Digital photography has given people the ability to take endless numbers of pictures and see them instantly. But digital cameras have only been available to consumers for the past 10 years or so. Before then, another type of technology provided similar benefits - instant film.
For decades, instant film allowed people to take a picture and see a hardcopy within seconds. This technology was used by everyone from consumers to famous photographers.
Instant film was invented by Edwin Land, and the first consumer camera model utilizing the technology was released in 1947. Land had founded the Polaroid Corporation 10 years prior, providing him with a platform to develop and sell his product. Polaroid sold instant cameras for 60 years before announcing last year that they were stopping production.
In regular (non-instant) film cameras, when the film is exposed to light, photons of light hit the layers of the film. In color film there are layers that react to blue, green and red light. As the light hits these layers, a "record" of the light is created through different chemical reactions. The film must then be removed and treated with preparing chemicals and dyes of cyan, magenta and yellow that are attracted to the reacted chemicals from the light exposure.The principles behind instant film operate in a similar way to regular film, except the chemicals necessary to develop the picture are contained within the film. The film is organized into layers with the developer and dye layers sitting below an image layer, in addition to timing, acid and black base layers.
A reagent layer, containing light-blocking chemicals, white dye and other chemicals, is what actually produces the image on the paper. After the picture is taken, the exposed paper-film is ejected from the camera through rollers that spread the reagent evenly over the image area.
As the reagent chemicals work, the opacifiers block additional light from exposing the entire film before it is developed. The reagent moves through the layers developing the film, such that only the colors that were exposed will reach the surface of the picture. The alkali and acid layers react with the opacifier to make it clear and allow the image to materialize from the black background. Meanwhile, the timing layer slows down the reagent to keep it from activating the acid layer before the picture has developed.
A group called "The Impossible Project" has set out to bring about the return of instant film. This group consists of former Polaroid employees and engineers with a wide range of skills and areas of expertise. According to its Web site, the Impossible Project was founded with the goal of re-inventing and restarting the production of analog instant film for vintage Polaroid cameras.
However, the mission of the Impossible Project is not simply to reproduce and copy the original Polaroid films, but instead to develop a new, better product with higher-quality components and more efficient production methods.
On Oct. 13, The Impossible Project announced that it will work in a partnership with Polaroid and the Summit Global Group to produce instant films with the Polaroid brand name for a limited time in the middle of 2010. By next year, you'll be able to pull your old Polaroid camera out of the closet and snap some photos.
