« November 2008 | Main | January 2009 »
Nikon just announced the release of its new pro-digital SLR. The D3x features a 24.5 million pixel resolution CMOS sensor, 7fps in full resolution and an ISO range of up to 6400. For more about the camera, read our article on BJP Online.
Here are 10 photos of the new camera. More will come today.
Here are the full specifications for the Nikon D3x camera.
* Nikon FX-format CMOS image sensor with 24.5 effective megapixels
* Exceptional noise control from ISO 100 to ISO 1600
* Fast 14-bit A/D conversion incorporated onto the image sensor for high signal-to-noise ratio and low power consumption
* Nikon’s EXPEED image-processing system, utilizing a supremely powerful CPU with 16-bit image processing
* Near-instantaneous shutter release time lag of approx. 0.04 second (based on CIPA Guideline)*
* 5-frames-per-second continuous shooting in FX format and 7 fps in DX crop mode (up to 130 frames)*
* 51-point Multi-CAM3500FX autofocus system
* Scene Recognition System for more accurate AF, AE, and AWB results
* Active D-Lighting for complete control over highlight and shadow detail
* Picture Control: Standard, Vivid, Neutral and Monochrome (Landscape, Portrait and D2x Modes I, II and III are available free via download)
* Live View mode for shooting handheld and with a tripod
* High-resolution (approx. 920k dots), 3-inch VGA-size LCD monitor with tempered glass
* Durable, lightweight magnesium-alloy construction and comprehensive weather sealing against dust and moisture
* Intelligent power management that lets you shoot up to approx. 4,400 frames on a single battery charge (based on CIPA Standards)
* Compatibility with the Nikon Total Imaging System
Effective pixels
24.5 million
Image sensor
CMOS sensor, 35.9 x 24.0 mm; Nikon FX format; total pixels: 25.72 million
Image size (pixels)
FX format (36 x 24): 6,048 x 4,032 [L], 4,544 x 3,024 [M], 3,024 x 2,016 [S]
DX format (24 x 16): 3,968 x 2,640 [L], 2,976 x 1,976 [M], 1,984 x 1,320 [S]
5:4 (30 x 24): 5,056 x 4,032 [L], 3,792 x 3,024 [M], 2,528 x 2,016 [S]
Sensitivity
ISO 100 to 1600 in steps of 1/3, 1/2, or 1 EV; can be set to approx. 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, or 1 EV (ISO 50 equivalent) below ISO 100, or to approx. 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1, or 2 EV (ISO 6400 equivalent) over ISO 1600
Storage media
CompactFlash(Type I/II, compliant with UDMA); Microdrives
LCD monitor
3-in., approx. 920k-dot (VGA), 170-degree wide-viewing-angle, 100% frame coverage, low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD with brightness adjustment
Exposure metering
TTL full-aperture exposure metering using 1,005-pixel RGB sensor
1) 3D Color Matrix Metering II (type G and D lenses); Color Matrix Metering II (other CPU lenses); Color Matrix Metering (non-CPU lenses if user provides lens data)
2) Center-weighted: Weight of 75% given to 8-, 15- or 20-mm circle in center of frame, or weighting based on average of entire frame
3) Spot: Meters 4-mm circle (about 1.5% of frame) centered on selected focus area (on center focus area when non-CPU lens is used)
Exposure modes
1) Programmed Auto (P) with flexible program,
2) Shutter-Priority Auto (S),
3) Aperture-Priority Auto (A),
4) Manual (M)
Interface
Hi-speed USB
Power sources
One Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL4a/EL4, Quick Charger MH-22/MH-21, AC Adapter EH-6 (optional)
Dimensions (W x H x D)
Approx. 159.5 x 157 x 87.5 mm (6.3 x 6.2 x 3.4 in.)
Weight
Approx. 1,220 g (2 lb. 11 oz.) without battery, memory card, body cap or accessory shoe cover
Nell Freeman’s intimate account of her work in DR Congo, published this week on the BBC website, sheds a positive light on the power of photography in combating AIDS in the war-ridden Democratic Republic of Congo.
Freeman, a photojournalist from the UK, working alongside Christian Aid, turned 12 HIV-positive digital camera novices from Kinshasa into professional photographers in just four weeks.
Working towards the goal of familiarising the participants with the digital equipment, Freeman carried out workshops in still life and commercial photography, thereby allowing the 12 activists to train others from their villages once the program had reached its end.
Dispelling all scepticism of the project’s success, Freeman recounts how, thanks to their training, the participants have continued to work as photographers and are now all able to afford the anti-retroviral drugs.
Celebrating the phenomenal success of the project, the student’s images were displayed in an exhibition that attracted coverage from all over the country. Check the images on the BBC website.
Filmed with a Nikon D90 (I recommend using a tripod to shoot with a D90, especially when you also have to manually focus the camera).
Launch event in London for the Nikon D3x pro DSLR camera:
The New York Times is reporting this morning that CNN plans to launch its own wire service to provide coverage of big national and international events at a lower cost than the Associated Press.
CNN is hoping to capitalise on the discontent of local newspapers that are threatening to leave the Associated Press because of its high subscription prices. However, while CNN does not plan to carry photography on its wire, its new service could force the AP to lower its prices, which, in turn, could impact its photographers.
Full story on the New York Times' website.
Five men have been arrested for the kidnapping of a World Press Photo winner and a British journalist in Somalia
Spanish photographer José Cendón was seized on Wednesday last week around Bosasso, the main port in the Puntland region of Somalia. A British journalist and two local translators were also abducted.
Cendón won a World Press Photo award in 2007 for a report about psychiatric care in Burundi.
Right now, the three top news stories on our website are all about companies cutting jobs or going under. Yesterday, we learned that two of the UK's largest photo processors were going into administration. The move could affect a further 800 employees across 300 locations in the country. Already, 817 people have been made redundant by the chains owned by Bowie Castlebank.
Today, a large retailer, A J Purdy & Co based in Essex, ceased trading. But the most significant news came from Adobe, which just announced that it would make 600 of his employees redundant. It's not unusual for a big firm to lay off some of its people, especially during a credit crisis. However, in this case, Adobe's woes could spell out a larger problem in the industry as a whole.
Indeed, Abode cited 'weaker-than-expected demand for its new Creative Suite 4 family of products as the main cause for the shortfall in fourth quarter revenue'. CS4 was released a couple of months ago, and it seems, according to Adobe, that publishers, photographers and graphic designers have been cautious in updating their software. The fact that people who rely on Photoshop or Illustrator as a major tool in their trade are reticent to invest in a new, feature-full version is bad news for the industry as a whole.
It's now clear that the credit crisis has reached the photography industry...
Kenneth Jarecke posted a hilarious video on his blog of Tina Fey. The video is a promotion for the January 2009 issue of Vanity Fair. Fey made the cover with images taken by Annie Leibovitz. Here is the video:
The J. Paul Getty Museum in New York has announced that it was looking for a new curator of photography after Weston Naef announced he would retire in January. Naef, who moved from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to Getty in 1984, had been instrumental is making the Museum's photography collection into one of the largest in the world. It has catalogs of work from William Henry Fox Talbot, Carleton Watkins, Julia Margaret Cameron, etc.
Until the museum finds a replacement, Judith Keller will act as interim curator of photography.
Read more about Naef and the search on the New York Times website.
The US-based magazine American Photo has announced it's annual selection of the best emerging photographers. Gallery owner Debra Klomp Ching, curator and writer Susan Bright, and art director Catherine Talese selected 13 photographers. Among them are Edith Maybin (BJP, 24 May 2006), Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Martine Fougeron and Olivia Arthur, who will be profiled in next week issue of BJP.
To see American Photo's list and comments from the judges, visit the PopPhoto website.
Image © Jonathan Hyams
Nan Goldin has picked out Newport graduate and BJP reader Jonathan Hyams to win the Ctrl.Alt.Shift photography prize.
The prize, run by Vice Magazine on behalf of Christian Aid, offered young photographers £1000, a DSLR, an exhibition and the chance to work with one of five volunteer mentors. Hyams is now working with Andy Capper, editor of Vice.
Photographers were invited to submit images focusing on Gender, Power and Poverty, and Hyam’s winning image depicts a young Zimbabwean sex worker in Mozambique. The number of migrants illegally crossing the border into Mozambique has escalated wildly since the highly contested Zimbabwe elections. Male immigrants often work in illegal gold mines, while young women sell sex for less than the price of a local beer, several times a night, in order to send money home.
‘The women cross just over the border to a car park, where they work,’ said Hyams. ‘They exchange the money for maize or vegetable oil, both of which are now used as money in Zimbabwe, or into any hard currency they can get their hands on.
‘I won the Hello! Young Photographer’s Award earlier this year and used the £5000 prize to invest in a mobile lighting kit and go back to Africa,’ he added. ‘Photographically it was a change of direction, so it’s great that’s it’s been well received.’
Capper told BJP he had been ‘blown away’ by both the quality and number of entries to the competition. ‘We expected around 500 entries but we got 1000, and were very surprised at the quality,’ he says. ‘Young photographers are really putting themselves on the line to produce high-quality photojournalism.’
Capper now intends to work with Hyams, who graduated from the University of Newport in 2007, in future editions of Vice. Hyams entered the Ctrl.Alt.Shift prize at Vice’s stand at Vision, BJP's event for young photographers.
The Nikon Solutions Expo is back in London today and tomorrow, with an exclusive award ceremony this evening to unveil the winners of the Nikon Discovery Awards, a student photography competition run in collaboration with the British Journal of Photography.
We report live from the Expo, via our Twitter feed here:
The National Union of Journalists has criticised the Metropolitan Police for heavy-handed policing against two photojournalists in London this week. The incident was caught on video. Read our full report here.
Since the immortalisation of Che Guevara in Alberto Korda’s image Guerrillero Heroico, and the subsequent dissemination of the iconic image throughout countless city landscapes, there has been an undeniable symbiosis between photography and graffiti.
And it seems, according to today’s Metro newspaper, that history is repeating itself.
Although Jon Cartwright, an amateur photographer and web manager from Southwark in south-east London is no revolutionary, his self portrait, which first appeared on the website Flickr, has become an inspiration for Christian Guemy, a Paris-based artist.
Guemy, known on Flickr as C215, decided to use Cartwright’s photo as the base for a stencil which he plastered on the walls, skips and doorways of New York, Paris and London.
Apparently Cartwright was just conducting a lighting experiment with his camera and did not expect the image to gather such momentum until Guemy sent him a cryptic message reading, “This is a great picture of you. I will provide you sooner or later a surprise.”
To go from virtual obscurity to worldwide notoriety in the shake of a spray can must certainly have been more than Jon Cartwright could have bargained for.
A French photographer, Francois-Marie Banier, is expected to receive nearly €1Bn from the L'Oréal matriach Liliane Bettencourt, now 86. The chief shareholder of the most successful cosmetics company is reported to have funded life insurance policies worth that amount to the benefice of the jet-set photographer. The eccentric Banier, also a philosopher and playwright, is apparently 'worth it', according to Bettencourt. But now, her daughter is challenging the legitimacy of the insurance policies, claiming that her mom is vulnerable to abuse. The Independent has the full story here.
Another video has emerged of a journalist, Jesse Oldershaw, being stopped and searched while covering the protests in front of the Greek embassy in London. The event took place on Wednesday 10 December. The journalist is searched after a police officer claims that a yellow pen could be a weapon. (Skip to 4min25sec to see the incident).
This is the second journalist to have been subjected to unreasonable police action during protests at London's Greek embassy. Last week, it emerged that another press photographer had been subjected to heavy-handed methods from a Metropolitan Police officer. The incident had also been filmed and can be seen here.
Rescue plans are being drawn up in a bid to prevent the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) from closing its doors in the face of financial adversity, the New York Times reports today.
Despite housing an impressive array of photography, painting and sculpture, including the 2,300 documentary images making up the Ralph M Parsons Foundation Photography Collection, the MOCA’s depleted funds has forced it to look for outside investment in order to keep the museum afloat.
In the coming week, MOCA will be debating whether to accept assistance from Eli Broad, a powerful patron, or whether to merge with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma), a larger institution which benefits from having both money and space. Although new leadership seems inevitable now, the MOCA is hopeful that this will not impinge on the long-standing artistic ethos of the museum.
For more information, visit www.moca.org
Winning (or being shortlisted for) a competition is often the best way to get your name out there and have pictures editors notice you. BJP compiles a list of competitions you should enter. You can easily find it on the right-end side of this blog under "resources".
December deadlines
Deadline: 19 December 2008
The Photographic Society of India is now accepting entries for its photography competition. Winning images will be displayed at the International Exhibition of Photography in Mumbai, India, from 19 to 26 January 2009.
More details: psi1937@yahoo.com.
Deadline: 31 December 2008
M.I.L.K. Licensing is holding a photographic competition for images relating to the themes of friends, families, lovers, and laughter. The winner will be awarded a $50,000 prize.
More details: www.milkphotos.co.uk
Deadline: 31 December 2008
The Sony World Photography Awards are now accepting submissions, with 12 categories for professionals and nine for amateurs. The 2009 SWPA winner will receive a £12,500 cash prize.
More details: www.worldphotographyawards.org
January deadlines
Deadline: 04 January 2009
Photographer Jonas Lemberg has launched ‘The Photo Award’, a new contest with a $30,000 prize fund.
More details: www.thephotoaward.com
Deadline: 11 January 2009
The Renaissance Photography Competition offers photographers the change to be judged by Martin Parr, Eamonn McCabe, Charlie Waite and Magnum Magnum editor Brigitte Lardinois. The theme this year is 'Moments that Matter'. The judges will award £5000 in prizes.
More details: renaissancephotography.org.
Deadline: 15 January 2009
The World Press Photo 2009 contest is open for entries. The international jury will include former Time magazine photography editor MaryAnne Golon, and experts from Magnum, Vanity Fair and the Associated Press.
More details: worldpressphoto.org.
Deadline: 31 January 2009
The Erotic Review Photographer of the Year contest, which carries two cash prizes – one worth £1000 for the Judges' selection and another worth £250 for the readers' choice.
More details: www.erphoto.org.
Deadline: 31 January 2009
Five assistant photographers can win professional representation from LPA Futures, a division of the Lisa Pritchard Agency. Entrants must be seeking a full-time career in commercial photography and must submit 10 images via email to futures@lisapritchard.com.
More details: lisapritchard.com.
February deadlines
Deadline: 28 February 2009
The Fujifilm Student Awards offers aspiring pro photographers the chance to see their work become the cover image for the re-issue of Rachel Carson's classic, Silent Spring, by Penguin Classics. Entry is free. All images must be taken on Fujifilm Professional.
More details: fujifilmstudentawards.co.uk.
March deadlines
Deadline: 31 March 2009
The theme for the first ever Linhof Award for Young Photography is “Human Cityscapes”, with a first prize of Linhof camera equipment valuing €10,000.
More details: www.linhofstudio.com
May deadlines
Deadline: 15 May 2009
The Royal Photographic Society is inviting applications for its new RPS Jeff Vickers Genix Imaging Bursary for young photographers. Each bursary will be worth £5,000 per year for the next three years. More details:
www.rps.org/education/Bursary-Information
Previous competitions (now closed)
Deadline: 01 September 2008
RSPCA’s prestigious Young Photographer Awards 2008
The competition, sponsored by Olympus and Warners Midlands, is reserved to photographers under 19. Winners receive Olympus digital cameras and the chance to go on a RSPCA photo shoot.
More details: www.rspca.org.uk/ypa
Deadline: 25 September 2008
BJP's International Photography Awards
A juried competition with a total prize fund worth more than £13,000 ($25,000/€16,500) organised by the British Journal of Photography.
More details: www.bjp-online.com/award
Deadline:31 October 2008
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Australian Human Rights Commission is holding a photo competition with the theme of "dignity and justice for all of us". Winners will receive a voucher of $500 valid at the Digital Camera Warehouse. More details: www.humanrights.gov.au/photo_comp/index.html
Deadline: 31 October 2008
The Association of Photographers has launched its 2009 call for entries for its annual Awards. Full or provisional AOP members can enter 19 categories. More details: www.the-awards.com
Deadline: 15 November 2008
Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography are now accepting submissions for project proposals. Five $20,000 grants will be given to support the best talents in photojournalism. More details: www.gettyimages.com/editorial-grants
Deadline: 15 November 2008
The Luis Valtuena International Humanitarian Photography Award is now accepting submissions. The topic of the images must relate to humanitarian action, international cooperation, and social exclusion. The winner will be awarded a grant of €8000.
More details: www.zonaactiva.org/fotohumanitaria
Robbie Cooper's video of people watching porn can be viewed here (sorry for the wrong link before).
Catching moments of joy, exhiliration and despair, photographer Robbie Cooper used the revolutionary new Red One Digital Cinema camera to capture child gamers lost in intense concentration. Cooper's work is the subject of this week's BJP, and to complement his interview, here is the video of the work.
2008 was a year of surprises and long-awaited updates in the equipment arena. Nikon and Canon released a few new models (the EOS 50D for example, or the D60 at Nikon). Sony also introduced its flagship camera, which it had been hinting at for more than a year. But the best surprises came from unlikely candidates - Leica and Red. Here is our top nine of 2008's best cameras!
9 - Nikon D60
Unveiled in January 2008, the D60 replaced the D40x, itself introduced less than one year before. The £450 digital SLR with a 10.2 million pixel resolution is very similar to its predecessor, with the main innovation being the inclusion of Nikon's image sensor cleaning function, as well as an airflow control system. Nikon also added some filter effects to make this model an entry level camera for enthusiasts. For more on the camera, read our news item here.
8 - Canon EOS 450D
Also unveiled in January 2008 is Canon EOS 450D DSLR. The camera, which replaces the 400D, came with a bigger resolution (12.2 million pixels, and introduced the nine-point autofocus system and the DIGIC III processor to the range. It is capable of burst rates of up to 3.5fps and comes with live view composition (a feature that became a standard in DSLR this year). Costing £600 (body only) the camera can take up to 500 shots with only one charge. For more, read our article here.
7 - Sony Alpha 900
The Alpha range now has its flagship. Two years after the introduction of its first DSLR camera, Sony launched a full-frame 24.6 million pixel resolution Alpha 900. The CMOS sensor was designed from the ground up for 35mm format full-frame imaging. It has an aspect ratio of 3:2 and features the SteadyShot Inside stabilisation system, whic is fitted in-camera to ensure lower image degradation compared to lens-based systems. However, the camera's best feature is its price - £1800 - making it the cheapest full-frame camera on the market, thus introducing high resolution images to more people. For more on this camera, which was launched in September 2008, read our article here.
6 - Canon EOS 50D
To fill the gap between the 40D and the 5D, Canon released in September its 50D. With a 15.1 million pixel resolution CMOS sensor and Canon's new DIGIC 4 image processor, the 50D allowed Canon to catch up with Nikon in terms of low-noise image quality. The camera shoot at ISO levels of up to 3200, expandable to 12,800. The 50D is in a waterproof casing and comes with the EOS Integrated Cleaning System, which now includes an improved Self Cleaning Sensor Unit with a new fluorine coating. The camera retails at £1200. For more, click here.
5 - Nikon D90
Nikon was the first camera manufacturer to add High-Definition video to a DSLR. The camera, set to replace the D80, offers a 12.3 million pixel resolution with a newly-designed DX-format CMOS sensor. It is couples with Nikon's Expeed image procession system, which provides a wide ISO sensitivity ranging from 200 to 3200. But the 720p HD video mode is the real innovation, even if autofocus does not work in this mode, forcing videographers to focus manually or to use an external system. The camera retaisl at £700. For more, read our article.
4 - Nikon D3x
Less than a year after its release, Nikon updated its flagship pro camera, the D3. The D3x (following on Nikon's naming scheme) comes with a 24.5 million pixel sensor, effectively doubling its predecessor's resolution. The sensor was designed by Sony, but is different than the one fitted in the Alpha 900 DSLR. The full-frame camera does not add a lot of new features, as Nikon wanted it to be its biggest camera ever, without any additional bells and wistles. It can shoot up to 5fps in raw format, and also comes with a live view mode. But video was left out as Nikon did not 'have the right type of video for this product' and 'wanted to focus on getting the best DSLR with a high-resolution'. For more on this camera, read our article here or view the world's first test in this week's issue of BJP.
3 - Canon EOS 5D Mark II
This one was easily this year's most hotly anticipated DSLR. Its predecessor, the 5D, was called the best DSLR ever, as it provided amazing results. As soon as the 5D was released, it obtained cult status, butusers still asked for a new version that would keep the same sensor but come with a more rugged body. Canon delivered that, but added a few extras. Now boasting 21.1 million pixel resolution, the 5D Mark II also comes with High-Definition video capabilities. Nikon offered five minutesof 720p video, Canon went one step further with 12 minutes of 1080p HD recording. The camera, like its predecessor, has become a cult camera with photographers such as Vincent Laforet shooting amazing movies using this second coming of a camera. View some of them here or read our article. You can also read the first test in this week's issue of BJP.
2 - Red One
This new camera system did not gather much press in the UK, with BJP running one of the only articles on it when it was unveiled in November. However, the Red Digital Still & Motion Camera has the potential to reshape the industry. Based on the firm's Scarlet and Epic models, the DSMC can deliver still image resolutions randing from 4.9 million pixels to a whopping 261 million, together with full-frame motion picture capability. Starting from $2500 up to $12,000, the first versions of the camera will be available in early 2009. They will be capable of shooting 3000 images at 120fps or 6000 at 30fps. Red also developed more than 20 lenses, from wide-angle primes to image-stabilised zooms. For more about the system, read our exclusive article here.
1 - Leica S2
But this year's biggest surprise is, without doubt, Leica's foray into the DSLR realm. The S2, which will introduce the S system, was first announced at this year's Photokina international trade show. The 37.5 million pixel resolution camera is designed to bridge the gap between more versatile professional DSLRs and medium-format high resolution models. The device sports a 30x45mm CCD sensor, which is 56% bigger than a typical 35mm sensor. The weather proof S2 is smaller than top Canon or Nikon DSLRs, Leica claimes, but provides the same features usually found in medium format camera. The S2 will also come with nine new lenses. The camera will retail in mid-2009 at more than €20,000 and Leica will unveil more technical details at the 2009 PMA show in Las Vegas in March. For more, read our article here or view more than 12 images of the system here.
On 27 December 2007, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated after a rally. Getty Images photographer John Moore was one of the only two photographers present on the scene, standing a few meters away from where the bomb that killed Bhutto exploded.
In February, Moore talked to BJP about the experience.
'In a situation like the assassination, which was very chaotic and with quickly fading light, there were many images that were shot at very slow shutter speeds and simply didn't work. Plus, I have to admit, in the seconds and minutes after surviving a suicide bomb blast like that, I wasn't thinking about switching my 16-35mm f/2.8 for my 28mm f/1.8, which would have given me a lot more light. There were some photos I would have liked to have done better, but ultimately the set that we put together, I hope, told the story well.'I should mention that it was not immediately clear that she had been killed. I heard the shots, saw her go down and then the blast came. But I had no idea she was seriously injured, much less dead. The hardest part was walking towards the carnage so soon after the blast. It is not something a normal human being walks towards. Before the screaming started, there was total silence and it was unnerving.
'The fact that I was one of the only photojournalists on the scene when the assassination took place was a little random. I got out of the campaign rally grounds before the other journalists, simply because I wanted to get ahead of the crowd. It was strange for me to suddenly be on the other side of the camera, talking about the event on the BBC, CNN and to other newspaper reporters.'
With the end of the year upon us, it's time for the majority of news outlets and photo agencies to offer a look back at the photos that marked 2008. Here is a selection of these selections.
The New York Times has eight slideshows from the election to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with a section on arts and entertainment and another on the economy. I particularly enjoyed the shot of Mitt Romney while he campaigned in Palm Beach in front of a Texaco service station. View all the pictures here.
Time Magazine also has its "Pictures of the Year". A lot of them deal with the election, the economic crisis and the Olympics, but there are also some good ones on the war in Iraq such as this one by Yuri Kozyrev. To view the entire slideshow, click here.
The French photo agency Oeil Public also has its selection of its best photos taken in 2008. Of course, the American elections are covered, but so is the crisis in Congo, and life in Angola, Cuba and Peru. The last two images, taken by Jerome Sessini are particularly interesting. They portray Iraqis living a 'normal' life. Highly recommended. To view the selection, click-here.
And, onelast slideshow before the end of the year. It's by Alec Soth of Magnum Photos, and is called The Last Days of W. Enjoy.
"Many of my most successful photographs from the 1950’s onward have been made on Polaroid film. One look at the tonal quality of the print I have achieved should convince the uninitiated of the truly superior quality of Polaroid film.” Ansel Adams.
Eighty years after the original US patent (# 1,918,848) was registered, Polaroid's instant film is taking its final bow. In February 2008, Polaroid announced that it was closing its plants in Norwood and Waltham in Massachusetts (they used to produce large-format films) and in Mexico and the Netherlands. The news had come one year after Polaroid had stopped producing instant cameras, which were first designed by Polaroid's founder Edwin Land.
After the factories ceased production, Polaroid told its fans that enough film had been manufactured to last "well into 2009", making the upcoming year the final year of the Polaroid era. However, fans were (and still are) not ready to let go. Sites such as SavePolaroid were set up where enthusiasts sent letters to Polaroid and other companies such as Fujifilm or Ilford Photo in a bid to save the most popular instant films.
In June, Ilford Photo was close to a deal with Polaroid to continue to production of black-and-white instant films. but these hopes were dashed when Harman Technology (Ilford's parent company) told BJP that after reviewing the economics of the deal, it couldn't go forward with it. Then came Fujifilm, which is now rumoured to have entered in a partnership with a third-party instant film manufacturer (Fujifilm is the last company to have the capabilities to produce instant films) to resume the supply of the T125i (gloss), T664 and T667 instant films (read our full report here).
But, even if the latest rumours were true, 2009 will mark the end of Polaroid as we know it.
The SX-70 camera, which spat out films for million of families and artists alike, brought fame to the firm. It was the time when Polaroid promoted its instant cameras with commercials featuring the now famous Hugh Laurie (see below).
Polaroid's goals, in 2002, were to develop new digital printing technologies using thermal transfer with inkjet technologies. These goals would not be realised for another five years. In 2005, Polaroid was sold again. In January 2005, Polaroid became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petters Group Worldwide, whose portfolio included direct marketing companies. Polaroid survived for another three years, while it quietly shut down its instant film processes.
Now, Polaroid has once again filed for bankruptcy, this time to protect itself from an ongoing investigation against Petters Group (read our report here).
Faced with public criticism against its decision to terminate its instant film division, Polaroid tried to offer fans an alternative. In 2008, it released the Pogo: a digital and instant printer, which spat out small pictures on a sticker. Gone was the white frame, the chemicals and the 90 seconds needed to find out what your instant camera had done with your picture. It was replaced by a small pocket-sized printer designed for the low-quality images taken from one's mobile phone (Polaroid has said that it will release in 2009 a digital camera with an embedded printer).
However, fans are refusing to give up. With websites such as SavePolaroid and PolaPremium (formerly-known as Unsaleable.com, and famous for its high prices), as well as the Polanoid collection, Polaroid enthusiasts continue to exchange tips of where to find the cheapest films and cameras (often found on eBay or photography specialists such as Calumet in the UK). Polaroid may have stopped producing the products that made its name (who knows Polaroid for its digital cameras or picture frames?), but photographers will continue to remember the joy and expectation that came with the noise of a SX-70 Land camera spitting out a rectangular white frame...
For more about the end of the Polaroid's era, visit the following sites:
The Polaroid: Imperfect, Yet Magical by the New York Times.
The Polaroid Collections by Polaroid.
SavePolaroid.com.
Polanoid, the largest Polaroid-picture collection of the planet.
Photojojo, Polaroid: R.I.P.
If you have a collection of Polaroid you would like to share with our readers, do not hesitate to add a link to your website in the comments below.
