Sunday afternoon I went for a hike with my younger daughter in Forest Park, which has 165 acres of trees, and a few miles of nature trails.  I brought 2 cameras, my Fuji X-E1 and a newly acquired used Polaroid, which I bought for $35 on etsy. The film came from The Impossible Project,  who purchased the last Polaroid film production plant just as Polaroid announced that it would cease making film for its instant cameras.

Above are three scans from shots I took that day.  As you can see, there is a light leak issue across the top of the film about a quarter-way down, and the film’s color performance is murky and uneven at best. But I’m still learning. The Impossible Project (TIP) folks will concede, I think, that their products are a work in progress. As they explain, the dyes used by Polaroid for its film are all outr of production now, so they have had to basically reinvent Polaroid film from scratch. The first iteration of color film was so light sensitive that you had to basically shoot it directly into a bag or box when you took the photo. That is still necessary with the black and white film. To this day, the color is somewhat light sensitive while developing so it should be kept face down for the duration.

Both do not develop for 30-45 minutes, and need to be used fairly quickly after purchase, and stored in a cool place like a refrigerator until then. So far I have found when shooting in even bright shade, the color tends towards a murky reddish/brown. I might be able to make some adjustments to correct that.

For all this, it’s a lot of fun to play with. The one issue I wish they could improve on next is the developing speed.  It really diminishes the fun when you take someone’s picture and tell them they’ll have an “instant” photo in 30-40 minutes, and to keep it hidden until then. But hopefully it will get better. If you want to play, check etsy and other sources for cameras. TIP sells some directly but they seem to be a lot more expensive than other sources.

I might make a week of this.