As much as I love my digital camera, I think Polaroids’ decision is the end of an era and it’s sad. I can understand it’s not financially beneficial for them in this market. I just think the whole practical side of processing and developing photographs the old fashioned way is fascinating and Polaroid photos are unique and fun – digital photography cannot replace them. I think it would be great if both methods could always be available for creative diversity.
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I think it’s very sad. As a child I had a big clunky Polaroid camera but no film, but I loved it and toyed with it endlessly. I love technology, I’m always the first to get a new gadget and gizmo thingy ma bob because it facinates me. Yet, I have a deep appreciation for the older methods. I think it’s such a shame that we are to forget instant film. There is nothing like taking pictures and not knowing how they’ll turn out till you print them. I love digital cameras, but the little screen often allows classic pictures that people deem ugly to be lost.
I will be stocking up on as much film as I can and hope that Polaroid see sense or at least let someone continue thier legacy. I’d rather not see the instant film go the way of the Dodo.
Comment by adoredee — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
That makes me very sad
Polaroid photos trace back to the very beginning of photography!
Comment by erinmitbaren <3 — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
They’ve been obsolete for years.
Comment by cireengi — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
I agree it would be great to keep the instant camera going, i used polaroid photographs for one of my degree exhibitions. I love the way it capures the scene.
Comment by Heather — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
Even quills went out of date …no worries there then.
Comment by WENDEL HOMES — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
thats so sad
Comment by Brooklyn — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
yes,but they are reportedly bringing out some kind of printer/docking station that will then develop pictures automatically
Comment by craig l — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
Not too sad, as technology changes with time. I wasn’t too fond of them either as the film was too expensive in my opinion.
Comment by atru1982 — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
From a USE standpoint it really does not bother me much. However, I do think the cameras should be saved as important remants of a style of past technology.
I also never used one for any serious photography. The photos are awful, the cameras clumsy, and the film way too expensive.
They actually had a lot of use as “exposure checkers” in the past. Many medium format film cameras have “polaroid backs” that would accept the film. It was a crude form of instant feedback to see how a photo would look at certain exposure settings. This was cheaper than wasting lots of film bracketing. When a decent polaroid shot was obtained, then the back would be removed and the normal film back would be installed to take the “real” photo.
With the advent of digital, the digital camera can now be used as a “test sample” for exposure instead of the polaroid.
So while I believe there will ALWAYS be a use for normal negative film, the polaroid just no longer has enough use to be worth the company to continue spending the money making the film.
Yea, kind of sad.. but then so was the slow death of 8 track tapes … but no one misses them now!
steve
Comment by Steve P — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
Sad? No. Polaroid cameras were great, in their day, although I agree with the person who says the quality of the photo was always poor. But, quite simply, we all move on. So no more sad than the fact that we no longer move around on horse drawn stage coaches, pump water up from a well in our garden, light the oil lamps on dark evenings, labour for our lives on the land of the local land owner, have May Day and Christmas Day as annual holidays, collect milk in a jug, butter from the market square, write letters as our only communication. It is easy to be sentimental over such things and see them as part or a romanticised past. In reality all the above were uncomfortable, time consuming, labour-some and uncertain in their results. Would we willingly go back to the above? It is doubtful. Would anyone faced with buying a Polaroid camera or a Digital camera really choose the former? Very doubtful. Polaroid were a bit of fun, thanks for the memories!
Comment by Foxy John — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
Well, I still have my Polaroid LandCamera 210, and thankfully I can still import Fuji Instant Film for the type 669. I’ve not quite used it yet, but it happens. If you know where to look, you can find replacements – like the FujiFilm alternative. I mostly use the Polaroids for Emulsion Lifts – I end up using them heavily.
Sure, I have a digital, but I don’t use it terribly much save for situations I need – like taking pictures of costume contest entrants for a buddy’s convention. For anything creative, I keep with film. It is sad, but there are alternatives. There are effects that are just impossible for digital to do, and for that I love film.
Comment by Aggressive White Hat SEO — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
yeah absolutely!! i think I’m going to need therapy! i haven’t been this sad since they stopped making mobile phones the size of a small car!! lol xx
Comment by andrea b — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
yeah hope they go mind the did have a good run and made a lot of money
Comment by panther — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
Yes I do. Any time we lose a creative medium its sad.
Anyone care to bet that some small company will step up and buy the rights to the manufacture of the Polaroid film and have it on the market before the end of the year?
Comment by Edwin — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
Yes, I do.
Comment by Provillus — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
it is sad when you are mother you use them often for class projects for mothers day. and at restaurant i worked at on valentines day we would go around taking picturesof couples..sad..ill miss them!
Comment by hugsandh — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
The good thing about photography is that there are so many collectors and aficionados of certain types of cameras that they never really die out, even when they stop making them.
Comment by Philip H © — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
I never really liked them. The quality is horrible and the film is a dollar a photo…but it is sad to see them go.
Comment by jenny — November 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
I’ll miss image transfer but that’s all – especially via Polaroid backs for quality cameras.
As for the company itself I’ve been in the profession a while and I hope it’s salutory to other imaging companies… IMHO they all tend to turn the screw on product sales and they are not very loyal to their customers, professionals in particular.
For those who believe that film will never die – here’s just the most recent of several well known names to dip out of the market… almost all the others will follow.
Comment by The Violator! — November 11, 2009 @ 10:35 pm
To be honest… I’m all for digital.
Comment by free wii console — November 11, 2009 @ 10:35 pm
Eh? Look at all the other things that were so revereddand cherished in the past that have all been ruined bythe digital world. People now could care less…its all about comfort and convenince. We now live in a world of programmed humanoids,digital robots. In my day at school we divided twenty numbers by nine numbers..same with multiplying. Today they hand kids in grade two a calculator and in grade five a computer. The digital world and the interne has turned people into mindless Robots.
Comment by BRYCE P — November 11, 2009 @ 10:35 pm
well things go but its sad at the end of any era…even things we were glad to see the back of!
lissi?
Comment by Lissi? — November 11, 2009 @ 10:35 pm
it’s just one of those things that has served its usefulness and is out dated. sad, but it happens with everything nowadays. we live in a disposable world and people are always lookin for the latest and greatest.
you’ll always have the pictures though!
Comment by ropehate — November 11, 2009 @ 10:35 pm