Impossible vs Polaroid vs Fujifilm Instax !?
These days I've been in the great city of New York and I didn't want to miss the chance to visit the Impossible Project Space down in Broadway.
I want to talk about a couple things:
1 - The IP (Impossible Project) Space itself
2 - The "new" instant Polaroid 300 from Polaroid
The IP space is in the 5th floor of a Building at 425 Broadway, Manhattan. It's a bit difficult to find if you don't go with the intention of finding it because you only see a banner in a door. The space is small, divided in two parts. The store and the headquarters. They have a center stand made up of four expositors where they showcase all their products. They have one wall covered with huge prints of polaroids which are really good. They treated me very kindly and responded to my question and even made some suggestions. I finally got a First Flush Color Shade 2+1 Starters pack. I haven't tried it yet but I'm eager to do so. First I have to try and get some ND Filter plastic to tape over my Polaroid 600 camera meter to get the correct exposure, I'll keep you posted on my tests with this new film in new posts.
The second thing I wanted to talk about is the "new" polaroid 300. I say "new" because if you look closely at the comparison between the Polaroid 300 and the Fujifilm Instamax mini you'll see that they are, in fact, identical!
What changes then? The only thing that changes is the price. While the Fujifilm can cost from $110 to $150 in some stores (although you can find them through the internet at $65), Polaroid 300, " borrowing" Fujifilm's design costs only $89. The film is also pretty cheap compared with the one that you can get for your old Polatoid Cameras from the Impossible Project...
While you get 10 shots of Polaroid 300 film for $10 (more or less the same as the fujifilms instamax that work on both cameras ) you get a pack of new uv+ silver shade film from the Impossible project for $24 which frankly is a little expensive for 8 shots...
Here you see a Size Comparison of the actual Polaroid 300/Fujifilm Instamax Mini film and the comparison with the Polaroid 600 Silver Shade First Flush. You have to take into account what you want to use it for and get it according to that because the price for each one vary heavily. So my advice is, knowing that the Polaroid is $89 if you find a Fujifilm Instamax Mini for less than that buy it, if not, buy the Polaroid. If you really want to be an Analog Pioneer and you can afford it buy some IP film for you Polaroid 600. It's also very fun and you won't get these results with any other instant film.
Don't get me wrong, I admire what The Impossible Project has done to revive Instant Film... And to prove my support I've spent some money buying their film... But if you want analog to relive again worldwide the prices are still to high and also the risks of experimental film are big. I know it's expensive because they did it from scratch and that has a lot of costs... but for an end consumer who doesn't understand the difficulties that IP has gone through to produce these new films just thinks:
I want to have an instant camera and I want film to be cheap!
So they'll go and buy some Polaroid 300 which is cheaper than IP products and also cheaper than fujifilms products... So shame on you Polaroid for wanting to destroy Analog film as we new it and now wanting to come back only to make money and not give anything back to the analog community, only a borrowed design and cheaper prices in comparison.
It's a hard punch for the Impossible Project and I hope them really well for the future... But not a day goes by that the temptation to switch to a Polaroid 300 goes through my mind...
