Polaroid Camera To Be Relaunched In 2010 (PHOTOS, POLL)

Hipsters, photo-classicists, and impatient picture-snappers everywhere rejoice: Polaroid Cameras are making a comeback.

After announcing that Polaroid cameras (and film) were being discontinued, Polapremium has announced that they are "preparing, supporting and managing the comeback of Instant Photography."

The beleaguered company seems finally to have understood the charm -- and kitsch-appeal -- of its clunky, boxy devices. Polapremium wrote in its press release,

After all the difficulties and changes of ownership during the last years, the new management of Polaroid now understands the source of the brand's attraction - which is surprisingly not based in digital cameras but in Dr. Edwin Land's groundbreaking 1948 invention of Instant Photography, which he ingeniously devised and passionately developed with a lot of care and devotion.

Polaroid cameras and film (both color and black-and-white) should go on sale in mid 2010. A new digital Polaroid will also be on the market.

The Impossible Project will manufacture the film, the Telegraph writes:

The film, meanwhile, will be created by The Impossible Project - the company rescued from the ashes of the Polaroid manufacturing plant based in Enschede, The Netherlands. Over the last year former managers of the factory have worked, as mostly a labour of love, to recreate the magic of the film on a low budget.

Check out our slideshow of more obsolete gadgets we miss (bring 'em back!!!). Don't forget to vote, and please suggest your own in the comments section below.

Power Glove

So. Much. Power.

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Comments

[lilkunta]

I am glad they are coming back. I still have my brown flat folding polaroid camera. Now I will be able to buy film for it. YEA!

[Kremfresch]

Digital cameras or even hybrids will never capture the essence of the Polaroid camera. The immediacy is there, sure, but the appeal of the Polaroid is not just the immediacy, it is the uniqueness. A Polaroid picture has one original, with no negative. Any reproduction of a Polaroid is obviously a picture of a picture, or a scan of a picture... the original stands alone. It is like a painting or a drawing in that respect. Each Polaroid photo is truly one-of-a-kind. I applaud the return of the Polaroid!!

[BobSacomano]

I think this will be a quick fad for about 6 months, then people will get tired of hauling around the camera and the film and go back to their cell phone and the great new small digital cameras.

Enjoy it while it lasts, it won't be long.

[lilkunta]

@ bob
I disagree. So many of us wordlwide were saddened when they announced it was ceasing production. So we're all glad they are back.

Polaroids dont have to be hauled. They fold flat. They arent heavy.
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BobSacomano
I think this will be a quick fad for about 6 months, then people will get tired of hauling around the camera and the film and go back to their cell phone and the great new small digital cameras.

Enjoy it while it lasts, it won't be long.

[baxterblogs]

Please tell me they will be bringing back both SX-70 and 669 transfer film.

[Jaywalkker]

And pedophiles the free world over cheered.

[bloodorange]

All of this debate regarding digital vs. film cameras reminds me of a discussion I had with a friend recently.

I had come across a large box of old childhood photos and it occurred to us that with the popularity of digital and often times not printing those digital images, future generations will be devoid of the pleasure of finding boxes of old photographs. Few things are as rewarding or revealing as rummaging through old photos.

It's like the difference between digital books and actual books. I can read either format and still understand and appreciate the story, but I like to hold books. I like to see them go dogged-eared with love and time. I like the way the paper smells. I like to see notations as to which typeface was choose. I like picking up used books and seeing what is marked inside.

[EchoStation]

these sorts of things are right up the alley of a columnist who writes for the huff po quite a bit. she just wrote a great book called "Obsolete: An Encyclopedia of Once-Common Things Passing Us By,"

check out her huff po stuff here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman

[Fabini]

Photography with a Polaroid is like writing with a typewriter. I mean this as a good thing. In both instances you have to think through the process to achieve good results. Digital photography allows you to shoot and shoot and then pick from a batch. You can get great results this way, but it just makes most people lazier.

[Fabini]

I assumed they would come back with a digital version, camera & printer in one small case.

[Principaldad]

I would have figured simultaneous printing to standard film and creation of a digital image. Best of both worlds.

[YoniBeever]

Bah! I'll take my daguerrotype aparatus anytime over a Polaroid!

[Fabini]

I'm a camera obscura guy myself.

[Goliadkin]

Copy that.

[Goliadkin]

Talk all the techno-babble you want, but Polaroid photos have a "soul" that digital will never equal.

[montemalone]

SX-70?
I want to be able to use my elegant work of art. A chrome and black leather encased SX-70 sonar I bought in high school. Even have the matching electronic flash and bag. At a party, nothing beats the sound of the motors ejecting the film and then waiting for the developing process to complete.
Digital just isn't the same.

[Mickey1]

I got some great photos with that camera. Got a lot of bad film but it was worth the beautifully colored prints. They are on my walls framed in groups.

[patiencepatriot]

It would appear that human behavior is not good for the environment but, records and record players are back- for some they never went away and, as a photographer, first with film, now working in digital- I can say that a good polaroid camera might just make it.

[ulatec]

There was a program about the re-launch of the Polaroid about 6 months ago on the BBC , apparently it was a last ditch effort by former workers who got together and bought back the inventory after the Dutch company went BK , had they not gotten together the technology would have been lost forever , they were still in the early stages of the redevelopment when the documentary was filmed and it was a question whether they would make it , I'm glad that they did , still have old family Polaroids from the 70's and they look exactly the same as when they were taken 40 years ago - amazing

[fijisailor]

I don't know about you polaroid die hards but I think digital cameras will make this never take off. I personally have no use for photo prints except when they are very good and to be blown up and framed.

[mick7191]

Digital killed it once. I wish them luck.

[mick7191]

Digital can't compete with silver gelatin in any arena. Take a good look at an Adams or Haas. Digital will always fall short.

[miles120]

I still print with platinum salts. Remember that? Silver halide (b&w) didn't kill it completely. There is a great use for instant film in fine-art photography. Just because something else comes along is no reason to ditch the old stuff.

[bloodorange]

Then this isn't really about you. And that isn't really the sort of photo taking we're talking about here.