Private Group Reviving Polaroid Film

My opinion remains that they went so far in R&D, found out where the crossover point was on the ROI curve, and marketed the product accordingly. I don't think they intentionally set out to make an instant emulsion with poor temperature characteristics, for instance. I think they ran upon an ROI roadblock and spun the marketing of the resulting product, after the fact, accordingly.

But I don't want to sound too negative; I have a complete SX-70 kit that awaits said film. I'll try at least one pack, to see what happens.

~Joe
 
The negativity here is breathtaking. And Pickett Wilson still needs a hug.

This is a new process on a new production line (albeit furnished with old machinery), and not backed by an industrial behemoth. Give it a little time, and if you prefer the results from your 5DII or your Powershot or your M9 that's great, too!

Seriously: whinging about media that you're not going to use is not going to improve your photographs.
 
semilog said:
The negativity here is breathtaking. And Pickett Wilson still needs a hug.

This is a new process on a new production line (albeit furnished with old machinery), and not backed by an industrial behemoth. Give it a little time, and if you prefer the results from your 5DII or your Powershot or your M9 that's great, too!

Seriously: whinging about media that you're not going to use is not going to improve your photographs.
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Agreed competely
 
We're back to the pervasive theory here that if you don't own it or use it, you have no right to talk about it. That's an extremely odd attitude on a discussion board.
 
Pickett Wilson said:
We're back to the pervasive theory here that if you don't own it or use it, you have no right to talk about it. That's an extremely odd attitude on a discussion board.
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If it's "discussion" you're after, do try to follow the conversation, then. You could perhaps start by acknowledging that no one, save you, said a thing about "rights."

Edited to add: to be clear, I am complaining about the tone of your posts, Pickett, not the content. I cannot find a better descriptive phrase than "pointlessly scornful."
 
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Sad that these guys weren't able to get the technical data, only the hardware. As I mentioned on another thread, there were probably reams upon reams of data from the Polaroid engineers on how to make the stuff. I don't think it can be expected that the current team will ever reach the level of R&D that the original team did.

That said, all of this talk did get me interested in instant film. I was already in the very start of the consumer digital photography age when I was old enough to care about taking pictures, so I never had an instant film camera. I bought both a Polaroid 330 and a Polaroid back for my Mamiya today...and I will go out Monday and buy the Fuji film for it. Film lives on...
 
So, semilog, my tone should be cheerfully conformist? How about, "Their $3 a shot film really sucks, but what a really great bunch of guys they are for giving us the opportunity to buy it!"
 
Likely as many times as I've committed in at least a 100 threads on the subjects about my favorite bag (Domke F2) and favorite strap (Domke Grippper). It's a forum.
 
Pickett Wilson does seem to like pissing on film lovers' parade quite often and sometimes I disagree but he does have a point here.

$3 a shot is a lot of money for a film that can only be shot between 17-25°c and even then gives resulsts that are hardly recognizable as photographs. I appreciate what they did with the packaging in regards to design but the film looks like it's horrible stuff. You might aswell just expose photographic paper.

Sadly, I think the impossible project will be quite shortlived. No one is going to keep buying this stuff over and over just to support the company and I doubt that they'll considerably improve the quality in the short run.
 
Pickett Wilson said:
Likely as many times as I've committed in at least a 100 threads on the subjects about my favorite bag (Domke F2) and favorite strap (Domke Grippper). It's a forum.
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Wow, we have a lot in common. If you like the Domke Gripper, you should try a Tamrac "gripper" strap... they are really nice too.

And all this time I thought it was just your curmudeonly, but well opinionated, tone that made me like reading your posts. You're one of the good guys, Pickett... no matter what the others say about you. 🙂
 
Jamie123 said:
g to keep buying this stuff over and over just to support the company and I doubt that they'll considerably improve the quality in the short run.
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You may be right, but if you think about what it might have entailed to get even this far, you might reconsider. They actually got the production line up and running -- film, chemistry, film pack and battery production, etc. Dozens of things to accomplish, none even remotely trivial. Having done so, there will be more freedom to work on the material's properties, at least as long as the money lasts.

We know the current stuff is a novelty at best. The question is what comes next. When the project was announced I truly didn't think they'd get even this far.
 
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Jamie123 said:
Sadly, I think the impossible project will be quite shortlived. No one is going to keep buying this stuff over and over just to support the company and I doubt that they'll considerably improve the quality in the short run.
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I completely agree. I wish them all the best but I don't hold out much hope for the long-term viability of the Impossible Project.

Time will tell, of course. I've been wrong in the past. 🙂
 
semilog said:
You may be right, but if you think about what it might have entailed to get even this far, you might reconsider. They actually got the production line up and running -- film, chemistry, film pack and battery production, etc. Dozens of things to accomplish, none even remotely trivial. Having done so, there will be more freedom to work on the material's properties, at least as long as the money lasts.
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Haha, that's hilarious! You're comparing the Impossible Project with the iPod? And you're linking to a nerdy website where someone said the iPod was lame? The iPod was in no way unpopular at its introduction and neither were MP3 players.

Anyways, let's get serious again. I'm sure that the Impossible Project faced quite a lot of obstacles and it took a lot of energy to come this far. Unfortunately, in the world of business no one gets brownie points for effort. With their product they seem to be lightyears behind what Polaroid had on the market and that's a company that probably invested huge sums into R&D back when their product was at the height of its success.

As with any start-up company the beginning is the easy part. You 'only' have to convince a couple of investors to give you money. What's really hard is convincing thousands of consumers over and over again to give you their money.
 
I don't think the sample size is large enough to make an informed opinion about the entire enterprise, but I concur that the sample presented in the linked review was of terrible quality. I want more data points.
 
Jamie123 said:
Haha, that's hilarious! You're comparing the Impossible Project with the iPod? And you're linking to a nerdy website where someone said the iPod was lame?
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No. I am comparing the responses of critics early after a product is launched and before they've had a chance to use it.

I'm saying that a lot of people go off half-cocked. The linked example is a rather (in)famous example.
 
The guy in the IP website video appears to be making a selling point about the fact that the film is fuzzy, brown and unpredictable. Clearly trying to sell "cool."

I think they've moved on to getting the color stuff on the market, now. That should be interesting.
 
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