Polaroid Discontinued--Boston Globe 02/08/08

[Photo Engineer]

For those who wish to purchase stocks of Polaroid materials, you must remember that the pods do not keep well at all and cannot be frozen. The pods contain concentrated Sodium Hydroxide, and as such they eat through the packing material and then try up. The film may be good, but without pods of processing chemistry the film is useless.

Do not freeze it. It can be kept a few months beyond expiration date in a refrigerator. Common problems with old Polaroid are leaks of goo, poor spread and bad color. Ultimately the pods go dry. You can tell this by the fact that they either bloom with crystals or they become hard. Unfortunately, to test this, you destroy the film itself.

PE

[pauliej]

Say it aint so Joe...

paulie

[Wanted Zone vi 8x10]

Polaroid shutting 2 Mass. facilities, laying off 150
As company exits film business, plants will close in Norwood, Waltham
Email|Print| Text size – + By Hiawatha Bray
Globe Staff / February 8, 2008
Polaroid Corp., the Massachusetts company that gave the world instant film photography, is shutting down its film manufacturing lines in the state and abandoning the technology that made the company famous.

more stories like this"The Norwood plant is shutting down, and we will soon be winding down activities at the Waltham facility as well," said Kyle MacDonald, senior vice president of Polaroid's instant photography business segment. The closures, set for completion during this quarter, will eliminate about 150 jobs. In the late 1970s, Polaroid employed about 15,000 in Massachusetts.

The Norwood and Waltham plants make large-format films used by professional photographers and artists. Polaroid also makes professional-grade films in Mexico, and its consumer film packs come from a factory in the Netherlands. All these plants are slated for closure this year. Polaroid chief operating officer Tom Beaudoin said the company is interested in licensing its technology to an outside firm that could manufacture film for faithful Polaroid customers. If that doesn't happen, Polaroid users would have to find an alternative photo technology, as the company plans to make only enough film to last into next year.

Polaroid has already quietly halted production of instant cameras. "We stopped making commercial-type cameras about 18 to 24 months ago, and we stopped making consumer cameras about a year ago," said Beaudoin.

"It's about time," said Ron Glaz, director of digital imaging program at IDC Corp. "The fact that they're getting out of film makes complete sense."

In the years following World War II, Polaroid's instant photography products established the company as one of Massachusetts' leading industrial concerns, and made its brand name famous worldwide. But in the late 1980s the company went deeply into debt to fend off a hostile takeover. It invested heavily in products that failed and was unprepared for the surging popularity of digital cameras. By 2001, Polaroid was forced into bankruptcy; privately held Petters Group Worldwide of Minnetonka, Minn., bought the company's remaining assets in 2005.

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development is providing employment assistance to laid-off workers, some of whom were warned about the cuts two years ago. Along with standard job-placement services, the state agency joined with Worcester Polytechnic Institute last year to retrain laid-off Polaroid workers for manufacturing jobs at biotechnology companies. About 30 workers have been retrained under the program so far.

The company will retain about 150 executive and administrative employees at its headquarters in Concord and a smaller office in Waltham. "We'll continue to have a strong presence in Massachusetts for the next 30 or 40 years," said Beaudoin. But Polaroid will now focus on flat-panel TVs and digital photography gear.

Polaroid has also struck an alliance with Zink Imaging Inc. of Bedford, a company founded by former Polaroid scientists and executives. Zink makes a system that generates pocket-sized prints of digital photos. Polaroid will begin selling Zink photo printers under its brand name this year.

Ed Lee, a digital photography analyst at InfoTrends Inc. in Weymouth, said the Zink printer could have a bright future in the long run. But he said the current model, which produces images about the size of a business card, probably won't appeal to the mass market. "I don't see a lot of people using it for printing photos that will wind up in photo albums," he said.

IDC's Glaz added that sales of home photo printers have slowed in recent years. He said today's consumers prefer to look at photos on their computer screens, and are more likely to say, "E-mail that to me, rather than give me a hard copy."

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe

[Sean]

This calls for a shooting binge with my sx-70 followed by a memorial service

[copake_ham]

Of course it's sad to see any film format die - but truth be told - this news is neither surprising nor unanticipated.

In the consumer market, Polaroid was always viewed mostly as a good times "snappies" product. These days, slipping a memory card into an instant printer gets one m/l to the same place.

At the same time, Polaroid's professional film market was to small too be able to support required production levels to maintain a profitable enterprise.

What troubles me most is the fact that this turn of events may be but a harbinger of much worse to come.

You know, some days it's just so hard to "keep the faith" for film.

[amuderick]

I'm not so sure that instant film is unprofitable. However, there are tangential costs associated with owning and running factories which Polaroid wanted to divest itself of.

As for the concept that the professional market couldn't consume enough to keep it going, I have to disagree. The professional market must have outsold the consumers hands down. Law enforcement, movies/tv, medical, bio and chemistry, fashion, etc can really burn through film and the $1/shot isn't really a problem for them.

[copake_ham]

.....

As for the concept that the professional market couldn't consume enough to keep it going, I have to disagree. The professional market must have outsold the consumers hands down. Law enforcement, movies/tv, medical, bio and chemistry, fashion, etc can really burn through film and the $1/shot isn't really a problem for them.

Well, if this were the case - why are they closing down?

Out of spite?

I don't think so.

They're closing down because they cannot make any money making and selling the stuff anymore.

That's because: Law enforcement, movies/tv, medical, bio and chemistry, fashion, etc. have gone digital!

As I said, it's hard enough some days "keeping the faith" w/o having to also actually think about all of the lost markets!

[PHOTOTONE]

Well, if this were the case - why are they closing down?

Out of spite?

I don't think so.

They're closing down because they cannot make any money making and selling the stuff anymore.

That's because: Law enforcement, movies/tv, medical, bio and chemistry, fashion, etc. have gone digital!

As I said, it's hard enough some days "keeping the faith" w/o having to also actually think about all of the lost markets!

Your statements are just not true. I still use plenty of Instant film for testing for my studio and location transparency photography. There are plenty of Passport and ID photo systems that still use instant film, the Fashion industry uses Polaroid, many many other niche uses. My photo vendor, Unique Photo said their Instant film sales were showing considerable growth due to the rush to get Passports by US citizens for the new border regulations. Yes, believe it or not, not everyone immediately threw their Polaroid based photo ID systems in the trash the minute there was a digital choice. These camera systems can work for decades. The statement that Polaroid can't make a profit on its film sales is more a reflection on how the company is run, than how the film sells. They have too much capacity for the market. Other companies, like Kodak downsize rather than go away.

[aldevo]

Polaroid's been the walking dead since Dr. Land passed on. No company founded upon and driven by the vision of such an iconoclastic engineer can very long outlast that founder. R.I.P. indeed. To me he was the greatest of them all.

I dunno about that. Land wasn't universally held in high regard along Memorial Drive. Frankly, I don't think he holds a candle to, say, Mees, Barnack and some others.

People forget that the "Polar" in Polaroid refers to Polarization and Land's greates contribution was the development of the technology used in sunglasses. Polaroid derived substantial income from the patents used in sunglasses and when those patents started to run out in the 80s they company really went downhill. I believe, in fact, they almost went bankrupt in the 80s.

As to this announcement; it's no surprise. The group running Polaroid has been trying to peddle the Norwood and Waltham properties for the last couple years. At the start of last year there was a rumor that they would sell the property to Raytheon (which has a large presence in Waltham, MA) but it never happened. And there's been a buzz on foreign-language photo boards for months that the Netherlands facility was going to be closed.

[copake_ham]

Your statements are just not true. I still use plenty of Instant film for testing for my studio and location transparency photography. There are plenty of Passport and ID photo systems that still use instant film, the Fashion industry uses Polaroid, many many other niche uses. My photo vendor, Unique Photo said their Instant film sales were showing considerable growth due to the rush to get Passports by US citizens for the new border regulations. Yes, believe it or not, not everyone immediately threw their Polaroid based photo ID systems in the trash the minute there was a digital choice. These camera systems can work for decades. The statement that Polaroid can't make a profit on its film sales is more a reflection on how the company is run, than how the film sells. They have too much capacity for the market. Other companies, like Kodak downsize rather than go away.

Whatever you may do with their products has proven to be immaterial. The simple fact is that they're out of the business.

Wishing it were otherwise will not make it so.

No one goes out of business because they are making money. Whether there is no demand for their product or whether, instead, they are just stupid really doesn't matter as regards the end result; does it?

If there is remaining value in the business line - then someone will buy it. They've put the operation up for sale. We'll see what happens. But don't confuse your personal need (want) with overall market demand - which is, quite frankly, what you seem to be doing.

EDIT: Oh, BTW, as to the passport thing. It's a "one off". And a likely reason why they said they'd make enough pro film to last through 2009.

I'm not looking to rain on your parade here - I just fail to see any silver lining with this kind of news and also don't find myself surprised by it.