The Resurrection of Polaroid

[renfairephotog]

Polaroid Instant Film Resurrected by Fans and Urban Outfitters

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[Xanthenes The Unbalanced]

Interesting site.  Perhaps they could bring back the Pony Express while they're at it.

//Polaroid.  When correct skin tone just doesn't matter.

[Malkavian]

Saw that site I think when it was relatively new. Very cool the photos of the factory and talk about the process.

Personally I'm excited to see them making progress. While polaroid film doesn't interest me personally, I find the results a nice change of pace from 35mm or digital.

[Jon Foster]

Interesting. I'll stick with my digital bodies for now.

Jon.

[Xanthenes The Unbalanced]

Interesting. I'll stick with my digital bodies for now.

Jon.

I had thought those little Kodak printer/camera combos where you stick your card into the printer and it shoots 4x6's all over the room had kind of phased out the need for Polaroids.

And that Polaroid look is pretty easy to pull off in post.  Here's my typical workflow:

1.  Open photo in Photoshop.  Immediately decrease photo resolution by 500%.
2.  Apply Gaussian blur at 30% to ensure optimal lack of sharpness.
3.  Crush blacks and everything south of 50% gray to ensure optimal lack of detail.
4.  Pick three RGB values out of a hat.  Desaturate just those colors by 50% to ensure optimal lack of color accuracy.
5.  Select skin tone range with eyedropper.  Change the hue of all instances of that color by a random number to ensure optimal lack of proper skin tone.
6.  Apply white border to photo.
7.  Print.
8.  Shake printed photo violently..."like a Polaroid picture", in the immortal words of Andre 3000.

[bellevivre]

there are some things that polaroid is good for- elementary schools, local competitions, etc... far less exp than one of those print do-dads

Of course, why dont they just MAKE a digital polaroid? how hard could it be to rig a basic digital camera with a cartridge of paper? technology should hit that one pretty quickly...

[Xanthenes The Unbalanced]

there are some things that polaroid is good for- elementary schools, local competitions, etc... far less exp than one of those print do-dads

Of course, why dont they just MAKE a digital polaroid? how hard could it be to rig a basic digital camera with a cartridge of paper? technology should hit that one pretty quickly...

That would solve what has historically been one of my biggest peeves about Polaroid:  you'd still have a copy of the photo on a film negative or a memory card in case you wanted to work up a print later on that didn't look so much like a Polaroid. 

[bellevivre]

and with current technology, the image should, theoretically, be better...

Although, given that camera makers are still producing super zoom subDSLR point and shoots like my (beloved) Canon SX10 IS WITHOUT the option of a remote shutter release*, i doubt I'll find a camera with an onboard photo printer anytime soon...











* my biggest peeve about an otherwise awesome camera- what is the POINT of having 20x zoom if you cant USE it because it's too sensitive to camera shake at that magnification???

[Jon Foster]

Actual photo prints are fast going by the wayside. It's rare that I make prints of anything for anyone. But when I do the smallest is 8x10. Posters are the big deal now. Next are photo books.

Jon.

[Xanthenes The Unbalanced]

Actual photo prints are fast going by the wayside. It's rare that I make prints of anything for anyone. But when I do the smallest is 8x10. Posters are the big deal now. Next are photo books.

Jon.

My mom has switched to digital picture frames.  She loves 'em.  I still love prints, but I have a Canon i9900 that will throw out amazing prints at up to 13x19, so I rarely ever send out for them.

[Jon Foster]

I know several people that use photo frames now too. I kind of see them as a fad but as the pricing continues to drop I think they will stick around more and more. Do you remember the movie The Last Star Fighter? The alien gunner guy/lizard showed the main character (a human) pictures of his family back on his home planet... He was using a hand held photo frame of sorts to flip through his shots. I remember thinking that was a fantastic idea.

Jon.

[photomike]

and with current technology, the image should, theoretically, be better...

Although, given that camera makers are still producing super zoom subDSLR point and shoots like my (beloved) Canon SX10 IS WITHOUT the option of a remote shutter release*, i doubt I'll find a camera with an onboard photo printer anytime soon...

Many years ago I got a Sony camcorder that had a built in dye sublimation printer to make 2x3" prints from the memory stick. I still have the camera but the low 2Mg resolution will not look good any bigger than 3x5. Even on screen pix are fuzzy. But the technology is there! 









* my biggest peeve about an otherwise awesome camera- what is the POINT of having 20x zoom if you cant USE it because it's too sensitive to camera shake at that magnification???