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Polaroid Film Heads Into the Sunset

It was bound to happen eventually.

Sixty years after Polaroid introduced its first instant camera, the company’s iconic film is disappearing from stores.

Although Polaroid says the film should be available into 2009, this is the final month of its last production year.

Eclipsed by digital photography, Polaroid’s white-bordered prints—and the anticipation they created as their ghostly images gradually came into view—will soon be things of the past.

Posted by Owen at 2120 hrs
Culture + Technology

1. There’s always Poladroid: http://www.poladroid.net/

   Posted by Fuzz on December 08, 2008 at 2200 hrs
   
   
   

2. What?!?

   How is there not a government bailout out there waiting to ensure their now completely obsolete product?  That seems to be all the rage these days.

   Posted by Kevin Binversie on December 08, 2008 at 2234 hrs
   
   
   

3. Compact discs will be the next technology to go the way of the Dodo bird.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 09, 2008 at 1030 hrs
   
   
   

4. Compact discs will be the next technology to go the way of the Dodo bird.

   Nah, it’ll be Blu-Ray that goes before CDs.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 09, 2008 at 1120 hrs
   
   
   

5. Bubble memory will antiquate out all physical storage devices.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 09, 2008 at 1319 hrs
   
   
   

6. Adamski- interesting article you linked to regarding Blu-Ray.  Another marketplace blunder by Sony, it seems.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 09, 2008 at 1322 hrs
   
   
   

7. Blu-Ray isn’t going away that fast.  Some reasons:

   1) Downloadable HD content is too bulky for most people’s bandwidth right now to render the movie available in a reasonable amount of time.  Even if streaming the movie, to get true 1080p clarity you’d need at least a 10 Megabit/sec connection (more like 15 Mb/s in reality).  Most homes just don’t have that availability, and they won’t for many more years.
   2) None of the movie download providers (Netflix and the cable companies) provide a true virtual DVD experience complete with special features, content on extra disks, scene selection, etc.
   3) Some cable companies (Comcast has gotten the most attention so far) are placing download limits on home user Internet accounts (and/or selling on a usage basis).  The limit for Comcast is 250 GB/month (enough for about about 10 HD movies).  They said it has to do with network congestion, but that is false - the two issues are totally independent of one another).  The reality is they don’t want outfits like Netflix movie downloads competing with their own on-demand offerings.  These kinds of limits will still force people to rent physical DVD’s.

   Look how long 35mm film with one-hour processing, and cheap digital cameras have been around, and it still took this long for Polaroid film to die.  Blu-Ray (and DVD in general) are going to be around for another decade.

   Posted by David on December 09, 2008 at 1503 hrs
   
   
   

8. That’s fine, but why not just stick with DVDs which are cheaper to buy and produce?

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 09, 2008 at 1616 hrs
   
   
   

9. I still have my Dad’s early 60’s era Polaroid.  It was great fun watching the picture develop while you smelled the chemicals.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 09, 2008 at 1944 hrs
   
   
   

10. TerryN, do you remember with the black & white Polaroid, Dad would have to squeegee a fixative across each photo after he peeled it from the negative?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2008 at 0832 hrs
    
    
    

11. Yes. He would squeegee the fixative from a bottle over the B&W;positave.  later on Polaroid put the fixative into a bubble on the film roll.  Those B&W;positives still look good as new after being stored between layers of cellophane.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2008 at 1014 hrs
    
    
    

12. I would like to appreciate ur efforts you have made in writing this article, and introduce us with Polaroid.

    Posted by Learn Checkers on January 02, 2009 at 0155 hrs
    
    
    

13. Sixty years after Polaroid introduced its first instant camera, the company’s iconic film is disappearing from stores.

    Posted by Movies on January 04, 2009 at 1028 hrs
    
    
    

14. This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for sharing this great article! That is very interesting smile I love reading and I am always searching for informative information like this! You are bookmarked!
    Thx

    Posted by portal soft on January 07, 2009 at 1948 hrs
    
    
    

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