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Shake Your Polaroids While You Still Can

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 12 2008 10:00 AM

Submitted by punk. Edited By punk.

TAGS: polaroid, instant film, instant camera

Polaroid announced on Friday that they will close their instant film plants in the US, Mexico and the Netherlands, ending almost 60 years of production and a photography icon. President Tom Beaudo hopes these changes will help ��reinvent Polaroid so it lives on for the next 30 to 40 years.�

Polaroid is closing factories in Massachusetts, Mexico and the Netherlands and cutting 450 jobs as the brand synonymous with instant images focuses on ventures such as a portable printer for images from cell phones and Polaroid-branded digital cameras, televisions and DVD players.

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Polaroid failed to embrace the digital technology that has transformed photography, instead sticking to its belief that many photographers who didn't want to wait to get pictures developed would hold onto their old Polaroid cameras.

Instant camera and film enthusiasts won�t be left up a creek: Fujifilm will still produce its instant film, and Polaroid is currently seeking partners to purchase the rights to their own brand so that someone else can carry on the legacy.

punk wonders if there are any instant-film photographers on SG, and what their thoughts are.

32 Comments

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commonman

Sarasota, FL

August 2003

FEB 13, 2008 04:30 PM

Suck.

I have all sorts of Polaroid cameras. Now they're all paperweights?

Dot

SUICIDEGIRL

I'm lost

FEB 13, 2008 04:33 PM

J24U said:

Subrosa said:

punk said:
punk wonders if there are any instant-film photographers on SG, and what their thoughts are.

Margot_Dent is an excellent Polaroidist, actually.

I believe Cherry is a polaroid enthusiast as well.

i have a SG polaroid set and am very sad about this. happy i had the opportunity to shoot it!!

dotheheather

Santa Cruz, CA

April 2007

FEB 13, 2008 06:14 PM

its such bullshit. it pisses me off. do we really want to trust the digital world entirely?

Kindle

Seattle, WA

March 2006

FEB 13, 2008 06:28 PM

I like the Polaroid film. Not so hot on their televisions though. I mean, if you're looking for something inexpensive, sure, it's great, but I'm not so impressed with the picture coloring. I thought it would be better than it is considering the source.

jermhawk

Warren, PA

December 2004

FEB 13, 2008 08:29 PM

Damn, that my only camera i can still get batteries for

pyromethious

Silver Springs, FL

October 2006

FEB 13, 2008 09:03 PM

BGage

Los Angeles, CA

February 2004

FEB 13, 2008 09:40 PM

Sick said:
All the great films are getting discontinued; Kodak stopped producing Kodachrome and HIE some time ago. Terrible losses. You just can't get a lot of the same effects with digital.

Kodak has also stopped making B&W paper, I believe, and Ilford is bankrupt, and worst of all, Agfa is out of business.

I loathe digital. Even my phone doesn't have a camera in it.

BGage

Los Angeles, CA

February 2004

FEB 13, 2008 09:47 PM

_DictionaryGirl_ said:
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

At least production hasn't entirely halted. They were saying the same thing about 120 film when I first got my Holga. I firmly believe that film will prevail.

I agree. I hope. I work in a lab in Hollywood, and a lot of our clientele are still using, or just discovering Holgas. I've never used one myself, but they look like an awful lot of fun, light-leaks, weird double exposures and all. There's a bit of a resentment among a lot of professionals of being forced, economically, to go digital, and I've been saying for years, and still say, that demand for film has shrunk as much as it's going to. I haven't gotten tired of being wrong yet, but I'm getting there.

Kindle

Seattle, WA

March 2006

FEB 13, 2008 09:50 PM

BGage said:
Kodak has also stopped making B&W paper, I believe

They did? If so, are you talking about for consumers because at the photography studios I have worked at we still get black and white paper from Kodak.

BGage

Los Angeles, CA

February 2004

FEB 14, 2008 10:01 AM

Kindle said:

BGage said:
Kodak has also stopped making B&W paper, I believe

They did? If so, are you talking about for consumers because at the photography studios I have worked at we still get black and white paper from Kodak.

Then I stand corrected. Sorry.

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

FEB 14, 2008 11:54 AM

J24U said:

Subrosa said:

punk said:
punk wonders if there are any instant-film photographers on SG, and what their thoughts are.

Margot_Dent is an excellent Polaroidist, actually.

I believe Cherry is a polaroid enthusiast as well.

As is Gil, who has done a whole series of polaroid photo projects.

Cosmo

Lansdale, PA

November 2003

FEB 14, 2008 08:00 PM

They stopped making film for all the cool polaroid cameras that took roll film years ago.

I miss the old pull, rip and peel polaroids.

LiquidSunset

Pomona, CA

August 2006

FEB 15, 2008 01:26 AM

First BMW stops making the classic Beetle, now this. Everything oldschool and cool is slowing being killed off by modern technology!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I will definitely miss the fun of Polaroid cameras.

FitzSimmons

Saint Paul, MN

January 2008

FEB 18, 2008 09:40 PM

This is sad news. I've been playing around lately with an old Polaroid I found in the attic. I've been very pleased with the images I've gotten. I hope I can keep finding film.

Zoran

Australia

August 2005

FEB 18, 2008 10:41 PM

I just bought my Brand New Polaroid camera, and now they decide to discontinue making the film????!!! I guess the day after I recieve my Holga they'll stop producing 120film!!!
Hope someone buys the license. . . . . .

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