PBS affiliate WGBH recently took viewers into The Polaroid Project, a new exhibition at the MIT Museum. Described as 'being at the intersection of art and technology,' Polaroid revolutionized photography with the launch of its first instant camera in 1947.
The exhibit showcases notable Polaroid photography from past decades, as well as a number of Polaroid instant cameras and instant film packs. Curator Willian Ewing in talking about the technology told WGBH correspondent Jared Bowen:
It was a very small thing you could hold in the hand, but you had to participate in the making of the picture. The thing whirred and clicked. The picture came out and developed slowly. And that was described as magic.
The Polaroid Project Part I will be live until February 23 followed by Part II from March 9 to June 21.
President Jimmy Carter thought the formal traditional oil painting (portrait) of the president was getting quite expensive as well as time-consuming. So he thought a photograph would do. So Ansel Adams, who donated his time and expertise for free, took the formal portraits of president Jimmy Carter, and vice president Walter Mondale, with a monster Polaroid camera that produced 20"x24" prints in 75 seconds.
I have the Polaroid Captiva, but I can't find film for it anymore.
My father went to summer camp with Ed Land in the 1920s. Later Land asked my father to invest in a new invention - an instant camera. My father thought it sounded unworthy and refused.
He did eventually have a Polaroid camera and took thousands of instant family photos with it.
You should check out some of the work that was done on Polaroid film in various formats by some of the greats. Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Andy Warhol, and David Hockney are just a few of the artists who did great stuff with Polaroid.
moimoi The stuff that was based on the SX-70 film did leave a lot to be desired. The 4x5 B&W film was very good and it produced very usable negatives. (Yeah, there was a pull apart stock that produced a print and a negative) The 8x10 and larger films were magnificent.
Just because your experience is with SX-70 and Fuji instant film does not mean that the Polaroid films were all that bad. Don't judge Polaroid based on current Fuji output.
Current Fuji output outshines anything to come out of Polaroid itself in decades. Impossible has gotten a lot better, but it still isn't as good as it was back in the '70s.
Elsa Dorfman used a large format cameras to produce giant color polaroid prints that are technically excellent. However, the consumer film that went into the SX70, Spectra and One Step produced blurry images with less than accurate colors. Polaroid's previous generation of black and white peel apart film was far superior to the color stuff. Unfortunately, that B&W film is now long gone and the machinery that made it was sold for scrap. There isn't enough demand nowadays to justify making new equipment to produce peel apart films so they are now the thing of history.
You are only thinking of the little point and shoot Polaroids. However, Polaroid Type 055 - a large format, B&W material that produced by a positive and a printable negative from the name shot - was fantastic. I used loads of it. It had a beautiful long tone scale and plenty of detail. Many, many of Ansel Adams massive prints were made from Type 055 negatives.
"...While on vacation with his family, his 3-year-old daughter asked him why she couldn't see the picture he had just taken of her. Quite an obvious question for a 3-year-old toddler. But Land was a visionary man, and he started cooking the idea of an instant camera that very same day" (https://www.lightstalking.com/polaroid-camera/) The rest is history.
Canon's EOS R7 is a 33MP APS-C enthusiast mirrorless camera built around the RF mount. It brings advanced autofocus and in-body stabilization to the part of the market currently served by the EOS 90D.
The Canon EOS R10 is a 24MP APS-C mirrorless camera built around Canon's RF mount. It's released alongside a collapsible 18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM zoom to give a usefully compact, remarkably 'Rebel'-like camera.
It says Olympus on the front, but the OM System OM-1 is about the future, not the past. It may still produce 20MP files, but a quad-pixel AF Stacked CMOS sensor, 50 fps shooting with full AF and genuine, IP rated, weather sealing show OM Digital Solutions' ambition. See what we thought.
Is the GH6 the best hybrid camera there is? Jordan has been shooting DPReview TV with the Panasonic GH6 for months, so he has plenty of experience to back up his strong opinions.
What's the best camera for shooting landscapes? High resolution, weather-sealed bodies and wide dynamic range are all important. In this buying guide we've rounded-up several great cameras for shooting landscapes, and recommended the best.
What’s the best camera for around $2000? These capable cameras should be solid and well-built, have both speed and focus for capturing fast action and offer professional-level image quality. In this buying guide we’ve rounded up all the current interchangeable lens cameras costing around $2000 and recommended the best.
Most modern cameras will shoot video to one degree or another, but these are the ones we’d look at if you plan to shoot some video alongside your photos. We’ve chosen cameras that can take great photos and make it easy to get great looking video, rather than being the ones you’d choose as a committed videographer.
Although a lot of people only upload images to Instagram from their smartphones, the app is much more than just a mobile photography platform. In this guide we've chosen a selection of cameras that make it easy to shoot compelling lifestyle images, ideal for sharing on social media.
Camera accessory company Nine Volt now offers a camera body cap that includes a secret compartment designed to hold an Apple AirTag tracking device, giving victims of camera theft hope for recovering a lost camera.
The R7's 32.5 megapixel APS-C sensor is an interesting prospect for sports and wildlife shooters. Check out our shots from sunny (and scorching) Florida to see how it performs.
Canon just launched an entry level camera using the RF Mount! You should probably take a look at some photos it (and Chris Niccolls) captured in Florida.
Canon's EOS R7 is a 33MP APS-C enthusiast mirrorless camera built around the RF mount. It brings advanced autofocus and in-body stabilization to the part of the market currently served by the EOS 90D.
The Canon EOS R10 is a 24MP APS-C mirrorless camera built around Canon's RF mount. It's released alongside a collapsible 18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM zoom to give a usefully compact, remarkably 'Rebel'-like camera.
Chris and Jordan took a trip to sweltering Florida to test out Canon's new RF-Mount APS-C cameras. Give it a watch to find out our initial impressions.
The Canon EOS R7 brings a 32.5MP APS-C CMOS sensor to the RF mount. In addition to stills at up to 15 fps (30 fps with e-shutter), the camera offers IBIS and 4K/60p video.
While its lineage is clearly inspired by Canon's line of Rebel DSLRs, this 24MP APS-C mirrorless camera takes plenty of inspiration from Canon's more capable full-frame mirrorless cameras.
These two RF-mount lenses are designed to be paired with Canon's new APS-C mirrorless cameras, the EOS R7 and EOS R10. Both lenses offer seven stops of image stabilization and use Canon's stepping motor technology to drive their internal AF systems.
Late last week, DJI quietly released a firmware update for the Mini 3 Pro drone that adds, amongst other improvements, 10-bit video recording in the D-Cinelike video profile.
The patent explains how the auto-zoom feature could use a combination of digital and optical zoom to better frame subjects within a composition with little to no input from the camera operator.
360-degree action cam manufacturer Insta360 has shared a teaser video for a new product set to be announced tomorrow. And based on the visuals provided, it appears as though it might involve some kind of drone.
The Ricoh GR IIIx is a popular camera among photo enthusiasts thanks to its small size and 40mm (equivalent) F2.8 lens. Ricoh's GT-2 tele conversion lens is a 1.5X converter that extends this focal length, though it comes with some compromises. Learn more about it and check out our sample gallery shot with the GT-2 on the camera.
This 'Mark III' lens offers a few improvements over its predecessors to get even better image quality out of its ultra-fast design. The lens is available for Canon EOS R, Fujifilm X, Leica L, Micro Four Thirds, Nikon Z and Sony E-mount APS-C camera systems.
Chris and Jordan are out of the office this week, so we're taking a trip in the wayback machine to feature a classic episode of DPRTV: a review of the EOS R, Canon's first full-frame mirrorless camera.
Last week, we featured Markus Hofstätter's scanner rebuild, which saw him spend three months bringing back to life a massive scanner to better digitize his collection of large format photographs. This week, we're taking a look at the results, kicked off by a beautifully detailed 30cm x 40cm collodion wet plate portrait.
The lenses lack autofocus and image stabilization, but offer a fast maximum aperture in an all-metal body that provides a roughly 50mm full-frame equivalent focal length on Fujifilm and Sony APS-C cameras.
Apple has responded to an open letter published last month, wherein more than 100 individuals in the entertainment industry asked Apple to improve the development and promotion of Final Cut Pro.
Venus Optics has launched its Indiegogo campaign for its new Nanomorph lenses, revealing additional details about the world’s smallest anamorphic lenses.
Most smartphones these days offer great-looking video and make vlogging very easy, but there are always accessories that can help to make your footage, and you, look even better
The WG-80 remains largely unchanged from the WG-70, but it now has a front LED ring light that's twice as bright as its predecessor. Aside from that, the 16MP CMOS sensor and 28-140mm full-frame equivalent lens stays the same.
Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is aboard the International Space Station for a six-month mission. She and the other astronauts aboard the ISS witnessed the recent full lunar eclipse, and Cristoforetti captured amazing photos of the spectacular event.
Vivo has announced the global launch of its flagship X80 Pro device, which features an impressive quadruple-camera array on the rear, headlined by a main 50MP custom Samsung GNV sensor.
ON1 has announced the newest update to its ON1 Photo RAW 2022 all-in-one photo editor. Version 2022.5 integrates Resize AI into the editor, plus it includes improved noise reduction and Sky Swap AI. The update also includes new camera support.
Many cameras have a distinct sound. MIOPS partnered with German sound artist Kuntay Seferoglu to harness the diversity of camera shutter sounds and create the MIOPS Camera Symphony.
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