Just look at these two cameras. They were introduced while you slept last night.
Polaroid is back! 80 years after its founding, and nine years after shutting its doors and being given up for dead, Polaroid—often referred to as the Apple Computers of its day for its game-changing innovations—has returned by announcing today an updated classic camera, the Polaroid OneStep 2, to retail for under $100. New Color and B&W instant films will be available.
What about the Impossible Project—that intrepid group of former Polaroid Employees who have been keeping the technology alive all these years? They’re now Polaroid employees again, and all the Impossible branded products, which were designed to replace discontinued Polaroid film and cameras, have just been re-launched under the Polaroid name. The merger—and the circle—is complete.
Mission Impossible, accomplished.
And you may ask yourself, “how did we get here”?
Digital cameras killed a major portion of the Polaroid market: Professionals who needed proofs. Digital rendered that obsolete and since pros burned through a lot of Polaroids, the loss of those sales meant trouble. Consumers embraced compact digital cameras with their LCD monitors, and the need for instant gratification seemed to be satisfied digitally.
But then came the Millennials. And the teenagers. Fujifilm stepped in with the Instax line, and those cameras became the hit of the party. It seems the need to hold something tangible, original, and immediately available never left—it just found a new audience.
Meanwhile, Impossible persevered, was producing film for i-Type, Spectra, 600, 680, and SX-70 cameras, and were even making new cameras. DIYers loved it and sales have been steady.
Polaroid’s second coming started in May, when the Polaroid name and intellectual property rights were bought by investors led by the majority shareholder in Impossible. Impossible merged with a re-invented Polaroid, and photo industry history was made.
To celebrate, here’s a little pop culture Polaroid reference. Shake it like a Polaroid picture!
