Polaroid — just the brand, not the actual company — has now unveiled the OneStep 2 instant camera. One can almost hear hipsters all over the world rejoice. Kidding aside, this $99 camera brings back the days of yore, where photos once served as charming evidences of memory instead of annoying, unsolicited selfies on social media.
First off, this wasn't actually made by Polaroid itself. When Polaroid stopped making instant cameras in 2007 and then stopped producing film a year later, an initiative called the Impossible Project bought a Polaroid factory and continued producing film for old Polaroid cameras. It is controlled by the same family that acquired Polaroid in May.
Now, the Impossible Project has launched a new brand called Polaroid Originals, with the goal to bring back classic Polaroid cameras and make instant photography popular again.
OneStep 2 Camera
The new OneStep 2 camera looks a lot like its predecessor, the Polaroid OneStep from 1977, but modernized. It now has a rechargeable battery that charges via USB. Putting a USB port is highly more logical than what Polaroid did in the '70s, where it put batteries in the actual film packs.
Available for preorder now, the OneStep 2 hits shelves Oct. 16. Along with this, the company is also releasing new color and black-and-white film, but it will continue producing classic Polaroid film as well.
Polaroid OneStep 2: How Much Will The Film Cost?
The OneStep 2 includes a built-in flash, a timer, and a "long-lasting" battery. The camera itself is cheap, sure, but buying film is going to cost a lot. For $16 a pack, users get 8 shots, and that's it. That's pretty costly, but vintage film for older cameras actually sell for more than that. All told, it costs a lot of money to be old school.
Polaroid Originals will continue selling refurbished Polaroid cameras along with the OneStep 2, which is what the Impossible Project was doing previously.
This is pretty fantastic news for fans of Polaroid cameras and instant photography. At one point, the company's fate seemed to be sealed. Polaroid was one of the pioneers of modern photography, but along with Kodak and several photography brands, the rise of digital cameras hurt their businesses.
Polaroid Originals is competing with Fujifilm, which also has its own lineup of Instax cameras.
Thoughts about the Polaroid OneStep 2? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
