Impossible Project debuts a brand new instant camera

I have a couple of questions for the people that have the camera:
Is there any form of focus confirmation? Like a beep or light.
At the closest focus point, how tight of a head shot can you make?

I think this camera will be great for shooting small portrait projects. I used a simple polaroid camera at the Phuket Vegetarian Festival last year and enjoyed the results, as well as the interactions with people when they see the print developing.
 
tocalosh said:
I have a couple of questions for the people that have the camera:
Is there any form of focus confirmation? Like a beep or light.
At the closest focus point, how tight of a head shot can you make?

I think this camera will be great for shooting small portrait projects. I used a simple polaroid camera at the Phuket Vegetarian Festival last year and enjoyed the results, as well as the interactions with people when they see the print developing.
Click to expand...

Nope, no noise for focus confirmation, but as focus is a relatively simple but effective affair (the afore mentioned disc of lenses), you can hear the disc turn and stop - then you know its as focus as its going to get. I've nailed focus every time from my first pack.

Can't answer the second part of your query yet.
 
tocalosh said:
...
I think this camera will be great for shooting small portrait projects. I used a simple polaroid camera at the Phuket Vegetarian Festival last year and enjoyed the results, as well as the interactions with people when they see the print developing.
Click to expand...

Very true, in fact this is one of the reasons for which I shoot more and more with my Polaroids cameras, in an area and time where people are more and more suspicious when you take a picture of them using a Polaroid makes them smile and things become suddenly easier.
Of course this has a cost because most of time I have to shoot two photos and give them one...and these are not very cheap...

robert
 
Thanks for the informative reply Chris.
Robert I fully agree with you on how polaroids can help put people at ease, and yes i also had to make multiple exposures on a number of occasions. Luckily when I was shooting in Phuket most of my subjects were unable to talk (if you google Phuket Vegetarian festival you'll see why, be warned the images are quite graphic!)
 
tocalosh said:
I have a couple of questions for the people that have the camera:
Is there any form of focus confirmation? Like a beep or light.
At the closest focus point, how tight of a head shot can you make?

I think this camera will be great for shooting small portrait projects. I used a simple polaroid camera at the Phuket Vegetarian Festival last year and enjoyed the results, as well as the interactions with people when they see the print developing.
Click to expand...

There's no focus confirmation. It just does its thing.

Closest focus based on the manual mode settings is 0.2-0.5 yard (or meter, approximately). There are five discrete focus settings, it's not focusing continuously: there's a set of five lenses on a rotating plate that set the focus.

I'm near the minimum focus in the shot below ... It will do fine for head shots.

Finally had a chance to take the I-1 out of the box, charge it up, and run a pack of film through it. I grabbed a left-over pack of Impossible 600 Color v3 beta1 from last April (a bit long in the tooth, but it was on top of the pile ... ;-) I was worried that anything would come out at all.

In fact, the photos from even that pack look darn good!


Impossible I-1
Impossible 600 Color v3 beta 1
scanned with Impossible app on iPad Pro 9.7​

I used the self timer on the iPhone I-1 app to make the exposure.

Really cool camera. Thank you, Impossible!

enjoy,
G
 
Thanks Godfrey, nice result! I'm traveling in Eastern Europe at the moment but will more than likely get one when I return to the UK in June. I may be able to give one a try in Berlin or Amsterdam.
I have one more question: Is there a filter thread?

Thanks for the replys!

Sam
 
tocalosh said:
Thanks Godfrey, nice result! I'm traveling in Eastern Europe at the moment but will more than likely get one when I return to the UK in June. I may be able to give one a try in Berlin or Amsterdam.
I have one more question: Is there a filter thread?
Click to expand...

No, no filter thread.

I suspect they might have some kind of filter mount in mind for the viewfinder mount, though ... It would be easy to make a set of attachments that clipped to the camera with that mount.

BTW: I discovered that the Hasselblad XPan case made by Billingham a number of years back is almost a perfect size for carrying the I-1. I take the viewfinder off and put it in a protective pouch, put two packs of film in the front pocket, and the I-1 in the main space. It's as if it were made for this camera... :)

G
 
Great! I hope you enjoy it!

I'm having fun with mine, trying out different films I have in stock in it and using the iPhone app to control it. It generally does very well on normal exposure with 600 color but I find its exposures are a bit inconsistent with 600 B&W.

The Manual control module in the app helps, but it seems to either take a very long time to wake up and show a meter reading or there's something else funky going on there. I tested the camera on auto with SX-70 film and it surprised me by come up with nearly the right exposure. Then when the meter indicator woke up in the Manual module, it's 0 target correct exposure was nearly right on the money too. (And 600 film was overexposed for the same scene on Auto...)

So there's a bit to learn about it, and more information from Impossible needed I think. But I like it a lot and it's proving to be fun.

G
 
I am sort of torn ... excellent that someone actually makes a brand new camera, but a shame that it has to (?) be tethered to a mobile phone.

I guess it catches the eye of younger people (yes, Godfrey, you are in there too!). :)
 
Jerevan said:
I am sort of torn ... excellent that someone actually makes a brand new camera, but a shame that it has to (?) be tethered to a mobile phone.

I guess it catches the eye of younger people (yes, Godfrey, you are in there too!). :)
Click to expand...

My mom always said I never got past age 12. The extra half-century of years is just mythological... :angel:

It doesn't "have to" be tethered to a smartphone if you're using its native features, which are autofocus, autoexposure with flash-on, flash-off, EC + and -. That's how it will get used the vast majority of the time by most users, I suspect. It's the extended features (remote release, manual settings, self timer, double exposure, noise trigger, light painting, color paint, and scanner). The app also keeps a log of all the exposures you've made with the I-i tethered to it, and the camera settings used (you can attach a picture of the print using the scanner).

I spent an hour working with it set on a tripod this morning using manual control, testing various exposure and other settings. Frankly, it was a delight to work with it using the iPhone—made it much easier to deal with than constantly having to touch the camera and possibly jiggle its position, ruining the test shots

One accessory that would make perfect sense to me given the magnetic viewfinder attachment is to create a smartphone mount that clips on via that mount and have the viewfinder snap-in on top of that. It would make a very handy package off the tripod, and the smartphone could then be popped of in a moment to do other things with, without removing the mount.

It's very useful ... You have to use it to understand, I suspect. :)

G
 
Godfrey,

I think 12 years old is a good age ... :)

Thank you for the information, I am slightly less torn now. But on the other hand I already have an SX-70. Need to get more film for that first, I think.
 
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