Polaroid story. Polaroids - what are these glasses and what they are eaten with. How to check polarization on glasses

Any smartphone can now take an instant photo. A couple of touches and somewhere in another city, mom knows that you have eaten. But, despite this, hands reach for the good old Polaroids, which give out real analog photography with a pleasant grinding.

Interest in retro has touched all spheres. This is largely due to the fact that people born in the eighties and nineties have now reached the age "before the grass was greener" and they want to return to things that once left memories for a lifetime. These people are solvent today, and the marketing sharks cannot miss such a chance. Well, as for those born in the 2000s and nostalgic for the times in which they never lived ... Well, psychologists say that this is normal.

But there is something else here. Many changes imposed by tech companies have unfairly supplanted their ancestors. As the candy bar killed the clamshells, so the digital ousted the analog photo in the caste of fetishists. But there are prerequisites for the return of fashion to instant photography, especially in the general flow of retro fashion.

On such a favorable wave, the revival of the Polaroid Origins, which ceased operations in 2008, was announced. Entrepreneurs who have believed in the opportunity to return some of its former glory to Polaroid say that in today's digital world, there is an increasing demand for real things that exist outside the narrow confines of the smartphone. Austin Cleon, in his book Steal Like an Artist, described ten lessons of creativity, one of which dealt precisely with the juxtaposition of analogue and number.
Austin says "work with your hands."

It is important for the human brain to receive the result of its work. When an artist creates in an intangible space, the creativity can quickly dry up. This problem has yet to be solved by the evangelists of virtual and augmented reality.

History

The Polaroid company was founded by Edwin Land, the grandson of Russian émigrés and a Harvard graduate, in 1937. Basically, the company produced products with polarized coatings: sunglasses, table lamps, and others. During World War II, the company produced a range of products for the US military, including infrared night vision devices, gun scopes, and vectrographs. But cameras for instant photos began to be produced only 11 years later in 1948.

One day in 1943, while vacationing in Santa Fe, Land's three-year-old daughter Jennifer asked why she couldn't see the photo right after the shoot. It was this naive childish question that became the starting point for Land's work on a new type of film. Later, Land recalled that he put in his head all the conditions and components necessary for the implementation of the technology within an hour. It was then that he decided to take up the development of instant photography. It took five years to obtain a patent and implement the idea.

From 1943 to 1946, the development of the Polaroid instant camera was kept in secret. One of the main concerns was the strength of the cassette: to get to the end customer, it had to make its way from the conveyor, through warehouses, trucks, stores, bags and numerous crooked hands, while not cracking or deteriorating from impact or pressure. Not to mention temperature drops and other factors.

But a solution was found and on February 21, 1947, the first instant camera was introduced. And already in 1948, the first commercial model “Model 95” arrived in the central department store of Boston, which was able to take only pictures in gray shades and had an important limitation: it was necessary to wait exactly 60 seconds before peeling off the negative layer from the photo. Despite the fact that the quality of the camera did not surpass the existing systems, and the photographer required extreme care, the buyers were satisfied. The first batch was sold out in a matter of minutes.

True contrasting black and white (not gray and gray) Polaroid film came out two years later in 1950. The transition to black and white required additional manual soaking of the developed image using a polymer coating to prevent darkening of the photo. And already in 1957, the New York Times called instant photography equal in quality to the best works that came out of ordinary developing rooms.

Despite the unprecedented popularity of instant cameras, Land did not believe in marketing. He said that marketing is needed for notoriously bad products. His approach was this: you need to show people something new and unnecessary up to this point, so that by the end of the demonstration, they irresistibly want to get this product. So he turned the annual meetings at Polaroid into a show of sorts. Land went up on stage, showed the new camera, talked about its capabilities. And by the end of the meeting, the audience simply dreamed of getting such a camera.

You may have noticed some similarities here with Apple's product presentations. Steve Jobs followed the development of Polaroid in his youth, and once even confirmed that Apple is based on the same business model. During the seventies and early eighties, he visited Polaroid headquarters several times to chat with Land.

Polaroid production in the USSR

Polaroid cameras were assembled in the USSR, and then in Russia. In the 80s, during one of his business trips to the United States, the Soviet nuclear physicist, Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Academician Yevgeny Velikhov, at one of the meetings met with the then President of the Polaroid company McAlister Boof, and he suggested that he establish joint production in the USSR.

So, in 1989, at the initiative of the USSR Academy of Sciences, a joint venture Svetozor was organized, which over the next ten years produced the Supercolor 635CL and 636 Closeup models. These models did not differ functionally and differed only in the shape of the case. Production began with only a dozen pieces and two assemblers, the equipment was put on the conveyor, but at first there was no one to work. Two people alternately changed operations from assembly to testing.

It was originally planned to produce 350,000 cameras within six years, but five years later the company reported that production volumes reached two hundred thousand cameras per year. But this was not enough, because the sales of Polaroids assembled in the West on the territory of the former USSR reached one million pieces a year, not counting the lots produced by Svetozor.

By the way, not all components for assembly were delivered from abroad. For example, the electronic flash control unit was produced at the Signal plant in Obninsk, which was the only one, apart from the factories in Malaysia and Scotland, where they produced electronics for the Polaroid.

Our days, Impossible Project

In 2001, Polaroid filed for bankruptcy twice and was resold three times. It seemed that the era of Polaroid had come to an end. Still, there were enthusiasts who showed an interest in outdated photographs. And in 2009, the last Polaroid plant was bought by three entrepreneurs and named The Impossible Project. It can still be called experimental, but the project already has many supporters and admirers. And here it is worth remembering one more phrase by Edwin Land: “You don’t need to do what everyone can do”
Thanks to Impossible Project, in 2017, for the first time in a long time, a new camera came out with the familiar Polaroid inscription. It is called OneStep 2. The camera takes instant photos, it has a timer, flash and USB port for charging. The OneStep 2 has yet to go on sale, but is available for pre-order. The camera uses I-type film that was originally created for the original Impossible Project I-1 camera.

Since 2008, various companies have been able to obtain a license to use a patent for Polaroid technology. But in 2017, the parent company of Impossible Project bought out all of Polaroid's patents, as well as all intellectual property rights. What does all this mean? This means that soon it will be possible to buy a new Polaroid camera for only $ 99.

Technology

The desire of Land's daughter required not only the creation of a new type of film, but also a camera with a different mechanism for producing photography. The main element of the system was a film cassette containing both a negative and a positive receiving layer, connected by a reservoir with reagents (including sodium hydroxide) for development. This reservoir was called a cocoon. When leaving the chamber, a pair of rollers at the base of the chamber squeezed the film, destroying the wall of the reservoir, after which the reagent spread over the image area. As the reagents proliferated, the chemicals removed the non-illuminated silver halide from the negative, brought it to the positive layer in less quantity, creating the final image. And to this day, the process has not changed significantly.

The outside of the picture is protected with a transparent film.
Below is the fixer.
Below is the buffer layer. It delays the penetration of fixer substances while the reaction with the reagent takes place below.
The next is the receiving layer of paper, where the final positive image is formed from the dyes from the lower layers.
Under it is a reagent.
The next six layers are alternating emulsion layers and development ink layers.
Three emulsion layers are sensitive to red, green and blue colors. They act as negatives for layers of cyan, magenta, and yellow (or, in more familiar terms, cyan, magenta, and yellow), making them transferable to paper. For example, a photo of a blue sky will affect the blue emulsion, which will block all the yellow paint underneath, allowing the magenta and cyan layers to blend onto the positive surface, forming blue.

Video clip

In the format of an article, I prepared this Polaroid story for Giktimes, but initially we made a video, which we left below. It features voice-over with historical and technical illustrations and a slightly more advanced script.

Edwin Herbert Land (1930s).

In 1883, after the accession to the throne of Alexander III, the persecution of the Jews began in Russia. It was then that the entire Land family: grandfather Abraham Solomonovich, grandmother Ella, uncles Sam and Louis and his father Harry - emigrated from Odessa to America. An enterprising grandfather started his own business of buying and processing scrap metal. On May 7, 1909, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Harry Land and his wife Mathi Goldfagen had a son - the future world famous inventor, who was named Edwin. In the family, the boy's name was Din, as Helen's younger sister could not pronounce Edwin's full name. This short nickname remained with Land for the rest of his life - as his friends and business partners called him. From a young age, Edwin experimented a lot with light, kaleidoscopes and stereoscopes and often ran to the local library to gaze at the telescope installed there. And once, in a fit of curiosity, he took apart his father's phonograph into details, for which he was whipped by a strict parent. At thirteen, his parents sent Edwin on summer vacation to a camp near Norwich, Connecticut. There he saw an experiment demonstrating the decomposition of a light beam into a spectral beam using a glass pyramid made of Icelandic spar. This event greatly influenced and determined the further sphere of interests of Land. At this age, Edwin first read the textbook on optical physics by the famous scientist Robert Williams Wood, and this book replaced the Bible for many years. At school, Edwin gave particular preference to the natural sciences. After graduation, the boy's parents paid for their studies at Harvard University. However, a few months later, Land unexpectedly dropped out of university. It seemed to him that studying at Harvard only fetters his scientific initiative; Land felt that he was ready to make discoveries - and he knew exactly in which area. The direction of research was prompted by life itself. One night, when Edwin was thirteen, he was awakened by a terrible noise. It was a collision between a car and a farm van. As an adult, Land pondered a lot about this case: how to make the headlights powerful, but so that their light would not blind the drivers of oncoming cars? The decision was made: to make polarizing filters, with the help of which it would be possible to "dim" the bright light. The problem was the material. After a series of experiments, Land settled on plastic, which, as a result of appropriate processing, acquired the necessary properties. So Edwin Land invented polarizing lenses for car headlights that illuminate the road without dazzling oncoming cars. In 1929, having completed the invention and received his first patent, Edwin Land returned triumphantly to Harvard University. The results of his work so impressed Theodore Lyman, head of the Department of Physics, that he gave the promising student a separate laboratory for research. And in 1932, Land himself taught seminars on the polarization of light - an unprecedented honor for a man who had not even received a diploma yet. However, contrary to the persuasion of his colleagues, Land did not pursue a scientific degree, but tried to realize his second talent as an entrepreneur. Teaming up with physics professor George Whewright, he founded Land-Wheelwright. Its task was to commercialize the invention, which by that time had become interested in the research laboratories of such giants as General Motors, General Electric and Eastman Kodak. As for advanced degrees, in 1957, Harvard finally made Land an honorary doctorate. In the 1930s, Edwin Land's collaboration with lawyer Donald Brown began, which lasted more than 40 years. Patent law was considered Brown's horse, thanks to which all of Land's ideas were surrounded by an indestructible wall of patents, which excluded the possibility of any copying of inventions. In 1934, Kodak became the first customer of the new company to use Land's polarizers as camera filters. The following year, the American Optical Company bought a license from Land-Wheelwright to manufacture sunglasses. Edwin Land has always been creative in promoting his inventions. A proponent of personal presentations, Land rented a hotel for a meeting with top managers from the American Optical Company to sell his polarizing filters, put an aquarium with a goldfish on the windowsill, and when the guests arrived, he handed each of them a polarizing plate. The trick was that on a sunny day, due to glare, the goldfish inside the aquarium was not visible, and with the help of a polarizing plate, top managers could see it immediately. The impressed guests immediately agreed to invest in this idea. Already in the late 1930s, the first pair of glasses was sold. In 1937, with the proceeds, Land was able to transform his company into the Polaroid Corporation. The term polaroid was first used by Professor Clarence Kennedy in 1934 when he talked about Land's work to find a material to polarize light. Land didn't like the word at first. He himself wanted to call the material he had invented epibollipol (epibollipol, from the Greek words "flat" and "polarizer"). But Land's colleagues convinced him that the easy-to-pronounce polaroid word was better for his invention. Initially, the Polaroid company did not deal with cameras, releasing sunglasses, polarized lenses for various purposes for civilian devices and military equipment. Demand increased, and soon Polaroid products crossed the borders of Europe and Asia. The year 1939 marked a new stage in the development of the young company. Polaroid received $ 7 million from the US government to develop homing shells. Defense work continued during the Second World War. Polaroid has established the production of night vision devices, periscopes, binoculars, aerial reconnaissance devices and other similar equipment. In 1944, all military pilots received new Polaroid goggles. The lenses of these glasses, which looked like a large windshield, were made of unbreakable plastic. They provided excellent visibility and protected the pilots' eyes from hypothermia and flashes of fire. In 1944, Land was vacationing with his three-year-old daughter Jennifer in Santa Fe, where they took a lot of pictures on walks. And once the girl asked her father why she could not immediately look at the finished photograph. Within an hour, Edwin Land outlined the concept of instant photography.

It took about three years to bring the idea to life. The search for a new photographic material, which made it possible to obtain a photograph in a few tens of seconds, proceeded slowly and was somewhat reminiscent of Edison's search for a suitable material for a lamp filament. Edison himself put it this way: "I did not suffer defeat. I just found 10,000 ways that do not work." Land later also recalled that period of searching: "When thinking up something, it is important not to be afraid to fail. Scientists make great discoveries only because they hypothesize and conduct experiments. Failure follows failure, but they do not give up until they achieve the results, that they need. " He achieved that the photosensitive surface appeared both as a film and as a photograph. In February 1947, Land demonstrated a prototype of a new camera at a meeting of the American Optical Society. The essence of the invention was as follows: after exposure, the film was rolled between special rollers, with the help of which reagents were applied to it for developing and fixing the image. It was removed from the camera ready for printing. The inventor has always paid special attention to the convenience of using the device invented by him. They say that before launching another model of the camera into production, he brought it home and showed it to his wife and children in order to make sure that even housewives could load the film or cassette on their own and take a normal picture. In 1948, the production of Polaroid Land 95 cameras was launched, which immediately after the shooting gave the finished picture. Additionally, the company also produced special cassettes for them. The cassette contained photographic material or a combination of photographic materials and reagents resulting in a positive paper backed image. The photo taken with the first Polaroid cameras was expensive at $ 1. At that time, this was very decent money, for example, a classic hamburger cost several times cheaper. Although the time for cheap photographs has not yet come, the realization of the idea of instant photography brought the company, which has since been nicknamed "the factory of inventions", immense popularity. The Land 95 first went on sale on November 26, 1948, at the Jordan March department store in Boston. It cost $ 89.75. Land deliberately did not exceed the $ 100 mark. Land considered the main consumer group to be the middle class, which after the war willingly spent money on entertainment and goods of this kind.

The calculation turned out to be correct: the cameras were a huge success in the market. The following year, the "polaroids" were sold for more than $ 9 million, and in 1950 the millionth film clip was bought. It was easy to buy Polaroid, it was sold almost "on every corner". Edwin Land's invention changed the style of parties, weddings and other celebrations in America in many ways. Now each guest could take his own set of pictures away from the celebration - instead of waiting for weeks or even months for the hosts to send him a photo.

In 1958, Polaroid opened the first foreign representative offices in Canada and West Germany, then branches of the company appeared in the UK, France, Italy, Japan, and in 1989 - even in the isolated USSR by the Iron Curtain. In 1963, the company released the first camera that makes it possible to take color images at once. Research into a color photo printing system began at the same time as the very first cameras that produced instant black and white images began to be sold, and it was not until almost 15 years later that Polaroid employees were successful. Launched in 1965, the Polaroid Swinger camera marked the next stage in instant photography. Since the Polaroid Swinger camera only cost $ 20, it quickly became the company's most commercially successful product. By the mid-1960s, about half of American families were using Polaroid cameras.

Polaroid 20 (Swinger) (1965)

In 1968, the Japanese company Mikami developed the Speed Magny 100 instant photo back for Nikon's first F-series SLR camera. The long optical path "ate up" about 5 stops of light, so the shutter speed of 1 / 250s corresponded to 1 / 8s. The Speed Magny design completely replaced the standard rear camera cover. The device used the standard Polaroid format 8.5 x 10.8 cm, including 669, 665 P / N and 679. Similar devices have been developed for almost all popular brands such as Hasselblad, Mamiya and others. The Speed Magny Instant Backs were discontinued in the early eighties.

Ten years later, in 1978, the Polaroid company itself, together with the Japanese Mamiya, launched the Polaroid 600 SE model, developed on the basis of the Mamiya Press model. The 6x9 Mamiya Press medium format camera had a design based on a modular principle: not only the lens, but also the back was interchangeable. One variant of the case, equipped with an instant photo back, was marketed under the Polaroid brand.

Edwin Land tried to make the invention of instant photography a part of contemporary art. He convinced famous photographers of his day to use Polaroid cameras. The most famous lover of instant photography was the famous Andy Warhol. True, thanks to Warhol, "Polaroid" photographs acquired rather scandalous fame - one of Warhol's hobbies, who was considered a real "addict" of Polaroid, was to photograph in the "nude" style of guests who came to him. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has begun collecting and exhibiting the famous Polaroid Photography Collection, which currently contains about 20,000 works. After instant photography became financially affordable, every effort was made to automate the process. The real breakthrough came in 1972. The Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera, the first fully "motorized" model, was introduced to the world. In previous Polaroid cameras, the photographer had to remove the negative layer from the photo himself. Now the whole process of obtaining the image proceeded automatically: after pressing the trigger, the photograph left the camera and within a few minutes was fully developed. The first presentation of the SX-70 took place on April 25, 1972 at the Polaroid AGM. Edwin Land took the stage and, lighting his pipe, began his speech with the words: "After today, photography will never be the same again."

In 1972, Land with a camera in his hands was featured on the cover of Life magazine, which included an article dedicated to the release of the new Polaroid SX-70 camera. The article was titled "Instant Karma: Edwin Land and His‘ Magic ... "which means" Instant Karma: Edwin Land and His Magic ... ". In June of the same year, on the cover of another popular magazine - Time. In the issue in the Marketing section, there was an article “Polaroid's Big Gamble on Small Cameras”, which can be translated as “The big game of Polaroid in the small camera market.” The company invited popular actor Sir Laurence Olivier to advertise the camera. This was his first and last The model expected a resounding success, to which Wall Street immediately reacted: the corporation's shares grew 90 times in a year, which allowed Polaroid to enter the Nifty Fifty - the rating of the 50 most attractive companies for investors. one of the most successful companies in the world.

Since then, the number of models has become more and more, the price of them and consumables is getting lower. In the 70s - 80s, the Polaroid became a truly "people's" camera, which is remembered with nostalgia by the whole of America and most of the world. The model became a landmark, provoking another boom in photography. Land himself commented on the work on the creation of the Polaroid SX-70: "My main goal was to create a camera that would become a part of you, that would always be with you." The most famous model of the SX-70 family, developed in 1977, was the 1000 OneStep camera, which first featured the company's signature right button. Built on SX-70 technology and using the same film format, the camera embodied a new cost-cutting strategy. The company's engineers strove to develop mass-produced goods rather than a futuristic miracle. The OneStep camera used a fixed focus lens, which forced the photographer to shoot from a distance of four steps. Instead of the previous finishing of the case with natural leather, plastic with a cheerful rainbow stripe was used. The design of the series became legendary and formed the basis for the presentation of the Polaroid image. The origin of the corporate identity was the designer Paul Giambarba, who joined the Polaroid team in 1958 to develop a new visual brand. It was necessary to separate the Polaroid products from the Kodak products that flooded the shelves. One of the conditions put forward by Edwin Land is the presence of a dominant white color. This is how a simple, beautiful and unique visual language was developed.

Supercolor 1000 / Polatronic 1 (1977).

In April 1976, Eastman Kodak tried to circumvent patent prohibitions and introduced its first Kodak EK4 instant camera. It was an abnormally terminated project, driven in part by the fear of Kodak. The success of the SX-70 series cameras was so deafening that it could really define the future of photography. Two years later, an automatic version was released - the Kodak EK6. Kodak cameras had a vertically oriented body with a complex optical path using an internal mirror system. Then came the Kodak EK 100, which had a slightly different case design. The series was also released under a different name Colorburst. Cameras of the PLEASER and HANDLE series had a simpler design: now the future image was located in the focal plane. The entry of a competitor into the instant photography market, which almost single-handedly created Polaroid, ended the serene relationship between the companies. Kodak was much bigger than Polaroid. The giant had unlimited resources at its disposal. But Kodak cameras were clumsy, unattractive, and heavy. Polaroid cameras weighed nearly half the weight and featured bold designs and innovative technical solutions. Land was not shy about admitting that the patent wall that lawyers built around his inventions made Polaroid a monopoly. This monopoly right has been successfully defended by Polaroid for many years against a variety of plagiarists. So Edwin Land took up the challenge and, six days after Kodak announced its instant camera, filed a patent infringement lawsuit, responding with another aphorism: “The only thing that keeps us alive is our exclusivity. - patents ". By then, Kodak had already sued Polaroid for antitrust violations. It took five years for Polaroid's lawsuit against Kodak to go to trial. Four years later, a verdict was issued that found that Kodak had infringed seven Polaroid patents. Kodak was forced to discontinue production of its instant cameras. A ban was also imposed on the release of films for already sold Kodak cameras. In July 1991, four months after Land's death, Kodak paid Polaroid $ 925 million in damages, a record amount in such claims. Experts estimated the possible amount of compensation from $ 2 billion to 16 billion.

The course of this patent war was followed with particular interest by the Japanese company FujiFilm, as a lawsuit was also brought against them. The FujiFilm Fotorama camera copied much of the Kodak design and had the same form factor. The Japanese company understood that Polaroid would not sell the license. As a result, an agreement was reached on the exchange of technologies: Polaroid began to produce VHS tapes and Floppy discs, using the Japanese concern's many years of development in the field of magnetic media, and FujiFilm got the opportunity to further develop instant photography technology under its own brand. Under the terms of the agreement, FujiFilm products were presented only in the Asian market and in selected countries such as Canada and Australia, and the largest markets in the United States and Europe were closed to them for the duration of the Polaroid patent. In 1998, the Polaroid US patent expired and FujiFilm introduced its new line of Instax instant photography cameras. After the end of the monopoly in the market for instant photography, the shares of the American company fell 44%. There were 3 years left before the bankruptcy of Polaroid.

In 1978, Polaroid teamed up with the Japanese company Mamiya to release the Polaroid 600 SE. Such cooperation was beneficial to both parties: the Japanese Mamiya did not pretend to be in the instant photography market, and Polaroid indicated its presence in the professional photography segment.

SX-70 Time-Zero Model 2 (1978).

Polaroid One Step 600 (1983). Polaroid Spirit 600 (1988).

From 1977 to 1979, Polaroid also produced Polavision Super 8 reversible film and, since 1983, Polachrome 35 mm reversible film. In the second half of the 1980s, a new family of single-stage photo process cameras - Polaroid Impulse - was released. The line was represented by three models, differing only in focusing (focusing). The Polaroid Impulse model was equipped with a rigidly built-in lens focused at a hyperfocal distance of 1.2 meters to "infinity". In the Polaroid Impulse Portrait model, it was possible to change the minimum focusing distance from 0.6 to 1.2 m. When the extension lens was extended, a frame with a visible oval appeared in the viewfinder's field of view. A person's face was observed in this oval when sighting. The inscription “Portrait” was not applied to every camera body, but the distinguishing feature was the presence of a button for extending the extension lens. The Polaroid Impulse Autofocus (Polaroid Impulse AF) camera was equipped with autofocus. After preliminary pressing the shutter button, focusing took place, which was signaled by light and sound signals, after which, by pressing the button all the way, it was possible to take a sharp photo. In the USSR, the peak of the popularity of instant photography fell on the 1980s and 1990s. The production of Polaroid cameras was launched at the Svetozar plant. The Polaroid 635 CL and Polaroid 636 Closeup models were produced with a frame size of 78 x 79 mm. The shutter was of the central type. The uncoated lens (14.6 / 109) was made of optical plastic. Focus has been adjusted to hyperfocal distance. Exposure metering is automatic. The built-in flash was on a swing arm. Optical parallax viewfinder. The body material is shock-resistant plastic. The flash was charged after moving from the transport position to the working position. The readiness for the camera was indicated by a lit green light-emitting diode. The photographic shutter did not release without fully charging the flash. An automatic frame counter showed the number of shots remaining. For photographs wider than 9.2 x 7.3 cm, there was a rather rare in the USSR, but still a fairly well-known model - Polaroid Impulse, made not in the form of a usual "clamshell", but in a single body with a pop-up flash.

Polaroid Impulse Portrait (1988).

In 1983, the Konica Instant Press camera entered the Japanese market and was sold outside Japan a year later. It was the first successful replica of the Polaroid 195. The Konica Instant Press camera offered decent professional quality and was a good commercial success. The camera was equipped with an instant photo back. The film format used was the Polaroid CB103 standard, which provided a 3 ¼ × 4 ¼ "image size. The excellent Hexanon 110mm f / 4.0 lens was attached to the camera, the Copal shutter worked from 1 second to 1/500, as well as T-and B, setting the exposure was carried out only in manual mode. The minimum distance to the subject of shooting is 0.6 m. This is much closer than the professional Polaroid models (180, 190, 195), which had 1.3 m. Also closer than the Fuji FOTORAMA FP- 1 - 0.8m Ergonomic design of the Konica Instant Press from the mid-20th century allows the lens to fold into a durable body.

In the late 1970s, Polaroid tried to make another breakthrough with the Polavision system, an instant film device. The Polavision kit included a camera, instant movie cartridge, and a desktop viewing screen. The result of Polavision's work was silent films two minutes and forty seconds long. The Polavision system was in for a failure. Some ten years ago it would have been a miracle. But at that time, the technology of video recording on magnetic media turned out to be more promising and more interesting for the mass consumer, since it provided the possibility of recording sound, and the length of the video had no restrictions. Polaroid suffered significant losses and was forced to admit defeat in this segment of the market. Edwin Land, who turned 68 a couple of weeks after the presentation of Polavision, had a passionate faith in the new technology and hoped to emulate the success of the SX-70. He was acutely aware of his defeat and did not resist his resignation as President of Polaroid. Land ran the company according to his principles. He did not recognize mergers, which at the end of the 20th century became one of the ways to stay on the market amid the development of new technologies, he believed that only earned money should be invested, not borrowed money, he did not put a penny in marketing research and had little faith in marketing and advertising. ... The management style was based on the colossal authority of the inventor. After retiring, Land watched his brainchild without any emotion. The design of the cameras has undergone, as it might seem at first glance, slight changes - the inscription "Land camera" has disappeared. It was a sign of great disrespect for the creator of Polaroid, who became disillusioned with the company's new leadership, sold all his shares and even refused to attend Polaroid's 50th anniversary celebration in 1987. He never returned to Polaroid. In 1980, he founded The Rowland Institute for Science, a non-profit research institute for Science, where he became a research assistant after his dismissal. On March 1, 1991, at the age of 81, Edwin Herbert Land passed away.

The well-known company Polaroid in the 80s and 90s was unable to find its place in the photographic market in the new age of digital technology. The company had its own vision of the future of digital photography. According to the company, the consumer wanted to get a ready-made photo right away, so the developers focused on improving the printing process, and not on developing the digital cameras themselves. This misconception was based on the fact that most of its profits came from the sale of instant photography films, not cameras. On this basis, by 1989, 42 percent of the research and development budget was for photography technology. True, one more time Polaroid managed to shoot - in 1999 almost 10 million copies of the I-Zone digital camera were sold. But the following year, sales fell sharply, the company ended the year with losses, and debts accumulated. To pay off, the company had to take out a loan after a loan, but it did not manage to catch up with competitors and take part in the section of the digital photography market.

By 2000, the company could no longer compete with participants in the digital photography market. Polaroid's new management, following the "we don't do electronics" principle for many years, refused to invest in digital technology. The growing popularity of express-printing laboratories also played a role, the avalanche growth of which was observed in the photo services market all over the world. The locomotive of the widespread distribution of express printing was the same Kodak - a former partner, and then an archenemy. The benefits of instant photography began to fade away. In the darkroom, the automatic development of negative film and printing photographs, the amateur photographer could print his pictures in an hour - the loss in time was no longer so significant. The prints were cheaper, better quality and more durable.

The popular digital cameras have finally pushed the Polaroid instant cameras out of the market. Only one name remained from the previous company - "Polaroid". Over the past three years, the company's shares fell from nearly $ 50 per share to 28 cents. In October 2001, after collecting too many loans, Polaroid filed for its first bankruptcy. After that, most of Polaroid's business was sold to Imaging Corporation, owned by Bank One. In 2003, the company entered the consumer electronics market and began producing portable DVD players and LCD TVs. In 2004, jointly with the American company Foveon, originally known as "Foveonics", they announced the x530 digital compact camera. The production of the novelty was located at the factory of the Hong Kong company World Wide Licenses Ltd. (a division of The Character Group PLC). The Polaroid-branded camera was equipped with a 4.5 megapixel Foveon X3 sensor. Prior to this, Foveon matrices were not found in amateur devices, appearing only in the D-SLR Sigma SD9 / SD10 devices of the Japanese corporation of the same name. By the way, since November 11, 2008, 100% of Foveon shares belong to Sigma Corporation. In April 2005, Petters Group Worldwide acquired Polaroid for $ 426 million from Imaging Corporation. And on December 19, 2008, Polaroid filed for bankruptcy for the second time, resorting to Article 11 of the US law. The company itself argued that the bankruptcy was of a technical nature and Polaroid would continue to work, and the 11th article would allow the company to carry out financial restructuring. The FBI was investigating CEO Tom Petters, who was accused of fraud in the amount of $ 2 billion. The investigation had no complaints against Polaroid itself. The federal authorities did not blame the financial crisis as the culprit for Polaroid's problems, but its own owner. Former head of the American company Polaroid, Tom Petters, was found guilty by a jury on 20 counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. According to the prosecutor, Petters is guilty of organizing fraudulent schemes that allowed him to steal $ 3.5 billion. In early 2008, it was announced that the production of instant films would be discontinued. A sticker on the packaging of Polaroid cassettes warned consumers that production is now discontinued. The cameras themselves ceased to be produced back in 2007: conveyors at the company's factories in the USA, Mexico and the Netherlands were stopped. In the same year, The Polaroid Book presented the collected collection of photographs to a wide range of viewers for the first time. In addition, the publication is the only comprehensive technical guide to provide an overview of every Polaroid camera ever released. The book was sold in the original branded light-shielding packaging that sold the Polaroid cassettes.

The book "The Polaroid Book" (2008). Packaging for "The Polaroid Book".

The company ceased to exist, but the brand did not die. The new owner of Polaroid is Patriarch Partners, an indirect investment fund. Despite the problems and setbacks that have accompanied Polaroid for many years, the new owner of the company is optimistic about the future. The Patriarch Partners Foundation plans to completely revive the brand and continue to release already digital novelties. At the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in January 2009, the company attempted to revive interest in instant photography in the digital age with the introduction of the "Polaroid PoGo Instant Digital Camera". A distinctive feature of this model is the built-in color printer. In recent years, global corporations, especially large IT companies, are beginning to live according to the laws of show business. Cooperation with movie stars and popular music performers allows attracting the attention of an increasing number of public to their activities. Singer Lady Gaga has become the creative director of a special line of Polaroid cameras. Polaroid CEO Jamie Salter has revealed that they have chosen the famous singer as Lady Gaga has a great creative talent that will help the star breathe new passion into the camera brand. In 2011, at the same Consumer Electronics Show, singer Lady Gaga, as creative director of Polaroid, presented three new products at once: sunglasses with a built-in camera and two 1.4-inch OLED displays, a GL10 mobile printer, and an updated Polaroid camera. Gray Label GL30.

Polaroid GL10 (2011).

In 2012, Polaroid launched new instant cameras, the Polaroid Z340 and Polaroid PIC300, as well as the aforementioned Polaroid GL10 pocket printer. Polaroid has not lost its zest by adopting a new format: snapshots have improved, cameras are designed with the latest technical innovations in mind, and the design continues to distinguish the company's products from the competition. Now it is possible to pre-edit the picture you like: use a filter, impose a frame, an inscription, etc. The new ZINK fast printing technology allows you to get the finished image much faster than traditional Polaroid photography. Also in 2012, the Polaroid SC1630 Android HD Smart Camera is presented - a camera on Android. The device is equipped with a 16-megapixel sensor and 3x optical zoom. Shutter speed - 1/1400, maximum ISO - 3200. There is support for geotagging, image stabilization system and the ability to record video in 720p.

The popularity of instant photography continues to be strong despite the rapid development of digital technology. There have been many attempts to revive snapshot photography. In 2000, the American manufacturer of instant photography backdrops, NPC, released the NPC 195, which was a copy of the Polaroid 195. The camera was fitted with the same Tominon 114mm f / 4.5 lens and a Copal 0 shutter that operated from 1/500 to 1 second. ... In Japan, the camera was sold under the Polaroid brand. The company's main products are NPC Proback back covers, which used a fiber optic plate to transfer images from a 35mm camera to Polaroid instant film (one film could accommodate two images). NPC Proback covers were made in all known formats for installation on cameras of most manufacturers.

In 2009, one of the closed cassette factories in Enschede, Holland, was bought out by a group of enthusiastic former employees who single-handedly decided to pursue the business. They founded their own company called The Impossible Project and within a few months the production of instant photography cassettes was resumed, but using their own new technology. The cassettes were produced taking into account full compatibility with old-style cameras. So that all Polaroid fans can capture the moment as before. Enthusiasts, together with engineers who had lost their jobs then, more than once tried to restore the production of consumables, but they were constantly faced with the lack of certain chemicals. The new type of consumables will still be able to provide retro quality, similar in effect to what pre-war photographers were able to achieve with silver chloride.

Impossible Project Black & White Film. Impossible Project Instant Film. FUJI FP-1 Professional (1995).

In 2013, Polaroid introduced the new Polamatic app. The new application allows you to edit and share your photos. If you wish, you can stylize the photos to look like those from the famous Polaroid - the application also includes the famous branded "white frame". Polamatic also allows you to send photos by email, upload them to social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Flickr. In 2014, a prototype was developed, called the Instagram Socialmatic Camera. The concept camera has two lenses, one for general photography and the other for 3D filters. In addition, the camera has an application with which it can become a webcam, and an application for capturing and recognizing QR codes. Socialmatic will run the Android operating system. The photo you just took can be processed on your Instagram Socialmatic Camera just like using Instagram on your mobile phone. After processing, you can immediately post the result on Facebook. The difference is that Instagram Socialmatic Camera has better optics than mobile phone optics.

Polaroid camera pillow.

The legendary design - a cheerful rainbow stripe on a white background - formed the basis for the presentation of the image of the Polaroid company, which is still associated with something unusual, fashionable and creative.

Components of a trademark. Polaroid Electronic Imaging logo. New Gray Label "G Pixel" logo.

The stories about the Polaroid brand are quite fascinating, but not too funny stories about business from among those who have experienced both ups and downs in their business. Today, this topic is no longer being discussed as actively as it was done before, but nevertheless, the brand and goods of this type have not lost their popularity.

History

Everyone now knows that Polaroid is an American company that manufactures photographic equipment, sunglasses, and consumer electronics. But not everyone knows the history of this brand, although this information is important for product lovers.

The founder of the company was an American named Edwin Land, who was born in 1909 in the city of Bridgeport. His parents originally lived in the Russian Empire (on the territory of modern Ukraine), but due to unknown circumstances they were forced to emigrate to America.

Edwin Land did not know what poverty was, as his parents always had enough money to support a child and decent education. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that a boy who is fond of optics, even in childhood, had the first thoughts about creating things that will surprise the whole world.

At the age of 17, the young man came up with the idea of creating new polarizing lenses for car headlights. In his opinion, this could improve road illumination at night, without blinding oncoming cars at the same time. After dropping out of university and moving to New York State, Land devoted himself entirely to creating

Edwin Land is the first person in the world to use the principles of polarization, which are now actively used in the creation of table lamps, 3D reality glasses, and so on.

Startup

It was only in 1937 that Edwin's writings found commercial use. It was in this year that the well-known company "Polaroid" was created. In the early days of its existence, this production was not engaged in the creation and release of cameras, and the very first products were sunglasses, as well as polarizing glasses, which have various purposes for military equipment and other devices.

The creator did not think about how much Polaroid costs as a brand, since he had more important tasks. The site of the production says that this company was directly involved in the release of a lot of X-ray films and so on. Believing this statement is not at all difficult, because in his entire life Land managed to patent a considerable number of inventions (more than 500). Modern historians argue that more innovations were created only by Thomas Edison.

Scientific advances and an ironclad business acumen have contributed to the incredible success. Edwin ran the company for 43 years.

Photo in a minute

According to legend, the creation is the idea of the daughter of the founder of the company, which pushed him to such an accomplishment, being almost in infancy. The little girl just asked her father a question about why people cannot receive ready-made photographs immediately after taking a picture. At the same moment, Land seriously thought about this issue, and then his employees had to think too.

In 1948, production introduced the first camera that takes snapshots. Each photo cost $ 1, which at that time was a fairly large amount, because the cartridges for the Polaroid were made using a more complex technology, significantly different from today's.

Even despite the high cost, the products of this brand were in great demand. Already in 1963, Land was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Rise of an empire

In 1972, a new model of the Polaroid camera appeared. The camera was the first fully "motorized" model that took color photos and did not require precise aiming at all.

Since that time, the models have become more and more, and their cost - less and less. Already closer to the 80s, Polaroid cameras (old version and new modifications) became a popular means for creating photographs. Even to this day, this production is remembered with nostalgia not only by the whole of America, but also by most of other countries.

Towards the end of the 70s, clouds began to gather, as the production of "Kodak" was able to surpass the "Polaroid" (camera). The new firm has announced its camera, also designed for snapshots. But Land was not stupid, so he managed to file a copyright infringement lawsuit in time. The trial lasted about ten years, and as a result, the Kodak company was obliged to pay the victim over $ 600 million.

Soon the production of "Kodak" itself fell, and glory returned to the "Polaroid" company. Snapshots were popular again, but this time they failed to make a huge takeoff.

Empire decline

As you know, even great people can make mistakes, and in this case, Edwin Land was no exception. His main mistake was that in the 80s there were already prototypes of digital cameras in his production, but he decided that the company would not be engaged in electronics.

Already in 1996, the company released its first digital camera, but it was too late. Young firms from different countries managed to seize the initiative much earlier and outstripped American production.

At the beginning of the 21st century, Polaroid could not adequately compete with other manufacturers of photographic equipment, so in 2001 a period of bankruptcy began.

How much is Polaroid today

Today the price of modern snapshot cameras reaches 3000-5000 rubles. Polaroid cartridges, although they are created using a simpler technology, still have a considerable cost - 1000-2000 rubles.

Anyone can buy a camera, since this product is present in many online stores.

Modern Polaroid Snap

The most popular model today is the Polaroid Snap, which costs up to $ 100. It is a 10-megapixel camera, which has a built-in popular Zink printer, which produces a 7.6 x 5 cm photo card immediately after taking a picture. In addition to the fact that the device produces a finished photo, it also saves the image in electronic form.

Construction and design

The camera itself is enclosed in a rectangular plastic housing. The device measures 122 x 76 x 28 and weighs up to 400 grams. The camera is quite comfortable to hold even in a small hand when shooting. But still, to prevent the device from falling, it is best to use the special strap that comes with the kit.

Initially, the camera was created with all the conveniences and maximum ease of use in mind, so there are very few controls for it.

On the left side there is a slot for a memory card as well as a port for a charger. It should be noted that the built-in memory is only enough for shooting and printing one image, so you still have to purchase an additional memory card.

On the back there is a tray that holds 10 sheets of photo paper. The prints independently come out of the slot specially designed for this, located on the right end of the camera. And above the door itself there are three indicator lights that show the status of the battery, memory card and paper. Thanks to these qualities, modern users can have confidence in the quality and convenience of the camera.

On June 17, 1970, Edwin Land patented his landmark camera, the first fully automated Polaroid SX-70. Here are some of the most interesting facts about Polaroid cameras and their inventor Edwin Land.

Edwin Land's parents lived in Russia before emigrating to the United States.

Edwin Land, founder of Polaroid, was born in 1909 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA, to a family from Odessa who emigrated to America in the late 19th century, a turbulent time for Jews living in Russia. Edwin's grandfather, Abraham Solomonovich, started his own scrap metal buying and recycling business in America and succeeded. Later, this business was continued by Edwin's father.

Edwin Land, Polaroid founder and famous American inventor:

Edwin was fond of technology from his youth. Especially optics

Edwin was a very curious child from childhood. History stores information that his father once whipped him when he saw that the boy took apart his phonograph. Especially Edwin was fond of optics. In 1926 he became a student at Harvard University, but soon dropped out. Land was eager to invent, and his studies prevented him from doing so. All forces were thrown into inventions, and soon it paid off. First Edwin invented polarizing lenses for car headlights that illuminated the road without dazzling oncoming cars. Later he created the world's first polarized sunglasses.

The inventor's contemporaries say that he was always creative in promoting his inventions. For example, when he wanted to sell his polarizing filters for use in sunglasses to top managers from the American Optical Company, he rented a hotel for a meeting, put an aquarium with a goldfish on the windowsill, and when the guests arrived, he handed each of them a polarizing plate. The trick was that on a sunny day, due to glare, the goldfish inside the aquarium was not visible, and with the help of a polarizing plate, top managers could see it immediately.

Inventor Edwin Land and future president of Polaroid, 1958:

Having impressed his guests in this way, Land immediately announced that from now on, sunglasses should be made of polarized glass, and they almost immediately agreed to invest in this idea. Surprisingly, in 1929, Land, at the age of 20, returned to Harvard to continue his research. And the head of the Harvard physics laboratory, Theodore Lyman, meets halfway and is given the laboratory at his disposal. The professor was so impressed with the achievements of the 20-year-old dropout student.

Polaroid is a word that Land at first absolutely disliked.

In 1937, already a successful entrepreneur Edwin Land founded the Polaroid company, specializing in optical technology. The term polaroid was first used by Professor Clarence Kennedy in 1934 when he talked about Land's work in the search for a material to polarize light. Land didn't like the word at first. He himself wanted to call the material he had invented epibollipolus (from the Greek words "flat" and "polarizer"). But Land's colleagues convinced him that K. Kennedy's easy-to-pronounce word was better for his invention.

During World War II, Polaroid became a major supplier of optics for the military - binoculars, night vision devices, periscopes and many other devices were supplied to the troops. Land also participated in the development of sophisticated military equipment. So, during the war, his company received a $ 7 million contract from the American government to develop an infrared guidance system for homing aircraft. By the way, the American military command appreciated Land's development. So, in 1944, all American pilots wore Polaroid goggles, similar to snorkeling masks, which provided excellent visibility.

Land's famous camera was inspired by a question from his daughter

After the end of the war, Land was finally able to fully do what he had long wanted - developing a camera that would combine the processes of photography and image processing. Edwin's invention was pushed by his three-year-old daughter while on holiday in Santa Fe in 1943. Land took a photo of her, and the girl was upset to learn that her father could not show her the resulting photo right now. Why? Instead of explaining to his daughter why this was not possible, Land asked himself the same question and very soon realized that his daughter's claim was absolutely correct. It is possible to create a camera that takes instant pictures.

The development of such a camera took at least three years - at first there were many military orders, and the very work on the search for new photographic material, which made it possible to obtain a photograph in a few tens of seconds, proceeded slowly. That work was somewhat reminiscent of Edison's search for a suitable material for a lamp filament. Remember Edison's famous quote about this: “I was not defeated. I just found 10,000 ways that don't work. " Land later also recalled that period of searching: “When coming up with something, it is important not to be afraid to fail. Scientists make great discoveries just because they hypothesize and experiment. Failure follows failure, but they don't give up until they get the results they want. "

By the way, among inventors by the number of registered patents, only Thomas Edison is ahead of Edwin Land - Edwin had about 600 of them.

Edwin did it. He made sure that the photosensitive surface in his camera was both film and photograph. For the first time, Land demonstrated his "instant" camera in February 1947 at a meeting of the American Optical Society. Those present were delighted. And on November 26, 1948, Land's revolutionary cameras went on sale under the name Polaroid Land Camera Model 95 and priced at $ 90. It was a lot of money for that time, but the first batch was sold out on the same day.

Here it is, the first Polaroid - the Land Camera Model 95:

Land made Americans fall in love with the art of photography

The first photographs taken by Land's camera were inferior in quality to those captured in the traditional way. And the cost of making a picture was higher, but that did not stop the Americans. Already in 1950, the millionth film roll was sold. At the same time, Land was constantly improving his cameras and films. They say that he was especially worried about the convenience of use, and he brought all the new experimental models home and saw how convenient it was for his wife and children to take photographs with them, load the film, and get a finished photograph.

Land's contribution to the popularization of photography cannot be overstated. Nowadays, thanks to the popular Instagram app, millions of people around the world are fascinated by mobile photography, and then Polaroid cameras were such a catalyst. Many of those who discovered the world of photography with the help of Polaroid later switched to professional cameras, became professional photographers. Almost every party and wedding in those days in the States was accompanied by photography, and photographs were handed to the outgoing guests as a keepsake. For those who were born in the USSR, it is not difficult to imagine. We had the same boom in instant photography, only much later. In the USSR, official sales of Polaroid cameras began in 1989.

In 1960s Polaroid was taught to take color photos and reduced the price of the camera to $ 20

In fact, work on color photographs began immediately after the very first camera models began to be sold. But the trial and error period took almost 15 years.

Another breakthrough product of that time was the Polaroid Swinger camera - it cost only $ 20, thanks to which, apparently, it became the most commercially successful product of the company. By the mid-1960s, about half of American families owned a Polaroid camera.

Polaroid Swinger:

The landmark, fully automatic, Polaroid SX-70 hit the market in 1972

The real breakthrough came in 1972 when the Polaroid SX-70 camera was introduced to the world, the same camera for which Land was patented in the summer of 1970. This was the first fully automated pocket camera. The photographer only had to load the cassette, point the lens and press the button. In a minute, the photo was ready. In comparison, we can say that it was the iPhone of its time - the most convenient camera.

Polaroid SX-70:

In previous Polaroid models, the photographer had to remove the negative layer from the photo themselves. Now the whole process of obtaining the image proceeded automatically: after pressing the trigger, the photograph left the camera and within a few minutes was fully developed. It is these automatic models that became widespread in the USSR in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Land himself commented on that model: "My main task was to create a camera that would become a part of you, which would always be with you." The model has become a landmark. Great sales, another boom in photography in the United States, a rapid rise in the company's share price. In the 1970s, Polaroid was one of the most successful companies in the world, and Edwin Land and his camera even appeared on the cover of the most popular Time magazine.

In the 1970s, Polaroid becomes an "aesthetic" event

Land tried to promote his products not only to the masses, but also among the artists. He said: "... The invention of instant photography is also an aesthetic event: it allowed people who see artistic value in the surrounding everyday world to get a new environment for self-expression." Check out how much this resonates with the philosophy of the photographic social network Instagram! In those years, exhibitions of Polaroid photographs taken by celebrities were organized. Polaroid is filming Andy Warhol, Helmut Newton ...

Edwin Land was the idol of Steve Jobs

This does not seem surprising. After all, Land has always strived to create the most convenient products for users, and from time to time created completely new products. Jobs adhered to the same philosophy. It is known that technical innovators knew each other and communicated. Steve Jobs especially remembered the phrase of his idol, said by Land at a meeting with him: “The world is like fertile soil waiting to be cultivated. It is necessary to plant seeds and harvest, which is what I am doing. "

In 1982, Edwin Land was forced to resign from his own company.

Polaroid top managers and shareholders were not happy with the way their boss was doing business, complained that he was using totalitarian methods, making all the key decisions himself. According to other Polaroid executives, Land held back the company's development: he refused to merge with other companies, was always negative about raising funds, did not give a penny to marketing research, and had little faith in marketing and advertising. As a result, under pressure from shareholders in 1975, Land was removed from the post of president of the company, then deprived of the post of chairman of the board of directors, and in 1982, 73-year-old Land was forced to resign.

Curiously, in 1985, Steve Jobs, during one of his speeches, said: “Dr. Edwin Land was a real rebel. He was kicked out of Harvard and founded Polaroid. He was not only one of the greatest inventors of his time. More importantly, he was able to see the intersection of art and science with business and created an organization in which this philosophy was embodied. Polaroid succeeded for several years, but later Dr. Land, one of the brilliant rebels, was forced to leave his own company. And this is one of the biggest nonsense that I have ever heard of in my life. " In 1985, Jobs himself was asked to leave the company he had created.

In 1985 Polaroid received a record-breaking payoff from Kodak.

The lawsuit between the two giants of the photo industry began after Eastman Kodak began developing its instant photography system in 1975. Then Polaroid lawyers filed a claim for infringement of the rights of the patent owner. The lawsuit lasted about a decade, but the Supreme Court of Appeal ultimately ruled that Kodak's conduct was wrong. The company had to scale back all of its instant photography development and pay out $ 925 million to Polaroid. In our time, something similar has happened between Apple and Samsung, which brings Land and Jobs closer together. Although by the time the lawsuit was over, Land hadn't worked for Polaroid for a long time.

Polaroid's 50th anniversary celebrations took place in 1987 without company founder E. Land

Land never returned to Polaroid. At that time, Land Ph.D. continued to work as a research assistant at the institute, and on March 1, 1991, at the age of 81, he passed away.

Polaroid itself only outlived its founder by a decade. The new management did not invest in developing digital photography. Soon, many people preferred digital cameras to Polaroid instant cameras. The growing popularity of express printing laboratories also played a role. People preferred to save money: it was cheaper to print photographs in the laboratory, the pictures were of higher quality and more durable, and the loss in time was no longer so significant. With too many loans, Polaroid filed for bankruptcy in October 2001.

Despite bankruptcy, the famous brand continued to exist

That company ceased to exist, but the brand did not die. In early 2009, a new company Polaroid introduced a digital camera equipped with a built-in color printer, the Polaroid PoGo Instant Digital Camera. And in 2012, the company returned to the Russian market again - with digital instant cameras and a pocket printer. Let's hope that the famous brand that made the world fall in love with the art of photography in the middle of the last century will have a successful renaissance.

Controlling light to reduce glare is a longtime dream of Dr. Edwin Land.
It came to fruition in 1929, when the founder of the Polaroid Corporation was the first in the world to invent polarizing lenses for sunglasses.

Over 90% of glasses sold on the market today do not have polarizing filters.

Those that do do not always have the same effect as Polaroid lenses. Working on the principle of a polarizing cloth, special vertical polaroid lenses completely eliminate glare. Polarizing filters are made up of long parallel fibers that block light traveling in a plane perpendicular to these fibers (ie, horizontal "blinding waves"), allowing only useful vertical light waves to pass through. Polarizing sun lenses selectively absorb light waves traveling in all directions, except vertical ones.

The intricate 7-layer design of Polaroid lenses is built around one central element: a polarizing light filter. Constructed from quality die-cast bitrate, the lens material is laminated to optical standards for uniform thickness, clarity and impact resistance. This S13 polarizing material is made up of 7 functional elements carefully connected together. Both sides of the filter are laminated with UV absorbers, which cut off harmful UV rays up to 400 nanometers. Buffer elements are laminated to both sides of the UV absorbers, making the lens material lightweight and flexible - yet extremely durable.

A hard coating is attached to both sides of the surface of the material S13. It gives the material ten times the strength of many conventional plastics.

Pictures showing the benefits of polarized glasses:
it is without glasses on a rainy day.
and this is with glasses.
without glasses on a bright sunny day.
in glasses with a polarizer.

About dazzling headlights from oncoming cars :

Driver's ROUND-THE-CLOCK glasses are glasses with light brown, orange or yellow lenses, only they can be used day and night. Polarized dark brown and green lenses are only suitable for daytime driving.
Non-polarized goggles with dark brown or black lenses are also not suitable for daytime driving and can even be dangerous to the driver.

Glass or plastic?

At first,
glass glasses are quite expensive - over $ 30.
Secondly,
dropping them on a stone, you lose them. : ((

The image quality through high-quality plastic and glass is almost the same. Glass is also heavier. Plastic has one significant drawback - the glasses are very scratched, so you need to wear them only in a special soft case, otherwise after a season it will become impossible to catch in them.

Points are:

from unknown plastic;
made of plastic that some well-known company (for example Polaroid) has tested and which meets the ANSI Z.87.1 standard for "optical clarity";
from ordinary polycarbonate, which is superior to just plastic in impact-breaking strength, polarization efficiency, scratch-resistant, optical distortion;
made of glass, which surpasses all plastics and polycarbonates in all respects, except for shock-drop resistance and weight;
CR-39 is a special optically correct material (inferior to glass in scratch resistance and the same impact strength);
from various materials (not glass) such as SR-91 Kaenon, XVZ, etc. patented by well-known optical (non-design) firms.

How to check polarization of glasses?

Option one:

Take two supposed polarized glasses and align their lens to lens. Then turn one glasses at 90 degrees relative to the others and look at the clearance (the axis of rotation passes through the centers of the lenses). If the glasses are polarized, then the gap in the lenses will become dark, if simple glasses, then nothing will change.

Option two:

Take one supposed polarized glasses, look at any LCD monitor (you can use a cell phone display or any payment terminal monitor) and rotate the glasses 90 degrees relative to the monitor (display) ((the axis of rotation goes through the center of the glasses and the center of the LCD monitor)). If the glasses are really polarized, then the image will darken or become completely dark (depending on the degree of polarization). If the glasses are simple, then nothing will change.

The source is the Internet.