Goodbye Polaroid, we shall miss thee...

[David A. Goldfarb]

Type 809, Voigtlander Petzval

[Alan Davenport]

Taken on some very old (over 10 years past its exp. date) T-52. Scanned and "hand" colored in PS...

[Steve Kefford]

Oh, come on, it is all over the major news outlets in that last couple of weeks. Polaroid has, or will, cease production of all instant film products within a few weeks.

Thanks. I assume you mean all over the major American news outlets.

Intrerestingly, there is no coverage on the Polaroid website.

Steve

[BrianShaw]

Look at any instant film product in the "for sale" section of www.polaroid.com -- the announcement/apology is there.

p.s. it was in the UK news also. Where are you located???

[Steve Kefford]

Look at any instant film product in the "for sale" section of www.polaroid.com -- the announcement/apology is there.

p.s. it was in the UK news also. Where are you located???

Brian,

I was looking at the press release section on the Polaroid site. I am in the UK, and I have subsequently seen it on UK news sites, but only after I started looking. It was easy to miss.

I am a bit sceptical about reports of product demises as there are so many false alarms, and there was one about Polaroid last year that was false (or premature :-)). Also journalists do have a great ability to take any fact and turn it in to any story they feel like. Sometimes they even ignore the fact part of the equation.

Steve

[BrianShaw]

Hi Steve,

I share your skepticism in most cases, preferring to keep a positive attitude until real facts show up. In the Polaroid situation I have been watching this since 2001. For anyone who has been watching (which does take a bit of effort) it is no surprise.

The part of the situation I'm now watching with a skeptical eye are the rumors (hopes) (fantasies) that Fuji will 'save the day" and if not them, Harman/Ilford. I would be happy if it happened but I'm just too much of a realist to get my hope up too high.

Over on APUG someone just posted a link to a Polaroid phase-out table... but most of the availability data is already wrong. Like you, I was quite surprised that they have no press release. I suppose one morning we'll all wake up and see a Polaroid web site that simply no longer mentions instant film. This is like watching the last few dodo birds die.

[Gordon Moat]

http://www.polaroid.com/ifilm/en/index.html

[Jerry Flynn]

I have some out-dated type 55 (dried out developer pods) that I am going to try to use as if it were a ready load. I'll not process it in the holder, but instead will tray-process the film. I'll have to experiment with developers and times, but it's better than throwing it away.

[scrichton]

It sucks.. but I hope we will all learn to adapt. The rights and production equipment are for sale and I'm sure someone will buy them saving the day... if not, I'll move on.

[butterfly]

On the Polaroid UK shop site:

http://www.polaroid.com/shop/shop_de...bmLocale=en_GB

Every 4x5 film bar one specific 10x8 film will be discontinued within the next several months. It is a crying shame really. I love type 55.

As Polaroid state 'although the circumstances made it inevitable'.. I wonder what those circumstances are? Maybe they should share their reasons and give us some supporting data. At least I would be interested and sympathise a bit more. At the moment I am totally pi**ed with Polaroid. One tiny note in a box on the web site is not really good enough for their loyal users!

The user base of Type 55 and sales could never have been enormous, and I would love to know the figures and how much sales have dropped since the introduction of digital (if indeed that is the reason for ceasing production?).

Steve