Have you heard the news Impossible Project becomes Polaroid Originals ? It’s little bit late to post about this but this is one of the biggest things which has happened in Instant Camera Industry in recent years. It all started when Polaroid was acquired by The Impossible Project’s Largest Shareholder in May 2017. It was done by Wiacezlaw “Slava” Smolokowski, an energy industry tycoon who has 20% stake in The Impossible Project. His son, Oskar Smolokowski was the CEO of Impossible Project Co. After that so many things has happened.
Impossible Project has become Polaroid Originals in September 2017. If we look back Impossible Project Co. was founded in 2008. Florian Kaps, André Bosman and Marwan Saba founded the company. They bought production machinery from Polaroid for $3.1 million. The company leased old Polaroid plant in Enschede, Netherlands and started reproducing instant film for 3 old Polaroid cameras. This company had become savior of Polaroid camera owners and fans. With those machinery they bought 3 types of instant film packs were made, Polaroid 600 film, Polaroid SX-70 Film and Polaroid Spectra Film. Basically they saved Polaroid Culture singlehandedly by keep producing film for those old Instant cameras.
So what now ? Polaroid Originals has already released their first product. That’s Polaroid One Step 2 instant film camera. Also they have released new instant film packs for this camera too. These are called Polaroid Originals 600 Film. It’s an improved version of i-Type film packs. This camera is an analog instant model so those old Polaroid fans will love it. Also they have made lots of improvements over old One Step model.
Now Polaroid seems belongs in right place with right people. For last 2 decades owners were just riding it’s brand popularity and trying to milk the name. They were trying to complete with new digital camera rather than focusing on their original idea. End result was producing expensive digital instant cameras which couldn’t win the target market.
So new owners seems to know what is the problem. Polaroid One Step 2 is an analog camera just like it’s predecessor. Also it’s a cheap Polaroid camera which you can buy for less than $150. Also they have made sure new film price is low too compared to old Polaroid film or impossible Project film. They have taken right direction to reboot dying Polaroid culture.
This will have a good effect on Fujifilm Instax camera series too. Until now, they had no competitor. They have been the top dog among cheap instant camera models. Till now they have done a great job keeping price tags low and photo quality high. But competition from new Polaroid Originals might give them motivation to make even better products.
So many be in near future we might able to see new versions of SX-70 cameras as well as Spectra cameras from Polaroid Originals. We won’t be hearing about Impossible Project again but the founders and this name will have eternal gratitude of Polaroid fans. They did their best to keep Polaroid analog camera line alive and succeeded doing that.
It’s really good someone capable has taken over Polaroid Co. I don’t think this digital instant camera approach was a game changer. This is age of electronics So everyone store their photos online or in their own digital devices. You can look at those anytime without going through the trouble for printing. Nobody want to print photo unless its for a special case. I don’t know even reviving those old cameras and film going to be profitable for the company long term.