Impossible Project debuts a brand new instant camera

[Godfrey]

The I-1 should be available for purchase tomorrow. First film camera with a smartphone custom control interface, perhaps! 🙂

I hope that Impossible Color 600 v3 goes final at the same time. I've been working with it in beta release and am quite impressed with how consistent and good quality its color is.

G

 

[ped]

Looks great - I'll probably buy mine soon. It doesn't say if there's a tripod mount but I assume so given the app has a long exposure function.

I'll wait to read some reviews but I think it looks lovely.

Wonder how long a single charge works, assume it's for more than a single pack of film.

Also no details on the lens aperture but close focus is 30cm which is handy.

https://uk.impossible-project.com/pages/impossible-i-1-analog-instant-camera

 

[Godfrey]

Looks great - I'll probably buy mine soon. It doesn't say if there's a tripod mount but I assume so given the app has a long exposure function.

I'll wait to read some reviews but I think it looks lovely.

Wonder how long a single charge works, assume it's for more than a single pack of film.

Also no details on the lens aperture but close focus is 30cm which is handy.

https://uk.impossible-project.com/pages/impossible-i-1-analog-instant-camera

If it's anything like the Instant Lab or 66/6 Instant Pinhole, a charge should be good for at least three to five packs of film. I expect lens aperture to be about f/4 or f/4.7, given the size of the lens.

fun stuff!
G

 

[ped]

If it's anything like the Instant Lab or 66/6 Instant Pinhole, a charge should be good for at least three to five packs of film. I expect lens aperture to be about f/4 or f/4.7, given the size of the lens.

fun stuff!
G

Sounds about right. Love the feel of that rubberised plastic, too.

 

[brbo]

I expect lens aperture to be about f/4 or f/4.7, given the size of the lens.

Hmm... Doesn't seem significantly bigger than SX-70 lens to me.

The first batch of I-1 cameras is already sold (2-3 weeks wait time now)! I hope Impossible sells a lot of I-1s, expands the user base for their film and gets some scale savings going on or additional funds for further development (can I dream of 15EUR per 10 pack?)...

 

[robert blu]

Interesting for sure, I think I'll buy one soon or probably later! As lover of instant photography I think buying one is a way to support who is keeping this kind of photography alive!

Not sure how practical is this phone/camera connection to set parameters but worthwhile to try.

robert

 

[Black]

Purchased a day early, because I'm lucky enough to be an Impossible Member (but not lucky enough to be a Pioneer). Looking forward to having a tinker.
FYI - The newly packaged colour film is new chemistry and develops in half the time of the last Gen.

 

[Godfrey]

Purchased a day early, because I'm lucky enough to be an Impossible Member (but not lucky enough to be a Pioneer). Looking forward to having a tinker.
FYI - The newly packaged colour film is new chemistry and develops in half the time of the last Gen.

Same here ... Ordered one last evening. 🙂

I also downloaded the iPhone app. It looks good (you can explore it without a camera connected) with a simple layout and good features. The remote release and exposure control are the big ones.

 

[Godfrey]

Hmm... Doesn't seem significantly bigger than SX-70 lens to me.

The first batch of I-1 cameras is already sold (2-3 weeks wait time now)! I hope Impossible sells a lot of I-1s, expands the user base for their film and gets some scale savings going on or additional funds for further development (can I dream of 15EUR per 10 pack?)...

Yeah, might be f/8-11 or something like that.

The big thing is getting new cameras into the market so that the user base can expand. Instant film of all film types is the populist development space.

 

[Godfrey]

It has arrived!

G

 

[brbo]

^ Congrats! Now we want to hear ALL about it!!!

 

[Keith]

As much as I would like to jump on board the price of the film is very prohibitive ... in the real world I would be looking at $3.50 AUD per shot! 😱

 

[MiniMoke]

Wrote up my opinion on the I-1 here:

https://whyfilmcameras.wordpress.com/2016/05/05/the-impossible-project-i-1/

 

[Black]

A review without having used it? How novel.

Its an innovative camera (having used it!). Its the only film camera with (optional) bluetooth. They've crammed a lot into a very small (albeit, initially ugly) package. Infrared focusing, multiple lenses (optical grade polycarbonate on a rotating disc) and an ingenious LED ring light system that serves, not only as a flash, but an exposure counter and battery indicator, to boot.

Got to say, as much as I love the SLR680 (and SX-70) design and the tech behind sonar focusing, I'm finding the I-1 to be a lot more user friendly.

I would often used a few attempts to find the right exposure (as Keith has said - costly), but first shot, out of the box, shot into direct bright sunlight and a near perfect exposure. Nice bit of kit.

Keith - as an aside, film price has come down. Standard 600 speed packs are 50p cheaper (not sure what that converts to in AUD?) but dedicated I-type film (sans the battery) is cheaper still at £14.99. Granted, not Instax money yet, but I'd rather pay the premium to a company who still has the passion to bring us new, innovative films.

 

[brbo]

A review without having used it? How novel.

He didn't say it was a review. Just an opinion.

I don't agree with his opinion. I mean, trashing the camera because it doesn't have aperture and shutter speed dials? Erm, which integral film camera does have them?! I didn't expect a company with very limited resources to come up with an F6 that spits out polaroids on its first atempt at producing a new camera.

 

[MiniMoke]

He didn't say it was a review. Just an opinion.

Thanks brbo, though it IS just my opinion and for me, I don't think the I-1 will work.

I'm not trashing the camera, just giving my opinion. I'd prefer a point and shoot like ye olde Polaroids to one offering all those manual possibilities I'd want to use.... but I'll need to handle my iPhone to do it.

I prefer the idea behind the Mint Instantflex TL-70 though it's a shame it uses those Fuji films.

As I said, my opinion purely. Others will certainly love it, and I might even be completely wrong....

 

[robert blu]

Ordered one...should arrive in two/three weeks...I'm curious to experiment it and also I like to support in this way the efforts made by the Impossible Team...

robert

 

[Godfrey]

I'm looking forward to using it and will report once I do... Unfortunately I'm way way WAY too busy to even take it out of the box and be distracted for a day or two. Perhaps Sunday.

Price of film: I-1 film packs don't need to carry a battery and so are a little less expensive than the regular Impossible 600 film. Price is US$2 per photo (AUD$2.50 at current exchange rates). Considered against a roll of 120 film, if you purchase film and processing from a photofinisher, it's about twice the cost. That's pretty close to what the difference was back when film was king, actually: 1 frame of SX-70 Time Zero film ran about US$1.00 where the 120 film and processing ran about $0.50 a shot. It's expensive, yes, but then again you don't shoot a Polaroid or a 6x6 camera the same way you shoot 35mm or digital. One never did; it was always too expensive to do that.

"... Impossible missed something there." : Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but putting a whole website page up to dis Impossible because they didn't make the camera that you personally would have preferred, without having even handled one yet, strikes me as a little silly and perhaps over the top. But, eh? Do what you want. It doesn't affect me at all.

I'm looking forward to opening the box and trying it out. A fully automated camera that takes the technical details of making a good photo out of the way for the most users, that lets people create photos with as little distance between vision and capture, was always Edwin Land's goal. Having creative control beyond that run by a smartphone is the millennial way, and I use it with so many other things now it is natural to me. For the expected audience of this camera, I think they've done just the right thing.

Can't wait to start using it and see how well it works.

G

 

[MiniMoke]

"... Impossible missed something there." : Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but putting a whole website page up to dis Impossible because they didn't make the camera that you personally would have preferred, without having even handled one yet, strikes me as a little silly and perhaps over the top. But, eh? Do what you want. It doesn't affect me at all.

G

Hey, that was just a post on something that interested me on my blog, so not a whole website......

I have my opinion, and I accept everyone's too! OK

 

[Godfrey]

Hey, that was just a post on something that interested me on my blog, so not a whole website......

I have my opinion, and I accept everyone's too! OK

I did say "...a whole website page..", not a whole website. For many people searching for Impossible I-1 information, that page will BE your whole website, however.

No problem that you have an opinion and feel the camera isn't for you, or even that you felt it important to make that a public statement. It's rather that you highlighted your opinion in such a large fashion (a whole page dedicated to saying "Hey, they made a new camera, it's not what I want." with purloined photograph to boot) and dis'ed Impossible because what they made doesn't appeal to you personally.

But as I said, you're entitled to your opinion and it doesn't affect my opinion, so enjoy. 🙂