Author Topic: what could it be? We will have to wait and see  (Read 7004 times)


moominsean

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,173
  • Living in camera shadows.
    • moominstuff
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #1 on: January 15, 2009, 08:28:03 PM »
maybe they are trying to make new instant film or something.
"A world without Polaroid is a terrible place."
                                                                  - John Waters

traskblueribbon

  • 120
  • **
  • Posts: 143
  • instant junkie
    • flickr stream
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #2 on: January 15, 2009, 08:34:13 PM »
a quote from the new polapremium  email...


A SHINING SILVER GLIMPSE OF HOPE
Thousands of analog souls out there still believe in the strength and the magic of instant integral film and aren't ready to accept the end of this outstanding medium. Looking at all the incredible new instant art projects and the exponentially growing crowd of people who are discovering and celebrating this creative material, it's starting to look like the big comeback of instant photography.

So for all of you who are still standing strong and united, believing in the fact that every dream has a chance to come true, we invite you to visit "The Impossible Project."
This breathtakingly thrilling adventure - the first of its kind - will be presented to the public within the next few days and we think it has serious potential to change the history of photography.
VISIT "THE IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT" NOW

gothamtomato

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,147
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2009, 08:38:21 PM »
type 55 - please be type 55 (and 665 & 85).

I know I sound like a broken record...

moominsean

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,173
  • Living in camera shadows.
    • moominstuff
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2009, 09:21:22 PM »
i pretty much figure 75 percent of pola users out there only want more 600, so if there a giant announcement concerning the continuation of a line, it will probably be 600.

plus the fact that the site says 1947-2010. that's next year... the pola factories stopped last year.
"A world without Polaroid is a terrible place."
                                                                  - John Waters

Francois

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,701
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2009, 10:04:19 PM »
Opens in two days... why didn't they say so in the first place?
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

Ed Wenn

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,295
  • Slowly getting back into it. Sometimes.
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2009, 01:04:38 AM »
...I wrote something here...and then I deleted it.

Mr 'Tired of Marketing BS' from London

synj00

  • Guest
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #7 on: January 16, 2009, 03:19:55 AM »
Would it be something hackable? Something that a user community could contribute to and keep alive? Whatever it is its got my interest.

rdbkorn

  • 120
  • **
  • Posts: 177
    • Error-Prone
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2009, 05:38:46 AM »
Yawn....I'm with Ed on this one.

Dave Dunne

  • 120
  • **
  • Posts: 83
  • I post here to see what posting here looks like
    • Connect
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2009, 05:40:17 AM »
maybe they are trying to make new instant film or something.

Is spherical instant film impossible?

Could be that...

traskblueribbon

  • 120
  • **
  • Posts: 143
  • instant junkie
    • flickr stream
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2009, 07:44:10 AM »
I think this is the justification for the 'BS'.

As far as I'm concerned its good thing, with illford as a partner it cant be bad.

LT

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,030
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #11 on: January 18, 2009, 08:26:39 AM »
Is anyone else concerned about the involvement on Florian Kaps as exec director? Mr Lomographic soc himself. I don't doubt the team's commitment or the validity of the project, but based on the Lomo recreations from the past (diana + for example) or their hyping of old products that probably should have stayed old ... I don't hold out much hope of the end result being a quality product.
L.

Ed Wenn

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,295
  • Slowly getting back into it. Sometimes.
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #12 on: January 18, 2009, 08:28:28 AM »
I'm all for anything that contributes to a new type of film...especially if it's one we can all use in our Polaroid (and related) cameras, so bravo to everyone involved and the best of luck to them.

I just don't like marketing and didn't think an announcement of this mangnitude needed a teaser website. Makes me think that the Impossible crew have Lomographic Tendencies and that makes me feel dirty and a bit like they're lost to me already...but hey, I do realise that my approach to this sort of thing doesn't always inhabit the real world where some people actually have to make money out of what I think of as a hobby.

Ed Wenn

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,295
  • Slowly getting back into it. Sometimes.
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #13 on: January 18, 2009, 08:29:04 AM »
Hah! Leon and my posts happened at the same time.

Ed Wenn

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,295
  • Slowly getting back into it. Sometimes.
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #14 on: January 18, 2009, 08:31:06 AM »
Is anyone else concerned about the involvement on Florian Kaps as exec director?

Yes, and no. "Exec director" can mean a whole bunch of different things and imply a variety of levels of influence. Let's see how it shakes out.

traskblueribbon

  • 120
  • **
  • Posts: 143
  • instant junkie
    • flickr stream
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #15 on: January 18, 2009, 09:11:39 AM »
I hear you all on the hype of the whole thing.

Leon I think his past  involvement with the lomographic society can be taken in two ways. yes LSI is geared toward hipsters, with sickening amount of marketing of cheap and some would say over priced cameras. But the pervasiveness of the lomo LCA and the LSI and the amount of film wasters they have created out of what was a communist relic,  is something that is quite amazing. If we like it or not they are  good for those of us who have a distaste for their marketing practices in that the more people who use film the better off we are.

Florian hasn't been directly involved with LSI since 2005 before allot of their greater mistakes, and has since created www.polanoid.net , unsalable/polapremium (partnering with polaroid getting them to create film out of what they considered landfill) , polanoir (an instant film gallery space) as well as buying the machinery and retaining the professional employees from the Netherlands polaroid plant, that is some commitment to film and quality in my eyes.

Though yes I have said it before; If instant film became the new lomo it would be a shame... but better than loosing it to history.

ed: I think this announcement was pending and hyped due to sensitive issues regarding polapremium and their direct partnership with polaroid corp. but who knows no way to tell.


in the end...
I agree its hip to be square, and I am ever the pessimist but I'm happy somebody is willing to make an effort of producing instant film and I hope its successful and I hope its profitable.

formica

  • Sheet Film
  • ****
  • Posts: 463
  • professional amateur
    • formica
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #16 on: January 18, 2009, 01:35:42 PM »
well, it states pretty clearly that they will make integral film or rather, that's what they hope to do. that'd be 600 then right? ti does seem like good news if it actually happens and depending on the price of course. i know of at least one shop here that dropped 600 film once they raised the prices on it(it went from being around 10 usd to 15 usd or a bit higher).  i am a little wary that anyone involved with lsi is involved in this project for the obvious reasons. but i'll keep a wait and see attitude with this.

                   william

moominsean

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,173
  • Living in camera shadows.
    • moominstuff
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #17 on: January 18, 2009, 04:55:49 PM »
it's tough to really say anything bad about the project, because if it didn't exist then the film would most likely be well and truly dead. i don't think the motives are to get rich, as great of a risk as it is, and regardless of marketing schemes (i'm sure part of the purpose of the teaser site is to find people willing to support financially), i hope they succeed. i even much prefer peel-apart, but instant is good no matter what kind.
"A world without Polaroid is a terrible place."
                                                                  - John Waters

Francois

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,701
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #18 on: January 18, 2009, 09:08:25 PM »
Only time will tell what comes out of it...
But I'm somewhat happy that they will produce integral film since I think it requires a higher level of technological competence to produce it than peel apart (does that make sense?)...
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

Ed Wenn

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,295
  • Slowly getting back into it. Sometimes.
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #19 on: January 18, 2009, 11:37:08 PM »
...in the final analysis my reason for being even vaguely sceptical about something so obviously positive is that I don't use integral film. If this was about peel-apart (and esp 665 or 55) I'd be howling at the moon with delight. I'm a disingenuous fool.
 :-[ ;)

Appreciate you taking the time to answer, Trask. Nice to get some perspective and history.

gothamtomato

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,147
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #20 on: January 19, 2009, 02:34:30 AM »
What I don't understand about this is; If Ilford is involved, why aren't they making the P/N films. THAT would make sense because those films could be used to print on their paper, so that multiplies the benefit to them.

And Ilford had gone over to Polaroid to investigate buying all that equipment, to save 55, and they said that they'd determined that it was not feasible.

So now I'm wondering what changed, and why only for 600?

Also, as I recall, Polaroid itself had manufacturing issues with the manipulatable sx70 after one guy retired. Batches that followed his retirement were not manipulatable & they had to get him back out  of retirement, because aparently he was the only guy who knew some secret formula. (That's what I was told by the ledgendary Sue Gagnon in tech services.) So they should hire THAT guy if they're going to make it manipulatable.

I just hope it isn't like Fuji & what they've done with the replacement 669, which is hard to make transfers with - which to me is the whole point of it.

traskblueribbon

  • 120
  • **
  • Posts: 143
  • instant junkie
    • flickr stream
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #21 on: January 19, 2009, 03:04:35 AM »
No problem Ed its good to be skeptical of things, unconditional support always seemed foolish to me.

I think Ilford's roll in all of this will come down to being a suppler of the negatives and other materials and ingredients required to make a new film. Probably means BW integral is the first thing on their minds!

beck

  • Sheet Film
  • ****
  • Posts: 631
  • Wet Blanket
    • rebecca pendel photography
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #22 on: January 19, 2009, 04:44:59 AM »
I started a TIP group over at flickrz incase anyone wants to jump on....

http://www.flickr.com/groups/theimpossibleproject/
Retired Renegade Plastic Film Liberator Super Heroine

Francois

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,701
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #23 on: January 19, 2009, 03:21:54 PM »
And Ilford had gone over to Polaroid to investigate buying all that equipment, to save 55, and they said that they'd determined that it was not feasible.
Think Bankrupcy court and you'll know why it's feasible now. They have a few billions to try and get back. If they sell for a much higher cost than what it's worth, they won't have any clients.
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

traskblueribbon

  • 120
  • **
  • Posts: 143
  • instant junkie
    • flickr stream
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #24 on: January 19, 2009, 05:53:48 PM »
A good bit in the British Journal of Photography. about illfords involvement

http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=835319

Francois

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,701
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #25 on: January 19, 2009, 10:18:49 PM »
Seems like they want to re-invent the wheel to avoid patent infringement...
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

Ed Wenn

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,295
  • Slowly getting back into it. Sometimes.
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #26 on: January 20, 2009, 01:55:32 PM »
Looks like I may have to invest in an SX-70 or something similar after all then.

 :D

This-is-damion

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,349
    • Damion Rice
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #27 on: January 20, 2009, 02:09:19 PM »
all in all sounds great news, echo the sentiments re the lomoisation (a word?) of polaroid,  BUT  if it means it hangs around....also feel that if iflord have any involvement in it,  it should be ok!   


from a greedy point of view means i might be bale to sell one of my old sx70 cameras!


Francois

  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,701
Re: what could it be? We will have to wait and see
« Reply #28 on: January 20, 2009, 03:37:54 PM »
B&W integral film should be different than what we're used to... Still have 2 SX-70 and a ton of 600's (more like 5 or 6)... hope the price per pack won't break the bank.
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

LT

  • Global Moderator
  • Self-Coat
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,030
Update From Harman (BJP)
« Reply #29 on: February 23, 2009, 07:38:43 PM »
Those who aren't following the BJP on twitter may not have seen this update on the impossible project.

bit.ly/YhBJ8
L.