Alternative Processes to Polaroid
- Polaroid announced in 2008 that it was ending instant film production. Half a million packs of remaining stock were purchased by an Austrian reseller, and the countdown was on, since, like all silver halide films, Polaroid film is perishable, degrading with age. Some photographers took this aging in stride and the look of expired Polaroid film is popular with those who follow the "lomography" art movement, which explores the inherent quirks and limitations of analog photography.
- Fujifilm had a line of instant film products on the market when Polaroid sued Kodak and subsequently made a deal involving sharing of technology, allowing Fujifilm instant films and cameras to continue. Still manufactured today, the Instax line of cameras and film are integral-type films, requiring no photographer intervention to process. These films are not compatible with Polaroid cameras, but some older cameras can use FP100-series pack films, still made by Fujifilm.
- After the announcement of the end of manufacture of Polaroid film, a group of investors, including some former Polaroid employees, bought the equipment and rights to revive Polaroid technology. Dubbed the Impossible Project, their mandate was to rescue the estimated 300 million functioning Polaroid cameras from obsolescence. In 2010, compatible black-and-white films for SX70 and Type 600 cameras were released, and since then, the Impossible Project has added color film to its line. Plans continue to revive more instant film formats.
- Interest in older photographic systems is growing as an alternative to the prevalence of digital photography. The founders of the Impossible Project have been involved with the roots of the lomography movement and look to their new films as art creation tools. Although traditional uses of instant photography -- for forensic use, as an example -- has been supplanted by digital systems, Fujifilm still markets Instax film and cameras as an easy and immediate system for consumers; however, the survival of alternative instant films will depend on the continued interest in retro photo technology.
