The Impossible Project PX100 UV+ Silver Shade (dated 11/11) on Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera Model 2

Hi guys. This is gonna be a long post with many photos so bear with me. 

OK, so why do I say that you need to properly store your TIP (The Impossible Project) films before using them? Well, I’m not going to go into details as TIP has written a lot regarding storage of unused film packs in the refrigerator and using your TIP films as soon as possible to avoid artifacts, change of color or undeveloped patches as a result of increased emulsion viscosity. Despite their evolving advances for the betterment of their emulsion, the film remains sensitive to heat and will deteriorate in hostile storage environment.

I salute The Impossible Project’s efforts in single-handedly reviving instant photography again and giving us a taste of what shooting with Polaroid felt like. To date, all my TIP films were bought directly from their online shop and stored directly in my already film-laden fridge upon arrival and I’ve never had a single problem from any of the packs. 

However I did encounter a bit of a glitch with my Polaroid adventures which I highlighted in my post here when I bought 3 packs of PX70 Color Shades from this particular reseller in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Needless to say, only 3 shots were usable out of the entire 3 packs!

I avoided the shop like the plague until that fateful day last week when against my better judgment, decided to pop in and bought a pack of the new PX680 & PX70 Color Protection each since I didn’t have the time to place an order online and guess what, the same happened to me again, the photos were spoiled! I should’ve known better as the shop displays the film packs on their trendy shelves and not in the refrigerator as recommended by TIP.

To prove my point further, the first 6 photos above were taken by me this morning, after shooting with the defective Color Protection film. This particular PX100 Silver Shade UV+ pack was one of my first BW film that I bought directly from TIP and had been in my fridge for over a year, in fact it was manufactured in November 2011. I took the film out last night and shot this morning and voila, no undeveloped patches and with pristine clear images to boot!

However, check out the photos below:

The Impossible Project PX70 Color Protection (dated 08/12) on Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera Model 2

OK, so you might think, hey what’s wrong with these photos? They look alright, with that artsy, oil painting quality to them. 

To me, these were completely unacceptable as they are supposed to be the new Color Protection film! Of course I used TIP’s frog tongue to shield the photos (although I didn’t need to). The photos also have this reddish cast on all 8 exposures although I was fortunately spared from any undeveloped patches. But still, where’s my stunning color images?

Now, check these out, I’m totally saving the best (or worse) for last here:

The Impossible Project PX680 Color Protection (dated 08/12) on Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera Model 2 (with ND filter)

What the f**k are these supposed to be??? If I wanted this sort of wonky photos & colors I would’ve gotten the expired film bags or even the Color Shade PUSH! at a much much cheaper price! I tweeted one of the photos to ImpossibleUSA & Impossible_Euro and they agreed that the film were heat damaged from the start, and who’s the culprit here? That particular unscrupulous shop of course! The good people at TIP advised me to lodge a complain to TIP’s Asian division which I’m doing right now. 

Now, do you guys see why you need to store your film packs in the fridge? I’m not trying to sabotage anybody’s business but this has gotten way too far. I’ve heard a lot of complains from many Malaysian Polaroid shooters who unfortunately suffered the same fate as me as they had bought their TIP films from this particular shop as well. Imagine their disappointment when these crap images came out when they had scrimped and saved to get decent Polaroid cams & films (which are not cheap by the way). Some of them were newbies and friends of mine who have been wowed by the magic of instant photography.

Just because the proprietor is cash crazy and couldn’t be bothered to invest in a fridge to store his/her film stock doesn’t mean that everybody else has to suffer.

Shooting instant film is supposed to be fun and magical. Capitalism however, is not. I rest my case.

-delusiana