Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Polaroid is dead, long live Fujiroid





My new favorite toy is the Fuji Instax 55i. Our fixer had one in China, once I saw it I had to have one myself. So far they are mostly sold in the Asian market. You can read about it on The Photo Village and on Lomography I bought mine on eBay from a seller in Hong Kong. Oddly it arrived faster then most internet orders within the US.

I've been having a great time taking this little instant camera to parties. The only downside is I tend to give people the credit cards sized pictures the camera produces so I have only a few samples to show here.

It's no surprise that Fuji's quality is better, more consistent and the film cheaper then Polaroid was. It's easy to be nostalgic for Polaroid now that they've passed on but it's also easy to forget how bad their quality control could be. For the moment the Fuji Instax is great fun and should be fantastic for a lot the fans of Polaroid pack cameras. The big news on the instant film front is even more exciting.

thirteen-million seconds, that's how long they say we need to wait for the Impossible but the promise is new, better instant film. The last time we talked about this it was an advanced rumor. Now with ownership of a fully kitted out Polaroid factory, a fancy website and some strong buzz I'm getting hopeful they'll pull it off.

Impossible b.v. has been founded with the concrete aim to re-invent and re-start production of analog INTEGRAL FILM for vintage Polaroid cameras.

Therefore Impossible b.v. has acquired the complete film production equipment in Enschede (NL) from Polaroid, has signed a 10-year lease agreement on the factory building; and has engaged the most experienced team of Integral Film experts worldwide.

1 comment:

Jeff Singer said...

"It's no surprise that Fuji's quality is better, more consistent"

That's exactly the problem. And, no borders:
http://www.jeffsingerphoto.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=2

Jeff