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The new Polaroid I-2 instant camera

i2-camera.polaroid.com

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Re: The new Polaroid I-2 instant camera

#101

Post by allenu »

iNerdier wrote: post #62
allenu wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was shocked to see the price tag on this. On the other hand, I could see it being used as mostly a marketing tool to provide an aspirational product to essentially set an anchor price that makes all their other lines feel more affordable. I honestly found that when I looked at their product line, all of a sudden, a $150 instant camera felt "affordable" after seeing the $600 one. I won't be buying one, but this had…

It’s an analogue camera with all the complexities involved in making something that exposes and results in a physical object and with relatively low production numbers and a high r&d spend required to make it. Why, coupled with a lack of anyone making anything else like this for Polaroid film would you think it would be dirt cheap?

I didn’t think it would be “dirt cheap”. It’s a surprising product to make in a world where there are already more affordable models produced by the same company to satisfy the urge for instant photos and everyone already has a camera in their pocket for around the same price.

Re: The new Polaroid I-2 instant camera

#102

Post by vr46 »

jnovek wrote: post #72
vr46 wrote: post #30

My 600SE has been largely out for action for years, with only a trickle of film available. Results were predictable when Polaroid and Fuji peel-apart film were available. The modern Polaroid film is anything but predictable or even vaguely good, especially for the astronomical prices. Zink gives about the same qualities. Fuji Instax in all its forms won this battle and there’s a cottage industry of Instax-holding bac…

Is there another option out there or are you referring to the lomography back? I shot pack film for many years and switched to Instax Wide when that ran out, but I miss using a camera with manual focus.

I have the Lomo back, but I use it on my Speed Graphic. Results vary.

This is a printed-to-order back for the 600SE that I was considering:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/134203663096?amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0...

Re: The new Polaroid I-2 instant camera

#103

Post by vr46 »

mkoryak wrote: post #97
kotaKat wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the worst, most damning thing they did was gutting and destroying the Spectra equipment to make Polaroid Go film and cameras. I wish they'd work on getting film costs down rather than releasing overpriced toys. Instax is still kicking their ass for prices long-term. Zink was a mistake that should have never been made. I've never had a quality print off a Zink printer.

I recently bought a cheap zink camera and some not-so-cheap zink paper. People said the quality wasn't good but I thought, "how bad can it really be?" Pretty terrible! I don't understand how zink can be a thing that people buy, unless they are all people like me who will never buy it again.

I have a Polaroid-branded Zink printer from around 2008 and a Polaroid-branded Zink printer from more recent years and the quality has always been rubbish. BUT, I still bought a Brother Zink-on-a-roll printer that I use to print out small pictures as stickers to stick into my journal as a photo diary.

Ultra-niche use, of course, but there you go, there's nothing as zero-config as this thing.

Re: The new Polaroid I-2 instant camera

#104

Post by vr46 »

snom380 wrote: post #77
vr46 wrote: post #30

My 600SE has been largely out for action for years, with only a trickle of film available. Results were predictable when Polaroid and Fuji peel-apart film were available. The modern Polaroid film is anything but predictable or even vaguely good, especially for the astronomical prices. Zink gives about the same qualities. Fuji Instax in all its forms won this battle and there’s a cottage industry of Instax-holding bac…

Do you have a link to any of those adapters? Have a 600SE and a 3D printer, would be nice to give a new life to the camera.

I posted a link reply to another poster, and here's another back:

https://www.zluxtech.com/store/products/polaroid-600se-insta...

Re: The new Polaroid I-2 instant camera

#105

Post by vr46 »

kotaKat wrote: post #83
vr46 wrote: post #30

My 600SE has been largely out for action for years, with only a trickle of film available. Results were predictable when Polaroid and Fuji peel-apart film were available. The modern Polaroid film is anything but predictable or even vaguely good, especially for the astronomical prices. Zink gives about the same qualities. Fuji Instax in all its forms won this battle and there’s a cottage industry of Instax-holding bac…

I think the worst, most damning thing they did was gutting and destroying the Spectra equipment to make Polaroid Go film and cameras. I wish they'd work on getting film costs down rather than releasing overpriced toys. Instax is still kicking their ass for prices long-term. Zink was a mistake that should have never been made. I've never had a quality print off a Zink printer.

It was criminal, wasn't it. The Impossible Project deserve kudos for reviving things but having to reinvent it from scratch has proven to be actually impossible.

As for One Instant film, sheesh, a labour of love. Mine are stashed away along with the last of my peel-apart, I should just use them all.

At this confluence of money-time-effort, I hope we would recognize a black hole when we encounter it on earth and find a better way, but it apparently requires EVEN MORE money to fix, thanks to the destruction.

Re: The new Polaroid I-2 instant camera

#106

Post by PartiallyTyped »

PartiallyTyped wrote: post #64
can16358p wrote: post #49

600€ for an obsolete-era machine that sells imperfection as a "feature" (probably because they don't have anything else to sell, as even their website's sample photos are mediocre quality) that many will probably use once or twice and get bored and jump back to their iPhone/DSLR/mirrorless anyway? No thanks.

I don't think you understand the selling point of these. An ex of mine had a Polaroid, and had taken hundreds of pictures with friends and family, all cherished and passed to loved ones. There's something special and somehow human about small, candid, imperfect photos that hits just right on memory lane and evokes nostalgia. It's more than just what it presents, it's about what it represents, and about the experience…

> Maybe we should think of memory itself as an art form, in which the real work begins as soon as the paint hits the canvas. And a work of art is never finished, only abandoned.

https://www.thedictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/concept/klexos

I have a special place in my heart for the dictionary of obscure sorrows :')

Re: The new Polaroid I-2 instant camera

#107

Post by syndicatedjelly »

orange_joe wrote: post #18

I understand the unlikelihood of this, but to really capitalize on the film craze they need to produce a higher “resolution” instant film. Old peel away film was fantastically high quality particularly when paired with a genuine glass lens (most current instant film cameras have a plastic lens). Improving the lens can only go so far without improving the film stock.

If it wants to compete with digital, sure. That's not the point though. There's a world of "low-fi" photography that's closer to art than modern photography has become.

Re: The new Polaroid I-2 instant camera

#109

Post by nimajneb »

donatzsky wrote: post #68
deepGem wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was an ardent manual film photography fan. Heck, I even bought a medium format camera. The hassle of developing film was too much even in the US. What won over digital is not just the freedom to click a million pictures, but the freedom to run your own darkroom on your PC/Mac. What I really need now is a compromise. I want the freedom of my own digital darkroom but I need a fully manual and digital camera with an i…

The Pixii digital rangefinder might be for you then (except for the poor battery life). https://pixii.fr/ https://www.macfilos.com/2023/04/17/new-kid-on-the-block-the...

I saw the Pixii for the first time today actually. It's unfortunately way above my budget. The other commenter explained a high end bare bones camera. I've always a much lower tier camera without a screen on the back. Like just take less than $1000 and remove all that extra stuff. Just give me ISO, shutter, aperture (if not on lense), shutter button, and AF selector, on the body. And make it compact, maybe even like a point and shoot with a fixed focal length lens. That's my pipe dream for a digital camera.

Re: The new Polaroid I-2 instant camera

#110

Post by spookie »

objclxt wrote: post #42
copperx wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Teenage Engineering stuff seems completely impractical. Is that the appeal? Take the record player. It looks cool. But only plays 7" records. Through built in speakers. You can use external speaker, but through a 3.5mm plug? What's the use of something like that? Maybe the idea is to use it as decoration? I don't get it. All their products are like that.

> Take the record player. It looks cool. It's not even their product, it's just a white labelled version of an existing Japanese toy! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234642185324

Woah! Wait, do they do the same thing for other products as well?
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