[Echoes]

Polaroid Technology Fades Out

By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 9, 2008; Page D01


When Polaroid users pulled a picture out of their cameras, an image would slowly appear before their eyes. Now, like the process in reverse, the image of the Polaroid instant camera -- dimming for years -- has finally gone black.

Polaroid, based in Waltham, Mass., is shutting down factories in the United States and abroad as the company abandons the technology that made the instant photo possible, the Boston Globe reported yesterday. The company will cease production of its film by next year.

The artsy, instantly gratifying Polaroid images, reeking of processing chemicals, have finally been done in by endless Flickr Web pages full of digital images, flawlessly produced by cameras that do not require film, emulsion or anything bigger than a shirt pocket to carry them around.

Polaroid introduced its instant camera in 1948, perfect timing to catch the mad tricycle rides of the first baby boomers, zipping around the new American suburbia. With its finely machined stainless steel body and black bellows, the Polaroid Land Camera looked anything but modern. Its instant film came in roll.

Polaroid moved to cartridge film in 1963 with its 100-series camera, which became a staple of professional photographers. They used the rugged Polaroid to take test photos, instantly checking lighting and composition before committing an image to negative.

But the company's boom and the Polaroid's place in the culture came with the SX-70, introduced in 1972. This groovy camera, with its aluminum and faux-leather body, was perfect for a hedonistic decade that couldn't take enough pictures of itself. They were good times for Polaroid; the company's employment peaked in 1978. A generation later, the Polaroid became a hipster must-have.

Now, it becomes little more than an image in history's digital scrapbook.

[Echoes]

So much for the photo walls at shows.

[christina126]

Aww thats so sad. Not that I use those ever anymore! But I remember when I was a kid it was the coolest thing.

[Yanka]

no. way. I better go stock up on it.

[MissMagAddict]

This news is a bit late

I've know (and so have plenty of other people) about this for months & have been stocking up from all the sources I possibly can. I guess that's good because now it will be going even faster.

[city girl]

Aw my mother has one and i love taking photos with it.

[Salvatore]

I need to stock-up as well.

[ChloeFrancoise]

I never even got around to getting a camera and film and I hate digital cameras/photography.

[lesypersound]

Apparently Polaroid could be run by smarter people then. They could hire marketers/advertisers to do a very simple thing and that is to make Polaroid and instant film cool again. I mean, couldn't they learn from the Lomo hype machine a few years back....ah well...?

[DandyWarhol]

NOOOOOOOOOO!
damnnnn i need to go buy about 3 million packs of film now!
can you imagine... all the sudden people will be paying crazy amounts for the film!

[seahorseinstripe]

oh nOOOOOOOOO

[Hipkitten]

That bites! Polaroids are great for checking lighting, etc. when shooting film. I'm just sad

[yourbestfriend]

I wonder what photographers, casting agents, designers are going to do. Polaroid film is expensive! But I will need to stock up

[MissMagAddict]

Polaroid is not just open to licensing the production of their film to another company...they really want to...

Quote:

Polaroid chief operating officer Tom Beaudoin said the company is interested in licensing its technology to an outside firm that could manufacture film for faithful Polaroid customers.

The buzz right now is that perhaps Fuji will take over production.

[electricladyland]

They still won't be able to call it anything other than a polaroid. Who's gonna say, "I need to take some Fujis"

Wow, it's the end of an era...