Polaroid: destroyed by fraud and changing times
Polaroid closed its doors on December 31. Yes, there will still be some Polaroid film around for a few months but basically that is it. Crying the most will be studio photographers who widely used Polaroid film to get an instant check on lighting and position.
For them a possible solution will be to use a Fujifilm product. Fujifilm has for years produced instant films that have been widely available in other parts of the world. They are now available in the U.S. and Adorama http://www.adorama.com has them all in stock.
Yes they are peel-apart emulsions are similar to Polaroid but mostly only available for cameras with 4×5-inch instant film holders. Thus studio photographers using a large-format camera with a Polaroid back can still keep getting instant pictures.
So what happened to Polaroid?
It was a noble company started by a true genius, Dr Edwin Land. His company, Polaroid, announced the first commercial instant camera, the Land Camera, in 1947. It was an amazing and instant success.
The earliest Polaroids used instant roll film. Roll film came in two rolls (positive/developing agent and negative) which were loaded into the camera and eventually offered in three sizes (40, 30, and 20 shots). Later cameras used ‘pack film,’ where you pulled the film from the camera for development.
After that there were Polaroids, like the once popular SX-70, which used a square format integral film, in which each developed automatically once the shot was taken.
I was given one of the first SX-70 cameras , and a small refrigerator full of film, to review when it was launched. I did most of the initial shooting in the Philippines with a serious photographer from Sydney, Australia, named Mal Holmes.
We went to one of the faith healing sessions which was far more blatantly fake than normal. I took a picture of the faithhealer with the Polaroid. Then I handed him the blank pieces of plastic and he watched it develop in his hand. He said, ‘Senor, this is truly a miracle.’ He was right.
So what went wrong? First digital cameras and video. Polaroid did make an instant film camera but it simply had no chance against video. Polaroid also made some amazing computer disks but it simply could not get the price down.
Then the final blow was given by Tom Petters in what the FBI alleges may have been a $3 billion Ponzi scheme that was set up to defraud.
Last October, Tom Petters, who through his company Petters Group Worldwide had investments in, among other companies, Polaroid, was arrested on charges of mail and wire fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
Terry Fleming, an attorney for the receiver, who’s in charge of managing Petters’ bevy of companies, said the receiver has been on the job just two months and needs more time to gain control of Petters’ estate.
Once the receivers are called in the issue is dead.
Polaroid was very much of its time. In a sense it paved the way for the modern digital camera. It deserved a better end than that.
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