[can16358p]

600€ for an obsolete-era machine that sells imperfection as a "feature" (probably because they don't have anything else to sell, as even their website's sample photos are mediocre quality) that many will probably use once or twice and get bored and jump back to their iPhone/DSLR/mirrorless anyway?

No thanks.

[PartiallyTyped]

I don't think you understand the selling point of these.

An ex of mine had a Polaroid, and had taken hundreds of pictures with friends and family, all cherished and passed to loved ones.

There's something special and somehow human about small, candid, imperfect photos that hits just right on memory lane and evokes nostalgia. It's more than just what it presents, it's about what it represents, and about the experience itself.

It stops being just a photo. Looking at it and going down memory lane is an experience in and of itself. You get to live that with your eyes, your fingers, your ears, and your nose even, and at the same time you can share them with others. At the same time you evoke the feelings and experiences from when you took it.

Every time you look at that picture you don't just remember what it depicts, you also experience every other time you experienced it.

That's just something no digital photo will ever be able to capture.

[TheOtherHobbes]

Personally I've never had a problem re-experiencing events from digital photos. Often more so, because I take a good handful and get a sequence rather than just a single snap.

Aside from that - how did your ex manage to avoid fading?

Polaroids are absolutely notorious for yellow-fade. And the chemistry is weird and fragile.

It takes a month or so for the photo to fix. If you do anything to it in that time - cut off the white edges, squeeze it an album, expose it to light - the fading happens even more quickly.

[PartiallyTyped]

The fading is a feature, not a bug, if you are the type of person that relates to what I described above, but in all seriousness, I don't remember.

[PartiallyTyped]

> Maybe we should think of memory itself as an art form, in which the real work begins as soon as the paint hits the canvas. And a work of art is never finished, only abandoned.

https://www.thedictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/concept/klexos

I have a special place in my heart for the dictionary of obscure sorrows :')

[can16358p]

I do understand that there's a niche market for this. Though honestly, thinking all the R&D costs, that niche market (which gets even smaller with that price tag) can't offset those costs.

[igetspam]

I hate using my phone as a camera. I own a digital camera for that reason. I don't own a good photo print because they are either ridiculously expensive or crap and I haven't found the good-cheap (of the "pick two" triangle) yet. I'm the market for this. I'd much rather keep my photos offline.

[bowsamic]

This isn't my experience. I know a lot of people with the fujifilm instax (which is admittedly much cheaper) and people use it quite a lot

[can16358p]

Interesting. Perhaps it's a cultural thing. I know almost nobody using these. I mean, I know a few people (using much cheaper ones) but that's it.

I doubt with this price tag they can sell enough to offset R&D and marketing costs.

[bowsamic]

I live in Europe. Perhaps it's a European thing.

[jamal-kumar]

I know a ton of younger people who love these things too, great for parties

[tkiolp4]

I really hate perfect pictures with high resolution of people. You can distinguish all the little imperfections of their faces. Also, any digital picture that I take with the phone is never ever viewed again nor printed. I wouldn’t pay 600 for the polaroid, but I get the selling point.

[GoofballJones]

I used to be a professional photographer, and have been out of the game for about 10 years. For the last 15 years of my profession, I really embraced the digital SLR in my work.

But I still had a big 8x10 field camera that I would take portraits with. DSLRs totally took over the film world...and I would NEVER go back to 35mm or even medium format. But you can't get the same thing with digital that an 8x10 platinum contact print from a large format camera can give you. That's really the only time I can see using "obsolete" tech in photography. These Polaroid things can ALL be simulated in digital. Are they instant? No. Which is good.

[mrweasel]

The price is to much, €600 is just crazy, but something like €100 - €120 for the Fuji Instax is a pretty good value for money. My five year old and her friends love being able to snap a few photos and her friend can have one to take home. Similarly we use them for vacation photos that she can bring to the kindergarten, when they talk about what they did during the summer.

And for adults that want to take a few risqué photos they are great as they are easier to keep track of than their digital cousins.

[tomjen3]

Yeah its completely pointless as a value proposition.

I mean I just go done scanning all my predigital photos because analog photos suck. Why would anybody want this?

[igetspam]

Because there are people with the opposite desires. My wife loves having photo albums. In fact, I have to run to CVS today to pick up some physical photos.

[tomjen3]

I was overly dismissive in my comment. It would have been more correct to write "analog only" photos.

If you wife wants photo albums then it is pretty easy to order them with the photos you want and get any number of companies to make them. I don't have a problem with that.

What I do have a problem with is not having a single backup of my childhood if my apartment burns, not having access to my photos on the go, not being able to share my experiences with my family and so on.

By going digital first, I avoid all these problems.

[igetspam]

Again, opposite goals. I destroyed every bit of evidence from my childhood for personal reasons. I don't regret it. I spent most of my life avoiding cameras. That changed with marriage and a kid but I still don't let people take pictures of me with their phones because I have a compulsion for control. I also want to make absolutely sure that certain people can't find me, so no geotags or landmarks in digital form.

By avoiding digital photography, I reduce my risk significantly.

I'll take analog every day.

Edit: I'm not the target market. I have special considerations. My wife is though. She wants pictures. I want to stay somewhat incognito. This type of thing solves the problem better for us.

[supermatt]

It is showing €699.99 for me. But that is a bargain compared to when they first came out! https://legacybox.com/blogs/analog/how-much-was-the-first-po...

[can16358p]

That would even be cheap for that era. But for today's age with all the alternatives and advanced devices, it's extremely expensive.