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Polaroid, Technicolor, Kodak: With the Branded Beast Extinct, What Becomes of the Brand?

01.31.13 @ 4:29AM Tags : brand, branding, camera, celluloid, film, imageprocessing, kodak, kodaks1, m43, mft, micro43, mirrorless, polaroid, s1, software, technicolor, video

In the whirlwind of hyperactive change that is Moore’s Law, branding can be a prime anchor point. Brand identity fights the tendency toward ‘the new’ with powerful invocations of the past: nostalgia, reliability, simplicity, and the association of that brand name with the creation of very dear memories. Granted, nostalgia alone can’t save anyone from bankruptcy — but it’s a start. Polaroid, Technicolor, and Kodak are prime examples of this interplay, and each is adapting in its own ways — though there’s some overlap. Not one, but two of these traditionally film-based companies are even releasing digital cameras. In whatever the way, each of the three is working toward the preservation of its own historic brand name — which do you think will pull through? More »

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The Real Instagram: 'Impossible Project' Turns Your iPhone Photos into Polaroids

10.9.12 @ 11:30PM Tags : film, impossibleproject, kickstarter, polaroid

Instagram has always felt a little bit like cheating to me, and having come from a film background, I like seeing the real thing as opposed to a clearly inferior iPhone or Android photo with some old-timey effects (though I am extremely impressed by FilmConvert, which aims to do the exact same thing except a lot more accurately with motion content). Impossible Project, who managed to save Polaroid film and is producing it to this day (along with new cameras), is trying to take those iPhone photos and turn them into something real and tangible: a Polaroid instant photo.
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