Polaroid B.V. (trading as the second incarnation of Polaroid and formerly as Polaroid Originals) is a Dutch photography and consumer electronics company, founded as a manufacturer of discontinued film for Polaroid Corporation instant cameras. In addition to film, the company produces new instant cameras under the Polaroid brand name as well as wireless speakers and other accessories.
Polaroid B.V. was founded in 2008 as The Impossible Project (sometimes known as Impossible). In 2017, Polaroid Corporation's brand and intellectual property were acquired by Impossible Project's largest shareholder and the company was rebranded as Polaroid Originals."Polaroid Acquired by The Impossible Project’s Largest Shareholder" Michael Zhang, Petapixel, 12 May 2017. Accessed 14 September 2017 In March 2020, Polaroid Originals branding shortened its name to Polaroid.
History
The Impossible Project was founded in 2008 after the original Polaroid announced in February of that year that it would stop producing film for Polaroid cameras. The founders were Florian Kaps, André Bosman, and Marwan Saba. In June 2008, Kaps and Bosman met at the Polaroid factory's closing event and decided to find a company to produce materials for Polaroid cameras. In October 2008, Impossible bought Polaroid's remaining production machinery for $3.1 million and leased the north building of the Polaroid plant that had been operating in Enschede, Netherlands. Using that equipment and plant, they developed new instant film products for use in some of the existing Polaroid cameras, and began mass production and sales in 2010. They generated US$270,000 in profit on US$4 million in revenue and sold 500,000+ units.
In January 2012, the company announced that it and Polaroid would launch a range of collectible products, called The Polaroid Classic range, that originates from different periods of Polaroid's history. Between six and ten products will be released each year. In July 2013, Florian Kaps announced his retirement from the project and Creed O'Hanlon took over as CEO.
In December 2014, The Impossible Project announced that Oskar Smołokowski would be their new CEO and Creed O'Hanlon would become the executive chairman of Impossible's management board.
Polaroid (Impossible BV) has offices in Vienna, Berlin, New York City, and Tokyo, and has licensed its name to stores in Germany, Spain, and London.
In May 2017, Wiaczesław Smołokowski (father of Impossible's CEO as well as being its largest shareholder) acquired the brand and intellectual property of the original Polaroid corporation. Impossible Project was renamed Polaroid Originals in September 2017."Polaroid lives again with new brand and OneStep 2 instant camera" Daven Mathies, Digital Trends, 13 September 2017. Accessed 14 September 2017"The first Polaroid instant camera in a decade is adorable" Sean O'Kane, The Verge, 13 September 2017. Accessed 14 September 2017"Polaroid Originals Launches with New OneStep 2 Camera and i-Type Film" Michael Zhang, Petapixel, 13 September 2017. Accessed 14 September 2017 In March 2020, the company rebranded again, changing its name to simply Polaroid.
Products
Instant film
Polaroid manufactures SX-70 and 600 film, i-Type film, Go film, and large format 8x10 film. Unlike the original large format 8x10 film, the new 8x10 is an integral film with the positive and the negative kept together. The wide-format Spectra film, produced between 2010 and 2019, was discontinued in October 2019 as a result of technical issues and motor jams from ejecting new film.
The SX-70, 600, and i-Type film all have the same length and width measurements, 4.2 x 3.5 in (107 mm x 88 mm) with a 3.1 x 3.1 in (79 mm x 79 mm) square image area. The smaller-format Go film measures 2.623 x 2.122 in (66.6 mm x 53.9 mm) with a 1.851 x 1.811 in (47 mm x 46 mm) image area. The integral zinc-chloride battery that was in the original film of the SX-70 and 600 is replaced with a lithium-ion system in Impossible's remakes. The i-Type and Go, for which integrated rechargeable batteries are part of the camera itself, do not have a battery in their film. Current SX-70 film has a speed of ISO 160; all other lines are ISO 640. Except for the 8x10 film (which comes in 10 sheets per box), all films are sold in units of 8 exposures.
In addition to the usual white-framed film, Polaroid BV has made 600 and i-Type films with special frame colors, patterns, and/or shapes. These can be limited in quantity and become discontinued earlier. For the classical SX-70 and 600 series, many earlier "test versions" are listed as well.
Discontinued Current
Polaroid SX-70 Film name Type ISO Release Discontinued Characteristics PX 100 Silver Shade First Flush B&W 150 February 2010 ??? First flush, B&W, instant film for Polaroid SX 70 cameras. Released first to artists, then to regular customers PX 100 Silver Shade B&W 150 March 2010 ??? Second generation film PX 100 Silver Shade Cool B&W 150 September 2012 ??? PX 70 Color Shade First Flush Color 125 July 2010 ??? First flush, experimental color system PX 70 Color Shade Push! Color 100 December 2010 ??? An ongoing chemical reaction makes images taken on the PX 70 PUSH! shift to blue with time. PX 70 Color Shade Color 125 June 2011 ??? PX 70 Color Shade Cool Color 125 April 2012 ??? PX 70 Color Shade V4B Test Film Color 125 August 2012 August 2012 Introduction of an Opacifier PX 70 Color Protection Color 125 ??? ??? Cyanotype for SX70 Color 100 ??? ??? Cyan ColorB&W SX-70 Film B&W 160 April 2015 Available White frame Color SX-70 Film Color 160 October 2013 Available White frame
Polaroid 600 Film name Type ISO Release Discontinued Characteristics PX 600 Silver Shade First Flush B&W 600 February 2010 ??? First flush, first supplied to artists, then to regular customers PX 600 Silver Shade v05 B&W 600 May 2010 ??? PX 600 Silver Shade v06 B&W 600 June 2010 ??? PX 600 Silver Shade UV+ B&W 600 June 2010 ??? UV+ sheet improves the black & white tone; also versions in black, grey, and gold frame. PX 600 Silver Shade Cool B&W 600 June 2010 ??? PX 680 Color Shade Beta Color 680 ??? ??? PX 680 Color Shade Beta 2 Color 680 ??? ??? PX 680 Color Shade First Flush Color 680 ??? ??? PX 680 Color Shade Cool Color 680 June 2012 ??? PX 680 Color Shade Block Party Color 680 ??? ??? Urban Outfitters Exclusive PX 680 Color Shade V4B Test Film Color 600 July 2012 July 2012 PX 680 Color Protection Color 600 ??? ??? Ltd Edition Generation 2.0 Color 600 Film Color 600 ??? ??? Cyanotype Film for 600 Color 600 January 2015 ??? White frame, Blue shadows and White highlights. B&W 600 Film B&W 640 March 2015 Available White frame Third Man Records Edition Black & Yellow Film for 600 B&Y 600 ??? ??? Black frame, Black and Yellow filmBlack & Red Duochrome for 600B&R640??????Black frame, Black and Red filmBlack & Orange Duochrome for 600B&O640??????Black frame, Black and Orange FilmBlack & Pink Duochrome for 600B&P640??????Black frame, Black and Pink film Color 600 Film Color 640 ??? Available White, white round, and color frames Black & Yellow 600 Duochrome Edition FilmB&Y640August 2020???Black Frame, Black and Yellow Film Black & Green 600 Duochrome Edition FilmB&G640June 2022???Black Frame, Black and Yellow Film Blue 600 Reclaimed Edition FilmBlue640April 2023July 2023Experimental chemistry incorporating reclaimed factory waste material
i-TypeFilm nameTypeISO Release DiscontinuedCharacteristics B&W Film B&W 600 October 2013 January 2015 "Impossible Hardware", Type-600 film without battery Color Film Color 600 October 2013 January 2015 "Impossible Hardware", Type-600 film without battery Color i-Type Film Color 640 September 2017 Available Type-600 film without battery B&W i-Type Film B&W 640 September 2017 Available Type-600 film without battery
GoFilm nameTypeISO Release DiscontinuedCharacteristics Color Go Film Color 640 August 2021 Available Compatible only with the Go camera Polaroid Image/Spectra Film name Type ISO Release Discontinued Characteristics PZ 600 Silver Shade Sepia 600 ??? ??? PZ 600 Silver Shade UV+ Sepia 600 December 2010 ??? UV+ sheet improves the black & white tone PZ 600 UV+ Black Frame Sepia 600 ??? ??? PZ 600 silver Shade Cool Sepia 600 ??? ??? PZ 680 Color Shade Color 680 ??? ??? PZ 680 Color Protection Color 600 December 2012 ??? Color Film Black Frame Color 600 ??? ??? Black Frame B&W 2.0 Film Black Frame B&W 600 2015 ??? Black Frame Color Film Color 640 September 2017 October 2019 B&W Film for Spectra B&W 640 September 2017 October 2019
8x10 Film Film name Type ISO Release Discontinued Characteristics PQ Silver Shade B&W 640 August 2012 Late 2013 PQ Silver Shade B&W 640 Late 2013 Late 2013 Second generation B&W 8x10 Film B&W 640 July 2014 ??? Third Generation B&W 8x10 Film B&W 640 ??? Out of stock Color 8x10 Film Color 640 ??? Out of stock
Future and other formats The Impossible Project has stated that they will not manufacture packfilm "in the foreseeable future", due to the investment required, and cannot produce 4x5, Type 100, or Type 80 films, Polaroid 500 film and I-Zone film as they do not have the production machinery. These were disassembled along with the factories that used to produce the film when Polaroid filed for bankruptcy.
Impossible founder Florian Kaps left the company in July 2013 and later founded a coffee house and photo studio in Vienna called SUPERSENSE. Kaps revealed through a series of blog posts and interviews in 2016 that he had personally approached Fuji about acquiring their machinery in an attempt to rescue their soon-to-be discontinued FP3000b and FP100b packfilm products. Kaps was unsuccessful in this pursuit, but motivated by his disappointment in Fuji's decision, he established the Analogue Product Institute (API) with the goal of "developing a NEW generation of analog instant packfilm [and] Establishing a rich network of new suppliers, manufacturers and financiers from all over the world".
Hardware Polaroid produces its own hardware and used to refurbish Polaroid Corporation cameras.
Instant Lab The Instant Lab is a device that exposes digital images from a smartphone onto analog instant film, using the light produced by the screen.
The first generation of the Instant Lab was introduced in October 2013. It supports the iPhone 4, 4s, 5, 5c and 5s, as well as the iPod Touch. The device was produced after a successful crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter.
Impossible Project introduced a new battery-less film cartridge design for use with the Instant Lab. The system, now known as the i-Type system, is a Polaroid 600-type cartridge stripped of the battery. The Instant Lab is internally-powered and does not rely on the battery to work. It works with all Polaroid square film formats, that is the original 600, the battery-less i-Type, and the less sensitive SX-70.
A "universal cradle" was later released for Instant Lab 1.0 to accommodate different screen sizes on the iPhone 6 and various Android phones. It turns the device into the newer Instant Lab Universal (2015), a new generation announced at Photokina 2014.
Hi•Print Released in August 2020 the Hi•Print is a Bluetooth portable printer that uses dye-sublimation to create 2.1 inch x 3.4 inch prints with an adhesive backing to be used like a sticker. The printer uses 10 pack cartridges containing both paper and dyes. Much like the Instant Lab, the device is controlled via an app. Unlike Polaroid's other hardware, the Hi•Print is an entirely digital system.
Instant cameras
Impossible I-1 In 2016, Impossible started manufacturing its own instant camera, the Impossible I-1. It is a part of the company's original i-Type system, which uses its new i-Type film and 600 film. It features Bluetooth connectivity for remote control, double-exposure, advanced manual settings, among other features. It was designed by Teenage Engineering.
Polaroid OneStep 2