Misplaced Pages

#460539

55-428: The Polaroid Palette and Polaroid ProPalette are a series of digital film recorders from Polaroid Corporation . The line started in the early 1980s, using 35mm film to produce slides for presentations. All versions of GEM provide drivers. This technology-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Polaroid Corporation Land ran the company until 1981. Its peak employment

110-419: A data recovery service. In 1987, The New York Times described it as a major brand. In 1985, The New York Times listed it a notch lower in an almost reverse alphabetical list, and noted "remember that those companies established their reputations by selling other products, not diskettes." By mid 1991, they stopped selling floppy disks. The packaging used both Polaroid and PerfectData brands In

165-423: A portable media player , that allows users to take photos with a built-in 16 MP HD camera, download apps from Google Play , check their email, and browse the web. The built-in camera allows 3X optical zoom. Other features on the media player include Wi-Fi , touch screen , geotagging , smart albums, and 32 GB of storage via a micro SD card . In September 2014 Polaroid introduced a $ 99 action camera named

220-776: A "leader in Edwin Land , a scientist who guided the company as the founding CEO for four decades". Polaroid’s initial market was in polarized sunglasses — spawned from Land’s self-guided research in light polarization . Land, having completed his freshman year at Harvard University , left to pursue this market, resulting in Polaroid's birth. Land later returned to Harvard to continue his research. Polaroid, owning patents to its polarizer technology, got its start by employing polarization in products that included 3-D movies and protective goggles for military dogs . During World War II, Polaroid designed and manufactured numerous products for

275-708: A boycott of Polaroid products. Polaroid proceeded to fire both Hunter and Williams. As a result of protests, a community group in Boston donated $ 10,000 it received from Polaroid to South African liberation movements. In 1977, it became public Polaroid film was being sold by the distributor Frank and Hirsch to the South African government for use in the "passbook" in violation of Polaroid's policy. This ended Polaroid's relationship with its distributor and all direct sales to South Africa. In 1985, Polaroid had its own brand of 5 + 1 ⁄ 4 -inch floppy disks , and also

330-630: A former head of film production in the large Polaroid film factory at Enschede, designed a plan to redesign the SX-70/600 film system in collaboration with Ilford Photo , and convinced the Polaroid owners to participate. Plans for a relaunch under the Impossible label were announced in January 2009. Buildings in the Enschede plant, which had produced 30 million film packs in 2007 and 24 million in

385-476: A joint venture between Gordon Brothers Brands LLC and Hilco Consumer Capital LP picked up the pieces. According to a Reuters report: The move by New York-based Patriarch, a private-equity firm, [to drop their claim], follows US District Judge James Rosenbaum's ruling on Thursday in Minneapolis that putting the purchase on hold during appeal would threaten operations at Polaroid, which is spending its cash at

440-464: A mobile phone or digital camera. This product is the first product in the new Polaroid Grey Label line. Polaroid released a line of cameras without printers including the t1035, a 10-megapixel digital camera. In January 2012, Polaroid announced a new "smart camera", entitled the Polaroid SC1630 smart camera, which is powered by Google Android . The SC1630 is a combination of a camera and

495-513: A rate of $ 3 million a month. On April 16, 2009, Polaroid won US Bankruptcy Court approval to be sold to a joint venture of Hilco Consumer Capital LP of Toronto and Gordon Brothers Brands LLC of Boston. Hilco Consumer Capital and Gordon Brothers Brands announced the closing of the purchase of Polaroid Corporation on May 7, 2009, placing Polaroid Corporation in joint holding under a parent company named PLR IP Holdings, LLC . Former executive vice president and general manager – Americas, Scott W. Hardy

550-449: A real television set with a larger screen, and there was no sound. Polavision proved to be an expensive failure, and most of the manufactured equipment was sold off in 1979 as a job lot at a loss of $ 68.5 million. In the wake of those losses, Polaroid chairman and founder Edwin H. Land resigned the chief executive position in 1980 and left the company two years later. Former Polaroid freelancer Paul Giambarba remarked, I tried using

605-496: A standalone tabletop viewer designed to minimize the problems inherent in projecting such dense film. Somewhat resembling a small television, it projects the inserted film cartridge onto its translucent screen from behind, but critics from publications like Consumer Reports called the images "murky and dark". Despite this (or perhaps because of it), the format was used by artists, including Charles and Ray Eames , Stan Brakhage and Andy Warhol . One market niche Polaroid promoted

SECTION 10

#1732791958461

660-579: Is the conversion of Polaroid SX-70 camera models to use the more common, and higher-ISO Polaroid 600 film. In 1970, Caroline Hunter and her co-worker, future husband Ken Williams, discovered the involvement of their employer, Polaroid, in the South African apartheid system as the producer of the passbook photos used to identify Black individuals in South Africa . To pressure Polaroid to divest from South Africa , Hunter and Williams created

715-722: The Zink ("zero ink") technology which is similar to dye sublimation but has the dye crystals embedded in the photo paper itself. Models CZA-10011B and CZA-20011B exist (which Polaroid claim to be identical). In 2009, the CZA-05300B PoGo, a 5 megapixel digital camera integrated with a Zink printer, was released. In 2011, the company released the Polaroid GL10 Instant Mobile Printer producing 3 by 4 inch prints. The printer, designed by Polaroid and Lady Gaga , allows people to print directly from

770-469: The super 8 mm format, but without the Polavision tabletop viewer the only way a Polavision film can be shown is by destroying the cartridge and projecting the removed film with an ordinary super 8 mm projector or transferring it to video with a telecine system. The Polavision system was a major commercial failure , and was discontinued in 1979. However, the underlying technology

825-645: The "Polaroid Cube", marketed as an alternative to cameras such as the GoPro Hero (which retails for $ 129), specifically for casual, light users of action camcorders. In 2015 GoPro released the similar GoPro HERO4 Session. In March 2006, the specialist design and development department in Polaroid's Vale of Leven plant in Scotland was bought out by its management team. Known as Wideblue the company specializes in helping small technology based companies develop products and manufacturing processes. In 2014 Wideblue

880-404: The "Polaroid" name itself and non-bankrupt foreign subsidiaries) had been sold to Bank One 's One Equity Partners (OEP). OEP Imaging Corporation then changed its name to Polaroid Holding Company ( PHC ). However, this new company operated using the name of its bankrupt predecessor, Polaroid Corporation. Significant criticism surrounded this "takeover" because the process left executives of

935-592: The $ 12 billion it had asked for. In 1977, Land introduced the Polaroid Instant Home Movie camera named Polavision , based on the Dufaycolor process. However, the product arrived on the market when videotape-based systems were rapidly gaining popularity. Thus it failed to sell well in retail stores and has been described as the swan song for Polaroid. After four decades as chairman, Edwin Land

990-479: The 1990s, Polaroid was involved in corporate sponsorship of NASCAR . For several years, Polaroid was the principal sponsor of NASCAR's 125 mile Featherlite Modified race at Watkins Glen and it was called the "Polaroid 125". The Polaroid name was also used in sponsorship in the NASCAR Busch Series . In 1992, Polaroid was the principal sponsor of female NASCAR driver Shawna Robinson's #25 Oldsmobile in

1045-871: The Blinding Light! in Vancouver, and the Robert Beck Memorial Cinema at Collective: Unconscious. Video transfers of Andy Warhol's footage have been shown at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and at the San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival in 2001. In 1983, Polaroid introduced an "instant" transparency ( slide film ) system for still photography. Each roll of 35 mm film came with its own small packet of processing chemistry. After exposure,

1100-758: The Busch Series. They continued as her principal sponsor when she moved to the other car numbers in 1993 and 1994. Polaroid formerly sponsored the Target Chip Ganassi entry of Juan Pablo Montoya's #42 Chevy Impala in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and entries in the IRL Indy Car Series , including the car driven by Dario Franchitti. The Polaroid name has also been associated with the NOPI drift series. Polaroid

1155-582: The Cube action camera, and television units. March 2020, Polaroid Originals rebranded as simply Polaroid, with the Polaroid Now being the first instant film camera in years to have the Polaroid branding. Polaroid B.V. and other companies, including MiNT Camera (manufacturer of the reusable MiNT flash bar), refurbish and repair classic Polaroid products, with some companies modifying the hardware itself to add additional functionality. One such modification

SECTION 20

#1732791958461

1210-652: The District of Minnesota. The bankruptcy filing came shortly after the criminal investigation of its parent company, Petters Group Worldwide , and the parent company founder, Tom Petters . On April 2, 2009, Patriarch Partners won an auction for Polaroid Corporation's assets including the company's name, intellectual property, and photography collection . Patriarch's $ 59.1 million bid beat bids from PHC Acquisitions, Hilco Consumer Capital Corp and Ritchie Capital. This led to some very contentious fighting and litigation, and Patriarch wound up walking away in early May 2009, and

1265-639: The OneStep 2 uses the same type of film as the Impossible I-1 unlike the OneStep that used SX-70 Film. On April 28, 2012, the documentary "Time Zero: The Last Year of Polaroid Film", directed by Grant Hamilton, was released in the U.S. It covers the rise, fall, and grass-roots revival of Polaroid's instant film technology. In summer 2008 Polaroid released the PoGo, an instant photo printer producing 2 by 3 inches (51 mm × 76 mm) prints. It uses

1320-525: The PDC-2000 in 1996; however, it failed to capture a large market share in that segment. It also made 35 mm and multi-format scanners, such as Polaroid SprintScan 4000 35 mm scanner (the first scanner with a 4000 DPI CCD) in 1999, and the Polaroid PrintScan 120 in 2000. The scanners received mixed reviews and saw heavy competition from Nikon and Minolta products. The entire line

1375-626: The Polaroid Revolutionary Worker Movement (PRWM). Through the PRWM, Hunter and Williams organized a boycott against the corporation. Consequently, Polaroid banned all sales to the government, including the military and police, and promised to raise wages and increase job training at its distributors. The plan did not pacify the PRWM, however, and, in 1971, Hunter testified before the United Nations advocating

1430-480: The agreement to yield $ 1.3 billion in retail sales over an unspecified period beginning in 2009. On January 5, 2010, Polaroid appointed Lady Gaga as "Creative Director" for the company. A press release stated that she would be the "new face" of Polaroid. In a 2014 interview an account supervisor at R&J Public Relations, the PR firm for Polaroid, stated that the company is no longer working with Lady Gaga. In 2017,

1485-474: The armed services including an infrared night viewing device. He led the company as CEO for 43 years. He headed the Polaroid Corporation, developing it from a small research and marketing firm into a well-known high-tech company. Kodak was a customer for some of Land's polarizing products. Recognized by most as the father of instant photography, he included all the operations of a darkroom inside

1540-557: The company in 1939, two years after its founding. He led the company until end 1985 when I. M. Booth, 54, was appointed as Polaroid’s chief executive, McCune remained chairman. In the 1980s, Polaroid tried to reinvent itself without Land at its helm by shifting away from a dependence on consumer photography, a market that was in steady decline. In 1984 Polaroid announced "that it would enter the United States electronic video market with its own line of Polaroid videotapes." Polaroid

1595-447: The company with large bonuses, while stockholders, as well as current and retired employees, were left with nothing. The company announced a plan that gave the top 45 executives bonuses just for staying at their jobs. Meanwhile, other employees were restricted from selling their stock before leaving their jobs. As part of the settlement, the original Polaroid Corporation changed its name to Primary PDC, Inc. Having sold its assets, it

1650-578: The control of the Smołokowski family. The Impossible Project (already led by Oskar Smołokowski) was rebranded as Polaroid Originals , with the last factory producing Polaroid-compatible instant film cartridges in Enschede , Netherlands being rebranded under the new name later in 2017. In March 2019, the new polaroid.com website listed instant cameras and supplies made by Polaroid Originals alongside its other products including digital cameras, sunglasses,

1705-411: The failure of senior management — unable to anticipate the impact of digital cameras on its film business. This type of managerial failure is also known as the success trap . After the bankruptcy, the Polaroid brand was licensed for use on other products with the assistance of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom . In September 2002, World Wide Licenses, a subsidiary of The Character Group plc,

Polaroid Palette - Misplaced Pages Continue

1760-522: The film itself. He gave the first public demonstration of his new Land Camera in February 1947; from then until 1972, the user had to release the film manually, pull a tab, and peel the negative from the finished positive print—the first version to eliminate these intermediate steps was the SX-70 of 1972, which ejected the print automatically. Land was pictured on the cover of Life magazine in 1972 with

1815-427: The first half of 2008, were leased to the company created by Kaps, who by May 2009 had raised $ 2.6 million from friends and family for what he had named The Impossible Project. On March 22, 2010, Impossible announced the release of two monochromatic films, PX100 and PX600, compatible with SX-70 and 600 type cameras, respectively. Color films were initially released in 2010 for SX-70 type cameras, followed in 2011 with

1870-480: The holding corporation for Polaroid, PLR IP Holdings, LLC, was acquired by Polish investor Wiaczesław "Slava" Smołokowski. Smołokowski was already the largest shareholder in the Impossible Project —a company formed to continue production of Polaroid-compatible film after Polaroid themselves left the market—having been persuaded to invest in it by his son Oskar. The acquisition brought both companies under

1925-707: The inscription, "A Genius and His Magic Camera". In the 1940s, Polaroid purchased the B B Chemical Company building at 784 Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts for its headquarters. The landmark Streamline Moderne style structure would be added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1982. When Kodak announced instant film cameras in 1976, Polaroid announced they were suing them, accusing Kodak of having stolen its patented instant photography process. In

1980-416: The market, developed and manufactured by a group called The Impossible Project , at the former Polaroid production plant in Enschede , Netherlands . Austrian photographer Florian Kaps, the owner of the largest online vendor for SX-70 films and organizer of the web-based instant photo gallery Polanoid.net, had bought the approximately 500,000 film packages that were on stock. He teamed with André Bosman,

2035-483: The original company's downfall, Polaroid-branded products in other fields, such as LCD televisions and DVD players , have been developed and released by various licensees globally. The original Polaroid Corporation was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts , by Edwin Land and George W. Wheelwright III in 1937. It has been described by The Boston Globe as a "juggernaut of innovation", and "the Apple of its time" with

2090-399: The pre- camcorder era of the late 1970s had the disadvantages of much greater bulk and much higher initial hardware cost. However, a standard videocassette ran for at least an hour at the highest-quality speed, while a Polavision cartridge contained less than three minutes of film, at a far higher per-minute cost than the finest videocassette tape. It could not be erased and reused, or shown on

2145-433: The product but it was obviously a turkey compared to anything I was using that Kodak offered [...] Instant movie film was an engineering achievement but it's precisely what separated Polaroid techies from Polaroid pragmatists. There just weren't enough customers out there on whom to work the magic. Polavision film is rarely screened in public, but it has happened, at such venues as Anthology Film Archives (in 1998 and 2007),

2200-414: The release of much improved color films for Polaroid 600, SX-70 and Spectra Cameras. Then Impossible had originally announced a new camera that was going to be styled after older Polaroid models to coincide with the new film. The camera was due to come out before Christmas 2010, but the deadline passed with no new information on the camera. In April 2016, Impossible released the Impossible I-1; however, it

2255-407: The two years that followed the lawsuit, total sales of instant cameras climbed from 7.4 million cameras in 1976 to 10.3 million in 1977 and 14.3 million in 1978. The suit in federal court lasted 10 years. Polaroid asked for $ 12 billion for infringements of its patents by Kodak. The court ruled in favor of Polaroid and ordered Kodak to cease instant picture production, plus pay Polaroid $ 909.5 million of

Polaroid Palette - Misplaced Pages Continue

2310-437: The value of those names. The same year, Flextronics purchased Polaroid's manufacturing operations and the decision was made to send most of the manufacturing to China. It stopped making Polaroid cameras in 2007 and discontinued the sale of Polaroid film after 2009 to the dismay of loyal consumers. On December 18, 2008, the post-reorganization Polaroid Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for

2365-548: Was 21,000 in 1978, and its peak revenue was $ 3 billion in 1991. Polaroid Corporation was declared bankrupt in 2001; its brand and assets were sold off. A new Polaroid company formed, and the brand assets changed hands multiple times before being sold to Polish billionaire Wiaczesław Smołokowski  [ pl ] in 2017. This acquisition allowed Impossible Project , which had started producing instant films for older Polaroid cameras in 2008, to rebrand as Polaroid Originals in 2017, and eventually as Polaroid in 2020. Since

2420-467: Was coerced into resigning and leaving the corporation he had founded. He died in 1991. The Polavision debacle eventually caused the company to write off $ 89 million, including most of the manufactured products. The underlying technology of Polavision was later improved for use in the Polachrome instant slide film system. William J. McCune Jr was appointed chief executive officer in 1980. He joined

2475-400: Was discontinued when Polaroid entered bankruptcy in 2001. Prior to bankruptcy, the company sold its landmark, historic headquarters building and surrounding property to The Bulfinch Companies for $ 10 million. The original Polaroid Corporation filed for federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 11, 2001. The outcome was that within ten months, most of the business (including

2530-428: Was forced to make wholesale changes that included having to fire thousands of workers and close many factories. The 1980s saw the advent of new technologies that profoundly changed the world of photography — one-hour color film processing, single-use cameras from competitors, videotape camcorders, and, in the 1990s and 2000s, digital cameras. The company was in fact one of the early manufacturers of digital cameras, with

2585-415: Was granted the exclusive rights for three years to manufacture and sell digital cameras under the Polaroid brand for distribution internationally. Polaroid branded LCDs and plasma televisions and portable DVD players had also appeared on the market. On April 27, 2005, Petters Group Worldwide announced its acquisition of PHC. Petters has in the past bought up failed companies with well-known names for

2640-560: Was hired to design the Impossible Project mass market instant camera. Polavision Polavision was an "instant" color home movie system launched by Polaroid in 1977. Unlike other motion picture film stock of the time, Polavision film reproduces color by the additive method, like the much earlier Dufaycolor film. In essence, it consists of a black-and-white emulsion on a film base covered with microscopically narrow red, green and blue filter stripes. It

2695-407: Was improved and used as the basis for the Polachrome instant color transparency system introduced in 1983. Due to the light loss caused by the filtering layer, which allows only red, green or blue light to pass through any given point on it, the film had relatively low light sensitivity (40 ASA ) and the developed footage has an overall veil that appears to be a neutral gray. The system features

2750-408: Was instant in the sense that it could be very quickly and easily developed in the Polavision processing unit after it was removed from the Polavision camera, ready for viewing in only a few minutes. The Polavision cartridge called Photo tape cassette is a small rectangular box containing the film reels and a prism letting in light for projection through a film gate . The film format is similar to

2805-638: Was named as the new president of Polaroid Corporation and PLR IP Holdings, LLC. The majority of employees remained in their positions at the company's Minnetonka, Minnesota headquarters as well as office locations in Boston, New York and Toronto. On June 19, 2009, the new holding corporation for Polaroid, PLR IP Holdings, LLC announced an exclusive 5-year agreement with Summit Global Group to produce and distribute Polaroid-branded digital still cameras, digital video cameras, digital photo frames and PoGo-branded mobile products. Summit Global Group added several former Polaroid employees to their staff. The company expects

SECTION 50

#1732791958461

2860-457: Was not styled after older Polaroid cameras. It was the first camera to use I-type Film and was backwards compatible with 600 Film due to I-type film being 600 film without a battery. After rebranding to Polaroid Originals, the company released another camera in September 2017 called the OneStep 2. This camera was modeled after the original OneStep with new features as originally planned, though

2915-419: Was now effectively nothing more than an administrative shell. Primary PDC received approximately 35 percent of the "new" Polaroid, which was to be distributed to its unsecured creditors (including bondholders ). As of late 2006 , Primary PDC remained in existence under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection , but conducts no commercial business and has no employees. Polaroid’s bankruptcy is widely attributed to

2970-405: Was the field of industrial testing, where the camera would record, for example, the destruction of a pipe under pressure. This type of use was moderately price-insensitive, with the ability to get the images quickly (thus reducing wasted crew time) a very positive selling feature. The system was late to market and had to compete with upcoming Betamax and VHS videocassette-based systems, which in

3025-484: Was the principal sponsor of the Nissan 350Z driven by Nick Bollea in the 2007 season. On February 8, 2008, Polaroid (under the control of Thomas J. Petters of Petters Group Worldwide ) announced that the company has decided to gradually cease production and withdraw from analog instant film products completely in 2008. Since March 2010, instant film materials for vintage Polaroid cameras have again become available on

#460539