Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/05/15/the-polaroid-onestep-revival-i.html
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Polaroid prints of your COVID-19 party will never run out of battery in the ICU. Record memories to last a lifetime!
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Not interested unless it takes 600 film. Of which I have a surprising surfeit.
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As it says in TFA:
“ the OneStep 2 also takes 600 film”
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More selfies, LESS group shots.
We’ve been training for this, people, come on!
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Those " cool, soft, desaturated images that look just like they popped out of a 1977 model."
are because those images are 40 years old when you found them in your family’s shoe box. Not because they looked that way originally.
The original SX70 and ‘one step’ color quality was pretty good.
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Now you have my attention.
Yeah, but if you actually want anyone else to see it right now, you’re going to have to take a picture of the picture…
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I’ve still got a Polaroid down in the basement.
It’s a leftover from when I did an at-the-convention paper zine with pictures: Take photos with the Polaroid, digitize them with a hand scanner, import it into Publish-It! (say five times fast) and print on an HP Inkjet 500.
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Death by narcissism and Likes.
Yay.
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Hate to be a buzzkill but the One Step is selling for $10 less – US$89.99 – directly from Polaroid.com with free shipping.
The One Step 2 models will shoot either i-Type cartridges or the 600 stuff.
The i-Type and 600 films are identical, it’s just that the i-Type cartridges DO NOT include a battery whereas the 600 do. The new Polaroid cameras are powered by an internal battery, not the film pack. The Vintage 600-type cameras (like the original One Step) drew power from the film pack’s battery.
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Eh 600 film, especially versions from other brands, thrown through the cheapest cameras would often look like that fresh from the camera.
Plus both the SX70 and it’s film were a LOT higher quality than what we’re looking at now.
These cameras and the film stocks are coming out of what used to be the Impossible Project, who are now just Polaroid. So they’re selling the original SX70 and 600 emulsions. And will even sell you a referbed original camera. So you may have all the high quality SX70 fun you would like.
I’m assuming that line is about and the image are their new I-type film, which seems to be 600 that’s more contrasty or prone to blow outs.
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No, I owned several SX70’s including my childhood one from the 70’s.
And while I LOVE that the Impossible project is trying it’s darnest to bring back the film.
It is not the same at all. All of my BW ones taken 3 years ago have faded into nothingness…and the color ones are doing the same. And yes, I even used the ‘frog tongue’ to protect it from light at the initial ejections. Something that wasn’t needed for original emulsions for SX70 film.
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As far as I’m aware it’s the same emulsions and chemistry. But Impossible had issues at various points getting the balance of the developing chemicals right or something like that. So Impossible branded film from a few years ago isn’t neccisarily the same on that front as film coming out now. And I would expect it to continue to improve.
And like you said, it’s not like instant film was rock solid stable to begin with.
But this is part of why I went with an Instax. Cheaper more commonly available film, that’s apparently more stable over time. More camera choices. For something I’m basically just gonna screw around with while drinking on the beach it fits better. Though at some point I’m going to have to take some photos of Bigfoot with it.
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Haunting.
I remember when these were all the rage. Dog damn, I’m old.
Hey, there’s Ali Macgraw before she was famous!
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I know it’s “not the same” but I wonder why they didn’t go with Zink as in this other camera from them ?
The short answer is that’s from a different Polaroid and they might not be making it anymore.
The long answer is complicated. But what it boils down to is there being 2 Polaroids until really recently.
When they stopped making film they sold their tooling and chemistry to the founders of The Impossible Project. So anything film related comes out of Impossible, which later became Polaroid Originals.
Polaroid Corporation had basically become a brand licensing company by that point. But was still pursuing digital photography and instant printing. So the whole Zink thing, and associated cameras came out of Polaroid Corporation.
The guy who by this point owned Polaroid Corporation basically ended up buying Impossible. Who were re-branded Polaroid Originals.
So you had Polaroid Originals for film. Polaroid for digital.
This year Polaroid Originals became just Polaroid. And the digital stuff may not be in production anymore. Though they still seem to be available on Amazon. They aren’t pushing it, and it doesn’t appear to be linked from the official Polaroid site. It’s off in it’s own weird little alternate.
To complicate things further there’s a 3rd company involved called MiNT Camera. Who provide unofficial service for old Polaroid products. And specialize in refurbishing old Polaroid Cameras. They had partnered with Impossible/Polaroid Originals to provided refurbed cameras and repair services. Which means they’re now officially supplying old Polaroid cameras and warranty services to actual Polaroid.
Guy who owns Polaroid has kinda been running around reassembling the company from it’s constituent parts. It’s been interesting to watch.
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the true party camera that everybody needs right now
right, for all that partying we’ve been doing…
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Which is actually quite ingenious, given the limitations of battery technology at the time. It’s pretty easy to figure out how much battery capacity your device needs to produce a given number of pictures, and you know how many pictures a given cartridge design can contain, so putting the battery there is a great solution.
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