sufu x polaroid

[Decoy]

I'm picking up some film this weekend and can't wait to get shooting some more!

[antithesis]

by: kimberry

ps. this thread is awesome

[lamie]

a friend named kim berly took these

[sybaritical]

Booooo.

I'd just dug my Polaroid image out and everything.

Thing looks like a battlestar.

[lamie]

i wonder if it is time to stock up

[sonny]

my scanners on the fritz so no polas from the se/sufu party right now. here's a shot i got while whale watching a bit ago.

[sidneylo]

That's on some cloverfield shit right there Sonny!

[kiya]

Wouldn't it be weird if instead of a whale it was a homeless person on fire?

[hawkeye]

Polaroid closing instant film factories

By MARK JEWELL,

AP Business Writer

Fri Feb 8, 4:54 PM ET

Polaroid Corp. is dropping the technology it pioneered long before digital photography rendered instant film obsolete to all but a few nostalgia buffs.

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.

This year's closures will leave Polaroid with 150 employees at its Concord headquarters and a site in the nearby Boston suburb of Waltham, down from peak global employment of nearly 21,000 in 1978.

The company stopped making instant cameras over the past two years.

"We're trying to reinvent Polaroid so it lives on for the next 30 to 40 years," Tom Beaudoin, Polaroid's president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, said in a phone interview Friday, after the company's plans were reported in The Boston Globe.

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.

Global sales of traditional camera film have been dropping about 25 percent to 30 percent per year, "and I've got to believe instant film has been falling as fast if not faster," said Ed Lee, a digital photography analyst at the research firm InfoTrends Inc.

"At some point in time, it had to reach the point where it was going to be uneconomical to keep producing instant film," Lee said.

Privately held Polaroid doesn't disclose financial details about its instant film business.

Polaroid instant film will be available in stores through next year, the company said — after which, Lee said, Japan's Fujifilm will be the only major maker of instant film.

Polaroid got its start making polarized sunglasses in the 1930s, and introduced its first instant camera in 1948. Film packs contained the chemicals for developing images inside the camera, and photos emerged from the camera in less than a minute.

Polaroid's overall revenue from instant cameras, film and other products peaked in 1991 at nearly $3 billion. The company went into bankruptcy in 2001 and was bought four years later for $426 million by Minnetonka, Minn.-based consumer products company Petters Group Worldwide.

Polaroid's newly announced job cuts include 150 positions to be eliminated over the next couple months at Massachusetts operations in Norwood and Waltham, which make large-format films for technical and industrial photography. Later this year, Polaroid will close plants employing 300 workers in the Mexican state of Queretaro and in Enschede, Netherlands.

Meanwhile, Polaroid is seeking a partner to acquire licensing rights for its instant film, in hopes that another firm will continue making the film to supply Polaroid enthusiasts.

As it seeks to gain a foothold in digital photography this year, Polaroid plans to sell an 8-ounce photo printer slightly bigger than a deck of cards that requires no ink and prints business card-sized pictures. It uses thermal printing technology from Zink Imaging Inc., founded by private investors who bought technologies from Polaroid as it was coming out of bankruptcy.

Polaroid also has its brand name on foreign-made TVs, DVD players, digital photo frames, cameras and MP3 music players. Those products generated nearly $1 billion in revenue last year for Polaroid's parent firm, Beaudoin said.

^^ At least they will try to get someone to continue to make the film.

[sonny]

here's a few from the self edge x superfuture party.

tangerine, kinda giving the crazy eye

derrick and jan in gurp city

dum

digital denim(i think) and some wicked flare

pauuuuuul haaaan

[stuntastic]

Someone stole my tooth.

[Yardsale]

by: kimberry

ps. this thread is awesome

quite good! where is this?

[AstroWolf]

its honestly too bad that they are closing thier last factory making the stuff, stock up now, its going to become scarse... are they going to continue making pro film? i wonder.

[dino might]

its fucking gay. didnt they pretty much have a monopoly on the shit? did anyone else make instant film/cameras whatever like they did or was poloroid the only place to get it from? sounds plain dumb when thinking economically to stop making a product people cant get anywhere else, digital era or no digital era

[la-vvoc]

i read that theyre gonna sell the contract on it or something to some small factory so they could continue producing the film, just not polaroid personally

[dino might]

i heard that, but is it a done deal or was that just an idea?

[Matay]

i heard that, but is it a done deal or was that just an idea?

from what i've heard, there is no finalized deal, but there is a proposal for Fuji film to manufacture instant film. and there is a petition to support this here:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/LicensePolaroidTechnology/

PLEASE SIGN! a life without Polaroids seems very sad!

here are some of my more experimental polaroids:

microwave+polaroid=

[bronsnine]

read this article too. how the fuck do they go from 3 billion to bankrupt in ten years?

i hope they sell the rights to polaroid film though and another company keeps making it...

[mufid]

hey,

yesterday, after looking through this thread i asked my dad if he has some old polaroids somewhere and this is what he dug up:

couldn't wait to start taking photos when i realized that i don't have a film arghh

now i don't really know much about polaroids but i assume that i need different films for different cameras, or can i use the standart 600 films for the 2000 model in the middle? that's almost the only film i find on ebay...

[kiya]

Sonny, post photos of your camera collection please.

Thanks.

[hawkeye]

from what i've heard, there is no finalized deal, but there is a proposal for Fuji film to manufacture instant film.

Japanese Polaroid repros???

I'll only buy if they have arc and tab.

[kennmon]

hey,

yesterday, after looking through this thread i asked my dad if he has some old polaroids somewhere and this is what he dug up:

couldn't wait to start taking photos when i realized that i don't have a film arghh

now i don't really know much about polaroids but i assume that i need different films for different cameras, or can i use the standart 600 films for the 2000 model in the middle? that's almost the only film i find on ebay...

camera on the left needs pack film, middle should take 600 series films and the right should take spectra.

fuji still makes pack films, which are the most important polaroid/instant films for me so ill be fine for now.

[jeepster]

if i go into my local camera/photo store, they should still have some polaroid film in stock, yes? i'm gonna dig out my mom's old polaroid and mess around with it.

[kennmon]

im set for the next few weeks.

[kennmon]

if i go into my local camera/photo store, they should still have some polaroid film in stock, yes? i'm gonna dig out my mom's old polaroid and mess around with it.

chain photo stores are iffy, places like target or walmart always have 600 and spectra series film.

[jeepster]

chain photo stores are iffy, places like target or walmart always have 600 and spectra series film.

the polaroid that im planning on using is like the last one on the right in that picture of the 3 (posted by MuFID). what do they usually use? and its a local store, not a chain.

[kennmon]

the polaroid that im planning on using is like the last one on the right in that picture of the 3 (posted by MuFID). what do they usually use? and its a local store, not a chain.

it takes spectra, which is available at walmart or target.

open the film loading door and it should say what type of film, check to make sure.

[Kitsune]

From a documentary I saw the other day, polaroid will no longer be making instant film, can anybody confirm?

btw:

Everything except the camera for free!

[kiya]

Sonny.. where you at?

You gotta bring the heat with your 'roid collection.

[landho]