With the desire to embrace analog photography, I have also explored instant film too. I grabbed my old Polaroid 600 and expired film for some less than pleasing results such as low contrast and faded colors. This is understood and acceptable even the film expired 13 years ago. Thanks to the Impossible Project a few years back they have recreated the film. After purchasing a new 600 film pack I received similar results.
Since then, the Impossible Project had purchased the rights to the then defunct Polaroid brand and made it their own. Recently they introduced the I-type series cameras and film. With anticipation I purchased the One Step Plus w/ Bluetooth for some added features including double exposure, timer and more all connected to my phone. Neat, yeah?
Well no. I received similar results with the contrast and color to my disappointment. After a week of back and forth emails and examples of my photos from both the 600 and I-type films to Polaroid support they were kind enough to explain indirectly that I may be to blame or even that the film I purchased (from Target, Amazon) is the issue. Not exactly supportive here.
Today, I exchanged the camera, inserted the new film I purchased through Polaroid directly and… same results. Low contrast, dull colors.
Compare all of this to the Fuji Instax instant cameras and film. To the point, much better results. The colors are vivid, the contrast is perfect. I still need to work on the lighting and flash use but these issues are trial by error and correction.
I’ve sent off a refund request through Polaroid and will wait for a response. If past support is an indicator then I will use up the film with throwaway shots and shelve the camera or sell it in favor of a sexier Instax camera upgrade instead.
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