It might depend upon your age, but I definitely am old enough to recall how thrilling it was to huddle around a Polaroid photo when it was developing. You never really knew how it would turn out until the picture had taken shape right there in front of your eyes. When the process was complete, you were left with a picture, often with slightly varied colours, which had no negative, and was, let’s quite frankly, a little on the pricey side.

Today, thanks to the rise of digital cameras, Polaroid just isn’t instant enough. The cameras stopped production some time ago and the last films were shipped in January of 2009. It’s easy to see why if you check the following statistics:

2000 Sales Report
Digital cameras 4.5 million
Polaroid cameras 4.2 million

2007 Sales Report
Digital cameras 28.2 million
Polaroid cameras 240 thousand

With sales figures like that it’s no wonder that the Polaroid camera is being dropped.

All the same, the Polaroid had gained an iconic status over the years, so it’s unsurprising to learn that groups of enthusiasts have set up campaigns to “save Polaroid”. There are hopes that a white knight will take over the production of the film and make this under licence. In the meantime, in a slightly ironic twist, both films and cameras are [spin[being exchanged|selling|changing hands[/spin] on EBay at greatly inflated prices. Quite possibly if Polaroid themselves had been able to achieve these types of prices levels then they might not have had to file for Chapter 11 a few years ago.

Looking forward, Polaroid have entered the digital age by launching a combined digital camera and printer which utilises a heat activated dye to produce a printed image in around about a minute.

The camera, called the PoGo, has a 3” LCD screen for checking your photos prior to printing. Considering that the special printer paper will cost around $13 for enough to produce 30 snaps you’ll want to be certain that you’ve got a “keeper” before you click the print button. Polaroid hope that it will appeal to law enforcement officers and customs staff who may have a need for an instant print out of identity photographs. Time will tell.

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