The death of “instant” photography occurred when Polaroid announced it would stop producing Polaroid cameras in 2007, or so we thought. In recent years instant photography has made a comeback.
The first Polaroid camera made its debut in 1943, according to Polaroid. By 1956 Polaroid had sold it millionth camera and had it’s product distributed throughout 45 countries. The camera itself was new and instant, which meant no more waiting for film to develop. With the Polaroid you click a button, watch the film come out of the camera, wait a couple of minutes and see your picture. It was new and exciting.
In 2007 Polaroid said it would stop producing Polaroid cameras and film, according to The New York Times. The craze was over. Up until a few years ago Polaroid-like cameras made a dramatic comeback.
Fujifilm one of the last companies to still make instant cameras sold five million Instax cameras, which is Fujifilm’s version of a Polaroid. With an expected growth for 2016 with an estimated 6.5 million in Instax camera sales, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Fujifilm is a company that began in 1934 that started in Japan. It was one of the few companies still making instant photography cameras. It shortly dominated the market in instant photography. Now the company has multiple variations of instant cameras, in order to create a wide variety of images to capture. With some cameras offering wider film to shoot from and others providing more camera accessories, such as exposure.
With Snapchat and Instagram it’s hard to imagine why the Polaroid would make such a big comeback. So far there’s little explanation as to why instant photography is coming back with a boom.
Polaroid camera’s are getting large sales in millennial and teen demographics, according to Time. It would seem that there’s a sort of nostalgia for something these generation never fully experienced.
The CEO of Polaroid attributes the comeback of instant photography cameras to the simplicity of the camera. With the teenagers of today use to quality cameras built into their phone and a well functioning computer in the palm of their hand, to find something that has one job is a rare site to see. With photos everywhere on numerous social media platforms the Polaroid cameras makes photos more unique and personal.
Since the spike in sales on Polaroid-like cameras the Polaroid company is attempting to get back in the game, so to speak. They’ve created numerous products centered around the instant photography idea. Zip is an inkless printer that prints images roughly the size of a business card that create that Polaroid feel.
Polaroid also introduced another new product, The Cube. A small and simple entry level action camera that is as Time puts it “About the size of four casino dice staked together.” However, Polaroid has an uphill battle ahead of them. Without their famous cameras to make anymore they face many challenges ahead.
They’re attempting to get reacquainted with their roots by creating products that are Polaroid accessories or have a Polaroid sense to them without actually creating their Polaroid camera. In addition, with the introduction to The Cube Polaroid is attempting to introduce itself in the action camera market run by GoPro.
With little explanation as to why Polaroids made a comeback the Polaroid company itself has found itself at the bottom of a market they used to dominate. With companies like Fujifilm running the market Polaroid might have missed its chance to make a comeback in the instant photography world.
