Polaroid P600

Ah, the world has changed for the worse, sadly, as Polaroid, in 2008, completely stopped producing film for their entire lineup of Instant Cameras.  As the factories shut down their operations, workers took to the streets and shook their heads looking back at the plant that gave so many people joy to shoot with their Polaroid Land cameras.
After 60 years of production, Polaroid film ceased, and the world became a darker place.
This saddened many, as instant photography became a thing of the past, unless you looked to Fuji, who took up the reigns with their Instax line of cameras, or their Pack Film for the various Polaroid Pack Film cameras.  But of course, for those that used Spectras, 600s, Joycams, and the like, their only hope of film, their sole bastion of instant pictures, in the year 2009, was gone......



or was it......



Enter Impossible Project.  In 2008, they, the Impossible Project founders, purchased the last remaining factory in Enschede, NL.   
Their goal was to bring a new, and different film to market.  Not the Polaroid film of old, but a completely reinvented type of instant film.
2009 Marked the beginning of a new venture in film photography with more than 300,000,000, yes Three hundred MILLION Polaroid Cameras that would, otherwise, be completely worthless by the time the last remaining batches of unused Polaroid Film was gone.  They began firing up the machines, feeding the beast various pieces of vintage and redeveloped materials, trying to bring a whole new line of product to the market.
By 2010 Impossible Project announced a new, yes NEW in the digital age, film.  A brand new analog (I hate that word) instant film with PX100 and PX600 Silvershade film, allowing Polaroid 600 camera owners to rejoice in the wonders of the new PX600 film, and SX-70 users to shoot on the PX100 films.  This new B&W film drew in the first Impossible Project customers, wondering what this new, and exciting film might be.  Later that year, in July, the PX70 Colour Shade film is introduced, bringing a new world of Colour to the Analog world of Instant Photography..

2011 brought even more excitement and new films to the forefront of Instant Photography, with Colour PX600 films, special edition films, different colour shades to the borders, such as black, gold, or gray.  


Today, in the year 2012, there is even more film available.   Colour shade GOLD, Silvershade Cool, Silvershade Warm, 8x10 films, and even up to 20x24! 
With the guys at the Film Photography Project, Instant Photography has exploded!  There is a boom of Instant Photography, and it's only getting bigger. 
Check out their store, as all their cameras are reconfigured for modern AA/AAA batteries, tested with film, and made sure to be fully functional.  In fact, you buy a Polaroid Camera from them, and the first film-pack is on them, err, minus a frame or two.  They do have to make sure the camera does work, after all.

With the demise of many different films, such as Kodak E6 Transparency films, Ektachrome, or Kodachrome, even Fuji E6, like Astia, and now Velvia in large format, it's nice to see brand new films coming to the market.

I count myself to be one of the new-Polaroid shooters, or is it Impossible Shooters? 
This is a very fun film to use, and I can see that it's rapidly evolving into a very usable, and exciting film.

Kudos to the Impossible Project, to the past, the present, and whatever the future may bring.  If you aren't a Polaroid user, visit your local thrift shop and pick one up today.  Whether a Spectra, 600, or SX-70 type camera, you won't be disappointed in Impossible films.

My Polaroid 600P is the most basic of 600 models.  The lens is a 110mm ƒ/11 Single Element plastic lens, with an auto-diaphragm.  The Shutter speed is 1/4 to 1/200s auto-selecting shutter, controlled by the "ELECTRONIC" eye.  The focusing is fixed at 4' to INF (call it 15' for "sharp" images) or it has a "slider" to place a special lens in front to give closer focusing of 2' to 4'.
The flash always fires, whether for fill lighting, or as a flash in a dark room, unless you press the flash-over ride shutter release instead.  Then the shutter fires, and the flash doesn't.  This is good for out-door images where you don't want the flash to add "fill" lighting, such as a sun front-lit subject at close range.

Takes 600 film in 10 exposures, or PX600/PX680 Impossible Project 8 exposure film.

Polaroid 600P - PX600 Impossible Silver-Shade Cool

Polaroid 600P - PX600 Impossible Colourshade Gold

For more information check out the Impossible Project.