Oh, The Impossibilities
Wow, who knew that a simple post called “why I shoot film” would get so many followers and likes for me? First off, an update – I had been travelling until yesterday, and my cameras of choice were the Hasselblad and the 4×5 camera. I’m anxious to shoot the 4×5 because I want to test out a new Unicolor roller for my developing process. But I’m back in town now and doing photography-related things online in between bouts of real work.
Anyway, I’d like to write another post on The Impossible Project (or T.I.P. for brevity), the company that’s leading the crusade to resurrect instant film. Well, instant film that is not for Instax cameras. And that isn’t Type 100 film, or “pack” film. So that leaves the biggest holes that Polaroid left behind, films for SX-70, 600, and Spectra System cameras. T.I.P. has already produced a number of films, both in monochrome and color, that have effectively given Polaroid cameras a new lease on life. In short, they’ve done what they set out to do when they formed. And so, I wonder what their direction is going to be.
First off, Let me summarize what you get with T.I.P. films. Each pack of film holds eight exposures, the requisite in-pack battery, and costs $22-$24 (that’s USD). For monochrome film, you get a low-dynamic range print with charcoaled blacks and creamy whites. For color film, you get a low-saturation print with a muted color pallete.
Quite obviously, the image is not like the old Polaroid film was, and that’s actually one of T.I.P.’s strongest selling points. In my opinion, the best Polaroid exposures were ones made with film whose chemicals were starting to expire without drying out, causing shifts in the color palette away from perfection. These films were originally formulated by a corporate powerhouse that could afford to perfect a product prior to release. (Remember, of course, that Edwin Land only invented instant photography after he had built Polaroid as a thriving optics company.) So for those who preferred the “expired Polaroid” look, T.I.P.’s films should be right up their alley.
There are, however, numerous drawbacks to the film. Most notably, the prints remain photosensitive for a few minutes after the chemicals are spread across the film, meaning that care must be taken to shield them from light the instant a picture is taken. The problem is so bad that T.I.P. released a few different light-blocking aids for use with Polaroid cameras, an SX-70 shade and longer “frog tongues” to keep the prints covered until you can put them in dark places. In my opinion, both are decent solutions to a real problem.
Second, I know that T.I.P. have been building a reputation (or so it seems) for somewhat unreliable film packs. Obviously, the colors of the prints should not be the subject of “customer service” claims, because T.I.P. seems to make quite clear what the films are capable of. Nor should sharpness be a valid complaint, since the culprit is usually a crappy camera with a plastic lenses. I’ve heard stories, though, of people getting packs with dead batteries, albeit that was a while ago and could have been an isolated factory incident. The same could be said of the PX 70 images I have been getting from two packs I ordered back in August. Many are included below, though a few have also been sacrificed to issues with my cameras, and some remain in the packs. I’ve only lately been getting around to actually shooting the film, because it’s been far too easy to avoid picking up my cameras, scared off by the echoing voice in my head, chanting, “$3 a shot… $3 a shot…” You can see that in many of the pictures, the chemical spread is so poor that it detracts from the photograph, and in some, there were some bad pods, leading to awful color shifts.
Now then, T.I.P. is a somewhat secretive company, like all companies are to an extent, so I’m always wondering what they’re doing next. I have heard through various outlets that among the things they’re working on are (1) an integral 8×10 film system for use with the old 8×10 Polaroid processors, and (2) a new camera design to work with T.I.P. films but to eliminate the in-pack battery.
Personally, if I were in charge of the direction of the company, I would have two different goals. The first would be to improve the manufacturing processes so that technical issues (like poor chemical spreading and battery failures) become even less of an issue. The second would be to reduce the per-shot cost of the film from the $2.75 – $3 that it currently is down to $2 per shot. (Therefore, each pack of film would cost $15.99 for 8 exposures.) I think that it’s a goal that’s just aggressive enough to stifle the complaints of people who complain that the film is too expensive. As most of you know, I’m on a real budget, so while I do love the experience of shooting T.I.P. films, it’s just not a possibility on a regular basis.
All this is not to say that there’s anything wrong with T.I.P. as they are now. There are two new, improved test-versions of PX 70 (color SX-70 film) and PX 100 (black-and-white SX-70 film) available to Pioneer members before their wide release. Furthermore, T.I.P. are apparently pretty active on social networks, since they caught me complaining about price and sent me two free packs of PX 70 without question. Though I don’t think they knew I was having any problems, this “bonus film” might help make up for the problems you see in the examples above, unless of course I discover that these packs exhibit the same problems.
In summary, what can I say? The Impossible Project is a mysterious company. Mysterious in that you can never really be sure what’s in their future. Are they going to start building more and more improvements in their film? Will they be able to market to people other than hipsters artists? Will they unveil a new camera and/or 8×10 film in a few months? If so, will their new direction be perceived as a success or a flop? Whatever the answers to these questions, I think it’s remarkable that, in a few short years, despite some flaws and imperfections all around, The Impossible Project has achieved what everyone said was impossible.
