Instant Karma

I fit into the category of person who loves Polaroids and who is also old enough to have used them when they were relevant.
I liked your article because it touched upon why I personally love instant film cameras: no editing, no freedom of shooting multiple shots without extreme cost, and the tangibility of a photo that is instantly something I can give away, as mmcgowan1 noted in her comment.
But you romanticize why people like Polaroids, or their contemporary copycats. Real photographers, who enjoy shooting not only to get a great picture, but to capture the feeling of the environment, love instant film because if you don't capture exactly what you wanted, you still captured something. Something perhaps you weren't even expecting too. I can do this with my digital camera, but when I can snap 100 shots trying to get the best shot it isn't as valuable to me as the one shot I take that looks great. I can blow out the candles and then look at the digital camera's screen and archive both experiences at once.
Thanks to Fujifilm, shutterbugs who love to take photos not for just the photo's sake, but for the sake of the experience, can keep on doing that. Especially once they make a replacement for 600 film, the type the SX-70 uses.
I prefer the ColorPack II LandCamera, but to all other shutterbugs out there, check out the InstaxMini by Fujifilm.

I traveled to Bulagria some years ago to visit an orphanage where I adopted my two sons. Although I took a 35MM SLR with me, I also packed a Polaroid SX-70 for the trip. Many of the children in the orphanage had never had a photo taken of themselves, and in fact, had almost no personal possessions. I used the SX-70 to take over 100 individual and group shots of the children, and when I did I handed them the film so they could see it develop intheir hands and keep it for themselves. It was a wonderful experience that can't be easily replicated with any other type of camera, film or digital. I gave up taking Polaroid photos long ago because of the cost, but I still miss the wonder of seeing children watch the photos develop.

Polaroid took two things: a patent and an unending amount of laziness, and dominated the instant field. Kodak decided to enter the field with superior products and film, but did Polaroid rise to the challenge? No, they just sued Kodak out of existence. When all the chips had fallen, there was Polaroid standing in triumph, with their lousy product; photos with bags of chemicals still attached, further ruining what was one merely a mildy lousy, unrealistic, hal-hearted blurry photo. Polaroid was an object lesson in how to use legislation and lawsuits to avoid actually participating in cpatism (you know: meeting someone's actual needs and being rewarded for it?).
I'm delighted Polaroid went bankrupt, at least in the consumer field. Good riddance to theri garbage.

You failed the THOUSANDS of photographers who still shoot REAL polaroids and who are championing the return of instant film via The Impossible Project. Poladroids are vile abominations that look NOTHING like real film and your comment that they'll serve as a reminder of the real thing is laughable. Did you even research this article? It's interesting that while you gave lip service to Impossible and Save Polaroid you couldn't bother to include links. Is it because your readers would see that the "polaroid scene" is healthier than ever? Did you log on to flickr and see the hundreds of groups dedicated to polaroid photography? Or were you too busy loading fake polas to your FACEBOOK page?

Shame on you.

It's amazing to me that you would promote FAUXLAROIDS, which look NOTHING like Polaroids, while there is still plenty of instant film out there and there is a wonderful project launching next year to make real Polaroid-compatible film again! (http://theimpossibleproject.com/) Moreover, Fujifilm makes the beautiful Instax system, widely available in the USA and around the world. Please do your homework next time; Real Instant Photography is NOT dead!

Fuji sells an instant camera that is very similar to the classic Polaroid. The shape of the picture is different but you still get to capture instant memories. I just bought one from adessoalbums.com and really enjoy the quality of the pictures!