Impossible Project

 

Hello! This week I'm not going to talk about a camera, but about some interesting and innovative film.

As you most likely know, Polaroid stopped making their instant film in 2008. Since then, with Polaroid's blessing, the Impossible Project has been working with Ilford Photo to bring the masses an instant film to keep Polaroid culture alive.

After attending the Vancouver camera show, I finally had a chance to test my Sun 640 with some Impossible Project film I bought from Camera Traders. There are a number of monochromatic and colour films available for both the 600 and SX-70 series Polaroid cameras, but the type I bought was the PX600 UV+.

I've always loved the way Ilford film looks, and the same vibe comes through in this instant film. It's got lovely contrast but it still has pretty good latitude, picking up a lot of detail in the shadows. There is a warmness to the shades that has a lot of character.

Because this film is experimental and still in development (pun intended!) it has some quirks: the results are somewhat unpredictable and you must take care to protect your pictures from external forces. One of the main things is that you have to shade your photo right after it comes out of the camera, because it's still sensitive to light for a few minutes. You are also supposed to let the photo develop face-down, so shake, shake, shaking like a Polaroid picture is not really in vogue any more. 

Anyway, I hope this is somewhat educational, although all this information is widely available. If you want my opinion (and why wouldn't you?) it's definitely worth the dollars to pick up a pack of this film and experiment. It's not cheap (at $29 a pack, that's over $3 per shot) so it's a bit of a risk... but what the hell, life is short. The most important thing is that there are hundreds of cameras that were saved from the brink of obsolescence, and now they can be more than just another dusty piece of history.

ps, you can buy Impossible Project film at Photojojo and Urban Outfitters, as well as at many smaller, local photography businesses such as the aforementioned Camera Traders in Victoria and Blue Moon in Portland.

Here are some samples, taken with my Sun 640.

hugs and kisses,

C.