It may now be slower than digital photography at providing immediate gratification, but ‘instant' film photography is still alive and well. Both Fujifilm and the Impossible Project, which famously took over one of Polaroid's old factories, make a selection of films. However, the one thing that has long puzzled me about the medium is, why are the commonly available cameras so basic?
It wasn't always so. Back in the 1950s and '60s, Polaroid's camera for enthusiasts, the Pathfinder, boasted ultra-sharp lenses, manual focus with a rangefinder, full manual control of aperture and shutter speed, rugged construction and a self-timer. Yet by the time I bought my first instant film camera, a Polaroid 635 in 1986, they'd become almost totally point-and-shoot models. It was as if Polaroid were trying to compensate…
