The Impossible Project Debuts Its First Camera, The I-1

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Truth be told, I wasn't taken by the name. I was hoping for more, like maybe V1, or A1 for analog one. But it didn't hold true.

Impossible Project has been grinding its way to more sales of positive polaroid film. They have in the past come out with a slew of accessories for you to double down on their instant film. Problem was the films relied on old Polaroid cameras which are in decline.

The old Polaroid formats needed more users, hence the new camera from Impossible Project named the i-1.

I am for analog cameras. But I clearly want a classic of vintage to shoot with in the same way I would buy and use a vintage or classic car if I had the money. Would I buy a replica car? Nope.

And the i-1 is a replica of sorts with updated ring flash and some exposure controls.


It doesn't look one bit like the beautifully designed Land Cameras from Polaroid.

At first, by looking at the picture, I thought the folks at Impossible Project had invented a new analog telephone....and mistakenly called it a camera.

Apparently that's the problem with designers. They use the best and cheapest option for flash by having LED bulbs arranged in a ring shape. This low power option will give good life to the battery no doubt.

Beyond this, you have bluetooth. It connects to your iPhone or Android device allowing you to remotely capture images and control the shutter speed and aperture.

Not sure how useful this would be as controlling the aperture and shutter speed via an app just sounds weird. If you don't know the exposure reading for a scene, how are you to remotely dial in the needed aperture or shutter speed?

Finally the resulting images are dreamy. Sort of...

Those of you who have been shooting in Instagram won't have a problem adapting to the square format pictures but for me at least, the camera appears bulky and unlike those collapsable Land cameras, they can be quite a pain to carry around. This new i-1 will hit the retail shelves in May 2016 and is expected to cost in the ballpark of US$300.



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Positive 120 Film Makes a Comback?

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This is a little weird. Not that it cannot happen but it takes a little skill to be able to do this. Galaxy film photo paper is a straight to paper development process that has no real film. In fact, the film is the paper and the paper is the film.

Positive paper, like the instant camera paper, isn't new. But what happens here is a little more tricky as you need to have a two stage development process. This project is meant for medium format cameras, and what you get from the resulting image are black and white or monochrome prints.

There is no need for an enlarger to print this since you virtually develop the paper just like you would with negative film. I am assuming the steps are the same though no chemical info was available on the site.


Medium Format Cameras

If you have an old Hassey or Mamiya camera lying around and would would like to goof off a roll to see the results, it could be worth your effort. But the problem of developing it remains your own as not may places develop b/w films anymore let alone monotone paper prints from Galaxy.

Without a camera, you are practically fucked.

To buy, well, you are in luck. If you want to double down on analogue, you can't go wrong with the Rolleicord which you can buy off eBay.


As a kid, I remember my Dad having borrowed one of these to try. Not sure if there was film in it but it is quite mesmerizing. The image is displayed on a ground glass screen and you look downwards to compose. Square format is pretty easy to compose of course, so shooting is a piece of cake. 

It is also relatively easy to carry around, even though they are much bulkier than your iPhone, I am sure the trouble you have carrying it around will be well worth it. 

Galaxy film has been fully funded on Kickstarter. No sure when you will be able to buy any online but I must warn you, developing the positive paper can be a bit of a nightmare if all you ever did in your entire life was print on a ink jet printer. 








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