The hipsters were right. The fad of refurbishing and using old cameras has trickled back to manufacturers and lovers of imagery. This week, The Impossible Project’s CEO, Oskar Smolokowski, debuted a modern version of the Poloraid camera your parents used in college, the I-1. But this iteration is way more in line with modern tech., right down to the rechargeable battery.
However, the I-1 sticks with the simplicity of the old version in that you insert a cartridge, click the shutter release, and get instant photos, about $24 for eight.
It gets techy with its flash surrounded in LEDs that auto adjusts for distance and light. There’s also an app that gives the camera a remote feel so photographers can make adjustments via Bluetooth like overriding the flash and adjusting shutter speeds, aperture and exposure—so you can get all artsy, you know, basically handheld Instagram. That’s assuming you can also get digital versions of these photos, which would make the I-1 more worth the coin.
The new camera sells for $300 and will be available May 10.
The Impossible Project was founded by Florian Kaps, André Bosman and Marwan Saba in 2008 when they bought the last Polaroid factory as it was shutting down in the Netherlands and began kicking out re-imagined cameras in the Polaroid ilk in 2010, generating a significant amount of revenue to allow them to keep producing cameras, many of which are available on the Project’s site. According to Wiki, Bosman is an MP in the Dutch House of Representatives.
These little nuggets aren’t going to be super-packable for surf, ski, snow or backpacking trips, and forget distance and action, but they’ll definitely make your awesome life look like your Instagram account in print format. Instantly.
