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In 2008 Polaroid [shut down](https://www.wired.com/2008/02/polaroid-ends-i/) its instant film production and factories, ending an era of photography fun.
But that era didn't want to end, and the appropriately named Impossible Project [revived first Polaroid film](https://www.wired.com/2011/05/impossible-launches-vivid-color-shade-film-for-polaroid/), and then Polaroid cameras. Whether it's nostalgia or genuine love, people want not just instant cameras, but specifically Polaroid instant cameras. The Impossible Project tapped into that love and achieved what Polaroid could not: success. In 2017 Impossible acquired the rights to the Polaroid brand and intellectual property and was reborn at Polaroid Originals. Now Polaroid Originals is dropping the Originals to once again be just Polaroid.
Fortunately for us, the new Polaroid is more Impossible Project and less old-Polaroid. That's good news because old-Polaroid became a sad endeavour toward the end, turning out plastic junk no one wanted.
To kickstart life under its new name, the new Polaroid has launched the Now, a Polaroid Camera that takes everything that was great about the 1980s Polaroid cameras, updates the technology, and manages to make Polaroids fun again. If only the film were more consistent.
###Mining The Past
The Polaroid Now isn't a huge design departure from the OneStep 2 ([6/10 WIRED Review](https://www.wired.com/2017/09/review-polaroid-originals-onestep-2/)), which wasn't a huge design departure from the 1980s OneStep 600. If it's not broken, don't fix it, round it. And round it Polaroid has, taking the classic lines of the Polaroid OneStep and adding a tasteful bit of curve. The result is a camera that looks good and is reasonably comfortable to hold and use.
The Now is available in the full rainbow of colors: white, black, blue, green, yellow, red, and orange.
While the design may be classic, the function and smarts behind the Now are a vast improvement over the OneStep 2.
The Now sports the usual Polaroid front face layout with the viewfinder (the right eye of the face) which extends out the back of the camera. This is matched on the opposite side of the front by a new, smarter flash (more on that in a minute). The "nose" of the face design is a 35-44mm autofocus lens. This is the biggest concession to the modern world, replacing the typical single focal distance lens with an autofocus lens. The result is a more usable camera that's going to work better for most people, in most situations, though I did hit a couple snags.
Polaroid claims the lens automatically switches between distance and portrait formats, which it did seem to do, but it does the switching without any way to control it and it was not perfect. Twice in the two rolls of film I shot I missed the shot in ways that still confuse me, but I assume this was the culprit. Both were closeups of flowers, both were off center despite careful framing on my part. I went back and retried, listening for the clicking sound of the lens flipping between modes to tell when things were the way I wanted.
A big red shutter button and a self timer button round out the front of the camera. There's no selfie mirror.
On the back there's a yellow power button, flash control button, and tiny digital read out that lets you know how many images you have left.
Polaroid claims the flash is more accurate, which really means the strength of the flash is better matched to the scene. The result is that you get fewer of those characteristic washed out, over-exposed images of yesteryear. Indeed, I didn't notice this until I asked Polaroid what they meant by "more accurate flash", but then I went back and realized I didn't have a single washed out image. Score one for the modern world.
###Future Results
The Polaroid Now is a frustratingly good camera. Frustrating because good as it is, I am still plagued by bad film. When I brought this up during the process of writing this review, several other WIRED writers chimed in to say they've never experienced any of the issues with film that I've had. I am perfectly willing to say it is just me, but it is there.
If I leave out what I call the misprints—the start bursts and spiderweb emulsion artifacts—I find that the Polaroid Now has produced some of the best images of any instant camera I've used, especially the black and white film. The camera is fun to use, and reasonably comfortable to carry around.
It's a strong contender to unseat the Fujifilm Instax Mini 90 as my favorite instant camera.
Which one should you get? To my mind the real debate comes down to do you want to invest in the Polaroid ecosystem or the Fujifilm Instax ecosystem.
Polaroid wins on size, no question. Polaroid images are gloriously big next to the Instax images. But the Polaroids are also considerably more expensive: $2 per image versus $.80 per image with the Instax Mini film (color in both cases). That's a significant price difference over time, assuming you're going to shoot dozens, maybe even hundreds of images a year. Still, if you want the classic look, the classic size and a classic camera, the Polaroid Now delivers on all counts.
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