Story of the World's Most Iconic Camera: Polaroid!
You have most probably used one or have a picture with the iconic frame lying around in the house somewhere. The thing is, most people don't know the incredible story of the company. How it was created, how it was almost demolished and how it rose again from its ashes! Let's get to it!
How It All Started
In 1932, Edwin Land(1909–1991) and a colleague of his at Harvard, George Wheelwright founded Land-Wheelwright Laboratories. The company was renamed to Polaroid after Wheelwright left in 1937. Polaroid’s initial business was developing and selling light polarizing filters and polarized sunglasses that we all use today based on Land’s self guided research at the company.
During a Vacation with his family in 1943, he took a photo of his daughter Jennifer. At the time, photos had to be professionally developed in darkrooms and you would have to wait days to see the pictures you took. His 3 year old daughter asked why she couldn't see the photos right away. That was what sparked the invention of instant photography! He later stated that everything about the camera became so clear that after an hour he spoke with his patent attorney!
5 years later in 1948, the first Polaroid branded camera and film went on sale at a department store in Boston, USA. These cameras use a different type of film than the iconic square film(integral) that is mostly known today, called roll film. As the name suggests, it came as two rolls you put inside the camera. The first roll contained the negative(photosensitive film) and the second roll contained the positive(where your photo is printed). The second roll also contained chemical pods with the chemicals required to develop the photo. Upon pressing the shutter, the photosensitive negative would be exposed to light. Then you would pull out a portion of the second roll — plus the previously shot negative after the first shot — from the side of the camera, breaking the chemical pods and spreading them evenly amongst the negative with the help of the rollers inside. Pulling out the second roll would also place the positive paper on top of the negative, creating a sandwich of negative-chemicals-positive. After waiting about a minute or so, the chemicals would react and the photo you took would be transferred onto the positive paper. There was a small door at the back of the camera. You would open that and peel out the positive paper containing the photo. Finally, you would coat the positive with protective chemicals using a small sponge included with the film. The exposed negative would stay inside the camera until it was pulled out with the roll on the next shot. It was basically an automated darkroom inside your camera. What a genius!
You might be a little disappointed by the complexity of the process. But remember; back then, you had to bring your film to a lab and wait several days for your photos to be developed. This was a huge breakthrough at the time.
Other Types of Film
The roll film was the first type of film Polaroid produced. There are two more major types of Polaroid film. Pack film and integral film with the iconic square frame. Of course, there were lots, I mean lots and lots of variations of roll, pack and integral film with different colors(sepia/B&W/color), ISO rates and even some with artistic color tints! Please beware that I am only writing about the most major evolutions of film.
In 1963, Polaroid introduced their first color film, the Polacolor. The Polacolor was the last variation of roll film and also the first variation of a brand new type of film called the pack film. Pack film was first introduced with the Polaroid Land Model 100. It was really similar to roll film with the major difference being instead of coming in rolls, it came in packs. Again, pretty self explanatory :) With this type of film, you would spread the chemicals and create the “sandwich ” by pulling a small white pull-tab coming out from the side of your camera. After you pull the first pull tab, a larger black pull-tab that is tethered to the “sandwich” would pop out. You would pull the “sandwich” out of the camera using it and wait for it to develop outside of the camera itself. After your photo develops, you would peel the positive layer from the “sandwich”. That was it, definitely way easier than its predecessor. Another plus side of the pack film was; unlike the roll film, the negative was reusable.
The last major type of instant film is integral film. It is the only type of instant film that is still being manufactured today. It is what the majority of people visualize after hearing the word “Polaroid” — the iconic square form factor accompanied by a large bezel at the bottom with thinner ones at the top and the sides. It was first introduced in 1972 with the revolutionary SX-70 camera. Also called the single-sheet film, the negative and positive layers are all contained inside a single sheet. You can think of it as a pre made“sandwich” without the chemicals spread between them. Unlike other types of film, the positive layer is initially transparent and is made opaque at the development process. The chemical pods inside this one are actually lying in that large bottom bezel. If you have a Polaroid picture at home, you can actually see the pods for yourself pretty easily. Just turn your photo around and look closely at the large bezel. You will see three — on most of them — little compartments. Those were where the chemicals were stored before you hit the shutter! When you hit the shutter button, light passing by the transparent positive exposes the negative layer. While your picture is being ejected with the help of electric motors, rollers inside break the pods and evenly spread the chemicals. Chemicals inside both turn the transparent positive opaque and develop your photo. They also prevent the negative layer from any further exposure to light, as it may harm the photo. Some types of integral film produced today still need shielding from light for a few seconds after being ejected though. Quite similar to pack film, the film is stored in a plastic cartridge that can be easily replaced by the photographer. Unlike the other types of film though, every shot of film is detached from one another — no tearing or peeling needed. After you take the photo, the camera just spits it out as a single sheet. There is a metal spring at the bottom of every film cartridge pushing them up so that they can be pushed out by the rollers.
Here is how Land described these new integral film cameras prior to their relese:
… the dream which I used to talk about then of being able to take a wallet out of my pocket and perhaps open the wallet press a button close the wallet and have the picture. — Edwin Land in “The Long Walk” (1970; Directed by Bill Warriner)
A fun fact coming up! Old school Polaroid cameras that use integral film like the 600, SX-70, and the Spectra series have their batteries placed under the film cartridge! As you replace an empty film cartridge, you are also replacing the battery at the same time.
Here’s a tip for you if you are shooting with a Polaroid or an Instax camera. There’s a common belief that if you shake your photos, they will develop faster. Well, that is actually wrong and doing so can actually damage your invaluable photo memories. Do not shake your Polaroids. With the older types of film, a small amount of developing chemicals would remain on the photos, making them a little wet. People used to shake their photos only to dry them quickly and it has nothing to do with quickening the development process. Shaking your Polaroids may disrupt the equal distribution of developing chemicals inside, resulting in a distorted photo. With the newer integral film, there is nothing that you need to wait for to dry.
Bankruptcy and Discontinuation of Polaroid Film
The company had been successful for a really long time. Then, came the introduction of Polavision in 1977. An instant home movie camera. Sadly, it wasn’t a success. Digital video tapes were rapidly becoming popular at this point and this resulted in low sales of the Polavision. Edwin land was coerced to leave the company he founded and Polavison caused the company to write off $89 million. Without Land, they tried to get into other markets, but with the rise of digital photography, the company wasn't doing so great. They also released a digital camera at the time, but sadly, it didn’t help them overcome their struggles. Inevitably, Polaroid filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 2001. After bankruptcy, the Polaroid brand was being licensed to other companies, allowing them to release a wide range products under the Polaroid brand.
Polaroid was really struggling at the time as demand for instant film have been declining in the past years. The company eventually decided to get out of the instant film business. Based on the sales trends at the time, they manufactured negative film enough for the next 10 years, put it in cold storage and shut the factory down. Unexpectedly, the demand for instant film have started to grow back slightly afterwards. Sadly, the negative needed to manufacture more film had run out in 2008, meaning they could not make any more film. They announced the discontinuation of film and closed their last factory. Months later, they had to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy once again.
The Impossible Project
Don't undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible. — Edwin Land (1909–1991)
Now, I would like to bring you to a party. Yep, a party. A closing party of a factory. The last Polaroid factory that I’ve told you about in the last paragraph to be exact :)
The Impossible Project was founded by Florian Kaps, André Bosman and Marwan Saba. Florian Kaps was running a company selling a wide range of Polaroid products called Unsaleable. It was one of the biggest sellers of Polaroid products back then. André Bosman had been running the factory for 25 years and had to shut it down. Kaps had an idea — an idea of manufacturing new film for Polaroid cameras. He told his idea to Bosman and others at the party. They all thought at first that it was impossible to make new film. The formula and proprietary machinery at other closed factories used to produce crucial parts for the film were lost. The only factory with its machinery intact was the integral film factory at Enschede Netherlands. It was a huge challenge to get everything together, almost impossible. After thinking about it for a while though, Bosman thought they might have a chance if they had some of the original employees, the machines where they sit and of course, money to run the project. The closing party of the last Polaroid instant film factory was the start of the Impossible Project.
Florian Kaps then went on to his investors and told the story. The investors agreed! Then they hired some former employees, leased Building Noord at the Enschede factory, and bought the machines there from Polaroid for a price of $3.1 million. They also managed to save a small number of equipment from other closed factories, including some they found in a warehouse that was used for making 8x10 integral film. As you may have guessed, this kind of film has a ginormous size of 8 by 10 inches(approx. 20x25cm)!
Polaroid’s supply chain was self contained and the crucial parts of the film like the negative, transparent positive, white textured frame, springs and batteries inside the cartridges were all made at other factories with proprietary machines that were lost. They inevitably had to build a brand new supply chain and make all the parts they sourced perfectly work together. For example, the negative Polaroid made themselves was different from the ones Impossible was able to source. They had to adapt the chemistry to work flawlessly with the negative they got, and this is just one example.
After 2 years of hard work and experimentation to rediscover the Polaroid film paid off. On April 2010 you could go and buy a pack of black and white Impossible film for the 600 and SX-70 cameras. They then released film for the Spectra and gigantic 8x10 cameras as well as colored variants of those! They also refurbish broken vintage Polaroid cameras and sell them. In late 2014, Impossible announced that Oskar Smołokowski would become their new CEO.
In 2016, they released a brand new camera called the Impossible I-1. It had a really cool design, an LED flash ring, infrared autofocus, and Bluetooth connectivity! You could connect it to your phone or even you smartwatch to use extra features. There were several different modes you can chose from in the app like noise trigger, light and color painting, double exposure and manual mode for advanced customization of settings. Also, the I-1 didn't need a battery in its film cartridge since it already had a rechargeable battery inside the camera itself. It used a new type of film called the i-Type film which was basically the Impossible 600 film without a battery. This was way better for the environment and made the film cheaper.
Return of the Polaroid
In 2017, Polish investor Wiaczesław “Slava” Smołokowski acquired the parent holding of Polaroid, PLR IP Holdings LLC. His son Oskar Smołokowski was already the CEO of Impossible, meaning that both companies were now under the control of the Smołokowski family. Awesomely, this resulted in Impossible being renamed to, Polaroid Originals!
Afterwards, they released two new modern Polaroid cameras inspired by the original OneStep — look at the title photo! The OneStep 2 and the OneStep+. The OneStep 2 was like a traditional Polaroid camera with some extras like a self timer function, a flash override button, and double exposure functionality. Well, double exposure is not a built-in feature but it is achieved with a little workaround! Similar to the I-1, the OneStep+ has app driven Bluetooth functionality and two manually selected lenses with different ranges of focus.
In March 2020, they changed their name from Polaroid Originals to just Polaroid! They also released a new camera with autofocus, called the Polaroid Now. It doesn't have app connectivity since it is mainly focused on capturing the moment!
This story wouldn't be complete if I didn't tell you about the Polaroid Lab. It first started as a Kickstarter at the Impossible Project era and was renamed and updated a few times down the road. It’s an awesome instant printer! You launch the Polaroid app from your phone — which is also used with the OneStep+ — chose a photo, turn your phone upside down and put it onto the Polaroid Lab. The light from your phone’s screen exposes the film, transferring the image from your screen on to instant film! If you want to take many photos and only print the ones you chose later on, the Polaroid Lab is for you! By the way, all modern Polaroid cameras released after the Impossible I-1 including the Polaroid Lab, are compatible with both i-Type and 600 film. Though I recommend buying i-Type unless there is a special edition film that’s only available on 600, since it is much more environmentally friendly.
Right now, they still sell i-Type, 600, SX-70 and 8x10 film in both B&W and color. Some even have colored and illustrated frames from special collaborations! They sell both modern cameras like the Polaroid Now and OneStep+ as well as refurbished vintage cameras. They also have accessories. You can go and explore all of that at their website. Just to make it clear, I am not sponsored by Polaroid, just a huge fan of theirs. :)
Thanks for reading the Geeqy! Here are some photos for you that I took with my OneStep+ :)
References
- “Edwin Land and Polaroid Photography” on American Chemical Society. URL: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/land-instant-photography.html
- “Polaroid Corporation” on Wikipedia. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_Corporation
- “Polaroid B.V.” on Wikipedia. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_B.V.
- “Instant film” on Wikipedia. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_film
- “Edwin H. Land in “The Long Walk” (1970; directed by Bill Warriner for Polaroid Corporation)” by Christopher Bonanos on YouTube. URL: https://youtu.be/zbmq9R0dtVg
- “THIS Visits: The Impossible Project” by Incase on YouTube. URL: https://youtu.be/ys26c5Euyck
- The Polaroid Website. URL: https://eu.polaroid.com
