So what has been your trend lately? DSLRs? 35mm films? 120 films? Cheki? peel-a-part or the PX films? People usually tell me, why do you go through those problematic 35mm films. Develop them and printing them is just a waste of time and resource! Those peel aparts or PX Films are so expensive that I don’t want to waste money on them.

People tell me that, but I see them go to a disco or club 3 times a week after work. They spend around 3000yen (around 34USD) per night. Wow, and really? Getting drunk and dancing your ass off is healthier and more worthwhile than shooting 8 shots with your camera in a few days? Perhaps, to most of the people who choose alcohol and dancing would prefer what they do.

I have nothing against people who drink and dance. In fact, I drink and dance myself.

Alright, back to the main topic. PX films, We all know that, in this generation of time, almost any chemical known to men can be made or created. So why isn’t The Impossible Project doing it right? Reason? Simple. From what I think (in my opinion, not factual), Polaroid refuses to sell the rights to use their formula. Leading Impossible to reinvent the film, and thus THE IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT.

There are a couple of reasons why Polaroid won’t want to sell their rights for using the formula, because if they see the market acting up again, to they may some certain extent, make a big comeback. So Impossible works as a complimentary market research for them. I really really hate the person or the group of people behind this “don’t sell the rights to The Impossible Project” thing.  They are business people, with no love for photography or instant imaging. Like I always say, Dr. Edwin H. Land up in the heavens must be quite disappointed in the Polaroid Corp now.

Polaroid is just a name now, the meaning in the name POLAROID is gone. The word Polaroid is the name of a type of synthetic plastic sheet which is used to polarize light. Making the film requires a lot of chemicals and stuff (I’m not a scientist I don’t know exactly what.) For instance, whenever the word Polaroid is mentioned, what comes to your mind first? YES! An INSTANT PHOTO or an INSTANT CAMERA. Do you think digital cameras, television sets, LCD screens, or computer accessories? What are they doing?

http://www.polaroid.com

Someone would say, “Oh no, I see an instant Polaroid camera there, it says instant is back~”.  Seriously, Come on, that is a Fujifilm camera (Fujifilm cheki 7s) with a new branding on it. It’s not an original Polaroid. I’m not saying that it’s bad.  However, why re-brand something that’s already out there? (Isn’t that abusing the brand to sell something than doing something unique?)

People from The Impossible Project are being humble that they are not saying bad things about Polaroid. People from The Impossible Project usually say that they are really good friends with Polaroid. Nevertheless, in my opinion, Polaroid is giving a hard time to the Impossible Project. I don’t really know, now they are also sending (donate) everything away to the MIT museum. Well of course, now I have a new place to visit (on my list), but isn’t it like sending your parents to the old folks (convalescent) home? The name Polaroid is so famous because of all the work the company did, BEFORE. Respect it.

Someone may say, “Oh don’t they have that digital printable one? The Polaroid pogo 2? It’s the new generation and it’s hip!”

A simple little fact, the smaller the “Capturing Medium” (sensor or film) the lesser depth and lesser ‘feeling’ to the image,  they transfer this low depth of field (ugly lifeless picture) to the memory system then send it to the printing program and an image will be printed out.
However, the Polaroid photos of the past have a different story to tell.

That’s why digital compact cameras make really dead images, not lively ones. I should mention, the bigger the capturing medium (sensor or film) the more depth it creates. Okay, look at the chart above, regular compact camera use 1/1.7″

This is an image taken with my iphone, do you see depth it it? It’s good for documentating something, but not if you are making an artwork.

Shot taken with an sx-70 and px600 Version 06 at F8. Look at how the doll pops out. Moreover, I am using F8. No compact cameras or digital cameras can get such depth of field at F8 from this distance. Maybe close, but not like this. Why? Imagine you have a sensor at the size of 3.031 x 3.125 in. (77 x 79 mm). Look at the amount of depth it can create! Do you know the value of the piece of Polaroid you have in your hands? A 35mm film is merely < 1/4 of the Polaroid instant film.

35mm film (full frame) = 36mm x 24mm*

A brand new Nikon D700 camera costs around 3,050USD (30 0000+ yen),which is a camera with a full frame sensor of 36 x 34mm. Do you know how amazing this Integral (Instant films such as px100) instant film is? It solidifies after some time, into a real picture you hold in your hand, a piece of memory. Without photoshop or any computer generated effects. It is light itself directly being solidified into a piece of image in your hand. Nothing else is in between it,  just a lens and a piece of mirror.

Shot taken with an sx-70 and px600 Version 06 at F8. SX-70 is really an amazing masterpiece, its a COMPACT FOLDABLE SLR camera that runs on Integral film. How can Polaroid give up on that? Impossible is trying so hard to revive this camera. All I can say is, if you like your SX-70. Please support the comeback of the film. There may be some troubles with the film sometimes, but we have to just support it. Some day, a brand new solution will appear. A film far better than what Polaroid was doing in the past.

I usually go around the internet looking for Polaroid forums and blogs, I have come accoss people I really detest, People saying “Oh wow, the new films are so expensive now, I have to make every shot look amazing.”  Wait, what? Don’t you want to make your shots amazing? What are you talking about? You don’t make sense! You mean you like to take shots with cheap film and not make them look amazing? What is the point of shooting it then?

Another Case…

“Oh, is it possible that I can take the pack of film out of my sx-70, put it in a fridge, save it for a few months then reinsert them whenever I want to?” Oh dear, how could you ever possibly have placed this concept in your head? It is people like you, who are killing the film, you buy 1 pack thinking that you can use them for years?

Mijonju has fainted*

…….
….
..
.

Please continue to support THE IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT

Last week, I went out with Artsyken and he brought me a little present. When he took out the camera, he said, “Here is your camera.” Woooo! He had a spear FP-1 Fuji Fotorama camera. Before meeting him, he told me on the phone, “Bring a light meter!” I hadn’t forgot, but I was busy and I had to get out of the house early because of some business. So I took the camera and started guessing in ISO 3000. Gee, how good I was, haha. I could execute most of the shots I wanted.

Continue Reading