Product Brief
Late in 2008, The Impossible Project took over part of the last Polaroid integral instant film manufacturing plant and reinvented a totally new instant film for traditional Polaroid cameras.
They maintained a camera supply for the new film by refurbishing old Polaroid cameras purchased from various sources around the world. Late in 2014 they approached Wideblue and asked them to help with the design of a new Impossible instant film camera for the digital age.
Our Approach
Wideblue, a subsidiary of Pivot International, undertook all mechanical, optical, electronics and software design to create a fully engineered camera for high volume Far East production. The camera comprises:
– Scanning aperture shutter with five zone taking optics
– Two-position taking buttons and three-position rotary dial
– Auto exposure and multi-zone IR ranging system
– Removable pop-up retro style viewfinder
– Colour correcting LED flash ring with additional unique user interface
– Bluetooth to smartphone hardware interface
Solution
Working with the Impossible, Wideblue transferred the design to a manufacturer in Asia. Wideblue supported the manufacturing start-up and subsequent early production runs. The camera went on general sale in 2016 and was the first new camera for the original Polaroid format in over 20 years.
