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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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7

Fans Seek to Resurrect Polaroid Film

Group buys equipment from shuttered plant, seeks to reinvent recipe

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(Newser) – A determined band of entrepreneurs, scientists, and lovers of retro photography is doing its best to bring Polaroid film back from the dead, the New York Times reports. The group managed to buy the company’s old equipment just before it was dumped and is now attempting to reinvent the chemicals Polaroid once produced in plants dismantled after production ceased last year.

The group, leasing an abandoned Polaroid plant in Holland, estimates that there are still a billion Polaroid instant cameras in the world and is gambling that enough fans of the retro look exist to make the effort worthwhile despite the rise of digital photography. “If everyone runs in one direction, it creates a niche market in the other,” one entrepreneur said.

Joe Howansky, 23, poses with boxes of Polaroid in his home in Queens, NY, in a 2008 photo. Howansky stocked up before production stopped.
Joe Howansky, 23, poses with boxes of Polaroid in his home in Queens, NY, in a 2008 photo. Howansky stocked up before production stopped.   (AP Photo)
Actor Alan Cumming's artwork using Polaroid photography is seen at a 2003 celebrity art auction in New York.
Actor Alan Cumming's artwork using Polaroid photography is seen at a 2003 celebrity art auction in New York.   (Getty Images)
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This project is about building a very interesting business to last for at least another decade. It is about the importance of analog aspects in a more and more digital world. - Florian Kaps, the Austrian entrepreneur behind the effort

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7 comments
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riffran
May 26, 09 8:36 AM CDT
good luck fellas you may need it.... Reply
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+4
Observer
May 26, 09 8:55 AM CDT
I will pledge to buy the film. Still great fun in the bedroom. More tactile than digital images. Reply
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+2
laslow
May 26, 09 9:31 AM CDT
Polaroids are the best! I bought one a while ago but was disappointed to see that they no longer sell the film. Reply
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+1
TerrifiedCitizen
May 26, 09 10:32 AM CDT
Kodak should have considered some compensatory consideration for owners of Polaroid cameras... discounts on digital cameras or printers would have been the right thing to do. Reply
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-1
IN RESPONSE:
AClotfelter
May 26, 09 11:51 AM CDT
I don't think so... Polaroid cameras as a platform have been dying for a decade... if you have bought one in the last 5+ years you deserve what you get! Should people with VHS players and casette decks get goodies too? What about 8-tracks or betamax?
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