Astonishing news article on attempt to revive Polaroid production

[beepy]

<p>As <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=1503451">Byron Rakitzis</a> said "In the Netherlands no less!":</p>

<blockquote>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/technology/26polaroid.html">Polaroid Lovers Try to Revive Its Instant Film</a></p>

</blockquote>

[rapyke]

<p>LOL... was just on my way to post the same link... would be lovely to be able to shoot polaroid again.</p>

[beepy]

<p>Yeah, I figured there would be a rush to post:-) So, the plant made SX-70, and nothing else? SX-70 was probably (if anyone knows any different) the most complex of the Polaroid films - no ripping off negative, develop in one step. <br>

I have a small stockpile of 85, 665 and 55 B+W packs - need to use.</p>

[byron_rakitzis]

<p>Funny.. I'm moving to the Netherlands later in the year and wonder how easy it will be to continue with film/darkroom photography. Things I wonder about: can I buy darkroom chemistry easily? How do I recycle spent fixer? Are there any pro labs left doing C-41 (or E-6?) for medium and large format? Germany/Great Britain are not far away, is it better to get things like film, paper, and chemistry via mail order?</p>

<p>On the Polaroid front: it would be really nice to be able to make color Polaroid prints with an 8x10 camera. I never got that chance back in the day when Polaroid made this product.</p>

[byron_rakitzis]

<p>Brian, in answer to your question, a posting to the NY Times:</p>

<p>>The Enschede factory made film packs but not the film itself. The technology for instant color film uses 17 layers deposited in an oxygen-free atmosphere. The most critical elements are not the chemical specifications but the process controls. By the late 1980s, because of retirements, Polaroid had lost effective process control in its own factory and was buying film from Fuji. This classic story of industrial failure could have been easily discovered by a more diligent reporter who took care to contact former Polaroid employees. — AppDev, EEUU</p>

[beau 1664876222]

<p>In so many ways, a Polaroid represented the apogee of photography; it sort of crystalized the true power of the medium. You made an exposure and there it was --- just what you were looking at, embodied in one mysterious and beautiful object, and highly archival. Have you ever seen photos made with that 16x20 Polariod sheet film? <br>

It's a shame the company couldn't prosper. In the immortal words of an obscure band, "everything that's beautiful has no desire to survive".</p>

[jpo3136b]

<p>These guys have been at this for a while. Glad to see they're still hanging in there.</p>

[steve_crognale]

<p>*</p>