Topic: TIP PX-680 ff release today!

[Thom Stone]

Anyone else sitting on the impossible website hitting refresh over and over :-P... no just me.

[Thom Stone]

No film yet and I gotta go to work :-( for once in my life I wish I worked in a stuffy inner city office 9-5 instead of a workshop in the countryside

[Francois]

Well, you might get a nice surprise when you come back home...

[Thom Stone]

that is a nice suprise. only £16 aswel, amazing, now do I buy 2 or 4 packs, thinking in multiples of two because its £8 shipping per 2 packs....

[Chalky]

bought a couple.

Look forward to trying it, seeing if I can get it to work as well as some have, hoping you don't have to shade it quite so strictly, and also looking forward to hearing about others experiences too.

In my opinion, love them or hate them or somewhere inbetween, I think TIP have done extremely well to be where they are so far.

[greenstphotography]

In bright sun you still have to shade it, trust me.  I have only gone through 1.5 packs of the beta film.  Overcast days and indoors you don't have to shade, though it doesn't hurt especially when outdoors.

Under bright sun light it makes a huge difference.  You still need to cover it.

[Ed Wenn]

It goes without saying that we'd love to see any results on the forum (and not just in the weekend threads). Good luck and happy shooting 

[Mojave]

Got three packs myself. I just hope they get here before all the wildflowers die off.

[Thom Stone]

yeah as some of you have seen I have been posting most of my test shots in the weekend threads but we should deffo set up a dedicated thread when more people get there hands on it!

I much agree with Greenstphotography, in sunlight its imperitive to shield the film, TIP themselves say that the first few seconds are crucial. I have simply been using a darkslide to cover the shot as it comes out of the camera, however as that is only the size of a polaroid picture there is a fair chance light can get in around it, I always seem to get light leaks near the bottom edge of the photograph. There was an email a while back with a weird looking origami paper light shield that you stick to the bottom of your camera, but it looked a little silly for me so I didnt bother. I think a small black envelope would probably do the trick nicely!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomo_lomo/sets/72157626428477680/

the last nine are all PX-680, you will see what I mean by the light leaks. it is a wonderful film, the colours are just beautiful, just check out mijonjus shot of the family with masks on at the bus stop, that its such a stunning shot. I took my first shot of Instax wide today as I have never used it, and although I LOVED the thrill of being able to watch the picture develop infront of your eyes, it just does not have the same palate or charm. one day we will once again experience the joy of watching a proper polaroid shaped photo from our wonderful polaroid shaped cameras develop right infront of you.


filmwaster in the making by Thomo_Lomo, on Flickr

vs


deer in the headlights by Thomo_Lomo, on Flickr

no contest for me,

most of all its been a real fun trip with TIP. following them as they attempted something rather clever and far beyond my understanding. I hope they never get it 'perfect'. perfection is boring

[moominsean]

i agree. i'm not particularly interested in accurate colors...i'm just looking for something with some stability and relative consistency, and something you don't have to do magic tricks with to get a basic image.

[Thom Stone]

cheers Sean, I knew you'd understand. :-P

[Ed Wenn]

...and something you don't have to do magic tricks with to get a basic image.

This sums it up for me too and it's what Damion and I were trying to explore in the last video podcast. Could we just load the film in a camera and take a photo without first having to do some research? The answer was, "not quite".

One of the things that I LOVE about film photography over digital is just how forgiving almost all aspects of the process are (whether you're shooting, slide, C41, b/w neg, instant...whatever). The reason I go on about this 'ballpark' nonsense is as a way of trying to demystify a lot of the gear-head tech-babble that's grown up around photography. You see, in a lot of cases you really can just point and shoot and you'll get a decent result. I'm looking forward to the day that you can do that with TIP products. I think we're getting close, but we ain't there yet.

Also, I think we need to be careful about this idea of perfection being a bad thing. I've said it before; I'm happy for my photos to look crappy. In fact much of the time I'm disappointed if they turn out too well, but I don't want to pay through the nose for crapiness or to test someone's product when it should just work already. 'Crappy' is great for DIY, out of date, cheapo, experimental or free materials. However, when I'm paying top dollar, I epxect it to work. TIP film is not cheap. I wouldn't buy a Leica and be chuffed if the results weren't perfect, but if I bought an old Zorki on evilBay I'd embrace the imperfections.

[Thom Stone]

well if simply covering the shot as it comes out of the camera is concidered a 'magic trick' im david blaine :-P

that is the only thing you need to do with this film to get good shots. from my experience atleast, also all signs so far point to it not degrading over time either, no crystalisation or loss of shots.
 
admittedly they could do with sorting out the white spots and the light protection layer but as far as I'm concerned this is all they have left to do, I love the way the images look. also I think they will eventually be putting 10 shots in the packs.

as for the price well, it has dropped conciderably since the first films as people have been supporting the project. Since the demand has increased they have been able to increase production runs mean the cost has fallen. Its not exactly extortion on the levels of a certain unnamed hipster plastic camera company.

the stuff you tried in the video podcast has been superseded several times since that was released. it is concidered to be rather old now.

also the last thing to remember is they have basically reserected some really awesome cameras by bringing this film out.

I think it all comes down to personal preference and what you want to get out of photography and instant photogrpahy. I want to keep my sx-70 alive and take interesting, unreal looking shots.


btw when I say perfection is boring, im simply referring to the colourpalate, obviously it would be nice if the film was more reliable, but if people keep supporting them they will get there. Its just TIP and some people keep saying, 'oh wouldnt it be amazing if we could perfectly replicate polaroid 600 colour film' to be honest, i dont think there is any point. they are doing their own thing which is really interesting. I wasn't anywhere  near as interested in polaroid back when the pictures lookd perfect :-P

[greenstphotography]

I failed to add that temperature no longer seems to be an issue.  I have shot the 680 between 60 degF and 85 deg F and no color shift.  To me that is huge progress.  If they can figure out who to make that happen with the B&W film I'd be happy as could be.

Shielding the image from light is not a big deal to me at all.  The real unpredictability came from the tonal and contrast shift due to varying temperatures.

[Mojave]

I am very happy to hear that temp is no longer an issue. That is just wonderful!!! Im really looking forward to getting my film. I just have to figure out where Im going to shoot it, but I think Venice Beach will work well for starters, especially the graffiti walls.

[Thom Stone]

I would do anything to shoot a pack of px-680 on venice beach :-( man I need to do an american tour sometime, boring old nottingham

[calbisu]

Yes the new films from IP are really starting to look GREAT, but prices are quiiiite hight. I mean 3$ per shot...

[jojonas~]

yeah, I wonder when I'll break down, crack open the wallet and buy another pack or two.

they've come a long way since the shots I took last summer~