from finding them.

[Chicago Jake]

The Polaroid is back!! Sort of.....Jake

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Review: The Polaroid camera is back, in digital

LAS VEGAS - A strange little ritual used to go along with Polaroid cameras. The shooter would grab the print as it came out of the camera and wave it in the air, as if that would stimulate the chemicals and make the picture appear faster. It didn't. Yet it felt dumb to just stand there, waiting for the picture to develop.

Polaroid stopped making film packs last year, so this little piece of tech culture will soon be just a memory. But just as the film-based Polaroid camera is fading away, along comes its digital replacement.

That's right: Polaroid was set to announce Thursday at the International Consumer Electronics Show that it is introducing a digital camera that produces prints right on the spot. You can even call them "instant" prints, but they take nearly a minute to appear, so they're only as "instant" as the old film prints.

Essentially, the $200 PoGo is a camera that contains a built-in color printer. It produces 2-by-3 inch photos by selectively heating spots on specially treated paper. It has nothing to do with the old chemical Polaroid process, but the prints convey some of the same Pop Art charm: They're grainy and the colors are slightly off, with faces tending toward a deathly blue-green.

full story:

tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090108/ap_on_hi_te/tec_tech_test_polaroid_camera_2

[innit Geezer]

I'm glad to see Polariod having another chance. The brand name is strong and maybe this will help carry it through. I wonder how many digital pictures actually get printed? I'd say only a small fraction and this can open or revive a new market.

I'll by one.

[Ardbeg... innit]

Jan 9, 2009 5:22:52 GMT -6 innit Geezer said:

I'm glad to see Polariod having another chance. The brand name is strong and maybe this will help carry it through. I wonder how many digital pictures actually get printed? I'd say only a small fraction and this can open or revive a new market.

I'll by one.

I say look forward, not back. The real "new market" here is Pixel Recycling, the trillions of pixels that are wasted through unconscionable arbitrary deletion is a resource begging to be tapped into. Afterall, we really have no idea how long the current "known reserves" of of digital pixels will last at current usage.

[Chicago Jake]

Gordon is correct. The majority of knowledgeable scientists in the world agree that global depixelization is a serious threat to our planetary well-being.

[Bif St Lou]

All the more reason to support Obama's stimulus package that encourages renewable pixel resources.

[Chicago Jake]

Jan 9, 2009 20:35:10 GMT -6 Bif St Lou said:

All the more reason to support Obama's stimulus package that encourages renewable pixel resources.

And vast transfer of pixels in the form of "image credits," even to people who never contributed to the pixel population in the first place.

[Ardbeg... innit]

Before you snap that digital shot, just remember how many pixels have to die for that crappy photo you'll never look at again.