We often receive questions like: "Why are the Polaroid film so expensive?", "Why only 8 photos in a pack?", "What is the difference between old and new films ?" – so let's break it down.
The most important thing to note is that the new Polaroid films, which are now produced by Polaroid, Polaroid Originals, and Impossible Project (since 2010), are completely different from the films produced by Polaroid before 2008.
From Polaroid to Impossible Project
Polaroid declared bankruptcy in 2001. Since that time, they started shutting down their factories worldwide. After announcing the closure of the last factory in the Netherlands, it was purchased by former biologist Florian Kaps, better known as Doc. His goal was to revive the production of Polaroid film and he founded a new company called Impossible Project, but there was a problem. The factory Doc purchased was used only for final product manufacturing, and most of the necessary components were simply unavailable. The thing is, Polaroid refused to participate in the revival of instant film production, and Impossible Project, even though they had the formula, couldn’t replicate it because some chemicals stopped being produced due to their negative environmental impact. However, let's not blame Mother Nature just yet, as there were numerous subsidiaries producing chemicals specifically for Polaroid, but the stop order for production came in 2004. Polaroid had ordered chemicals, negatives, and envelopes for another ten years, but by 2008 they ran out, and suppliers ceased to exist even before Polaroid stopped manufacturing. So, Impossible Project had to create instant film from scratch.
Why Only 8 Photos in a Pack?
And here we come to the question “Why only 8 photos in a pack?”. The reason is that, along with the chemicals, the production of all other consumables was discontinued. So, besides the chemicals, Impossible Project had to completely reinvent instant photography. But, as it turned out, the new material was thicker, and if more than 8 photos were inserted into the pack, it caused a problem with ejecting the frames.
Why Is the Price So High?
The most frequent question we get is "Why is the price so high?" Get ready, here is the shocking information – in 2006, a film pack cost only $2, but considering the inflation rate, today that price sounds completely unrealistic. However, what is not unrealistic is the high cost of manufacturing new chemicals for modern film, and a lot of money goes into improving the formula. Few people know how terrible the first Impossible film was: color reproduction was very poor, there were many stains, issues with chemical distribution, and poor sharpness. However, with each passing year, the technology has been improving, and it's really noticeable to those who have been photographing for many years. As they say – the best is yet to come, but for now, you can see how the first photos taken with Impossible Project film looked.
Examples of Photos on Original Polaroid Film
Of course, today's film still hasn't reached the full development within 5 minutes, but we now have a color reproduction very close to the original, though the difference is still noticeable. Let's take a look at how photos taken with the original film in 1995 looked.
