Pentax announces plan to manufacture film cameras

[dxqcanada]

Pentax should try to obtain the patent for Polachrome and bring that back to life with their new film cameras ... hmm.

 

[smoke665]

Pentax should try to obtain the patent for Polachrome and bring that back to life with their new film cameras ... hmm.

Wow that might not be a bad idea.

 

[dxqcanada]

The Lomo people would love Polachrome

 

[RAZKY]

In case anyone is unfamiliar with Polachrome:

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Polachrome film in 135 cartridge and processing pack case.

In 1983, Polaroid introduced an "instant" transparency (slide film) system for still photography. Each roll of 35 mm film came with its own small packet of processing chemistry. After exposure, the film and its packet were loaded into a small hand-cranked machine called an "AutoProcessor." The time it required to produce a fully developed film ready for mounting varied from between two and five minutes, depending on the type of film.
Polaroid produced several types of AutoProcess-compatible 35 mm film:

• Polachrome was a color slide film. It was descended from the Polavision system and used the same additive color (RGB filter stripe) process. One difference was that with Polavision, the negative layer remained as part of the film after processing. It was of low optical density (max. 0.3), but nevertheless reduced the contrast of the image. With Polachrome, the negative layer was discarded after processing. Marketed broadly, it was touted to professional photographers for making test shots to evaluate a setup before final shooting was done with their usual film. Its distinctive muted color rendition and the line structure visible in enlargements won it a small following as a unique artistic medium in itself. It remained in production for nearly 20 years.
• PolaPan was a monochrome ("black-and-white") slide film. "PolaPan" is a portmanteau of Polaroid and Panchromatic. The PolaPan name had also been used in connection with Polaroid roll print films Type 42 PolaPan 200 (200 ASA film speed) (also Type 32) and Type 44 PolaPan 400 (400 ASA film speed in daylight).
• Polablue was a slide film with a particular blue color cast.
• Polagraph was a high-contrast color transparency film intended for reproducing subjects like graphs or diagrams.
• PolaScope (Type 410 10,000 ASA) was a high-contrast film intended specifically for photographing oscilloscope ("scope") traces.

Polaroid AutoProcess slides could be viewed or projected in the same way as 35 mm slides made with conventional films.

 

[smoke665]

Pentax has been somewhat stodgily poking along in their innovation, never drifting far from the status quo. Going after the developing film market isn't a bad idea, but throwing something like polychrome in the mix could really be a game changer. The appeal of film in an instant gratification world.