Polaroid Polavision – The Instant Movie Film We All Wanted
Polaroid Polavision cartridges can be transferred to a digital format after cleaning the film and scanning. After which you can expect to get results similar to the video shown here:
Are they worth transferring to a digital format?
We think it’s well worth the effort to get them transferred, the quality is not as good as Kodachrome film which is shares the Super 8 format with, but it never was, this was instant movies, 40 feet at a time!
If you view the film through a projector the colours are very muted due to ageing, and there is quite a bit of old developer left over from the processing stage. With a little bit of specialised cleaning, followed by enhancing the colours in post production will go along way improve the overall look. Here is an overview of our scanning process
To transfer we gently remove the film from the cartridge and wind onto a hub, we then clean by hand all the old developer off the films and add leader and tails so it can be scanned to save every frame.
So exactly what was Polaroid Polavision?
Polaroid Polavision was an instant home movie system that was introduced by Polaroid Corporation in the late 1970s. It was a Super 8 instant movie system that used a cartridge of film to record and play back short films. The film contained a series of layers of emulsion that would be exposed in the camera then developed using a special if rather bulky Polavision developer/projector unit. The clever bit was the processing chemicals were contained inside the film cartridge itself.
When the exposed cartridge was inserted, the machine would wind the film back through the chemicals, then after about 90 seconds the light would come on and it would start playing the film.
To use the system, users would first record a movie using the Polavision camera, with a built-in viewfinder and a handgrip which was very familiar to any Super 8 film camera user.
The Polavision system was designed to be a convenient and easy-to-use alternative to traditional film-based home movie systems. It was particularly popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but it ultimately failed to gain widespread adoption due to the cost and various technical issues and the increasing popularity of video cassette recorders (VCRs).
It is difficult to determine exactly how much Polaroid Corporation spent to develop the Polavision home movie system. The company was known for its extensive research and development efforts, and it likely invested significant resources in the development of the Polavision system.
Polaroid Corporation was founded in 1937 by Edwin Land, and it quickly became known for its innovative products and technologies. In addition to developing the Polavision home movie system, the company also produced a wide range of other products, including instant cameras and film, eyewear, and other optical products.
The system was discontinued in the late 1980s however most processed cartridges are still in a good state to be transferred to a digital format such as MP4 for viewing again. If you would like more information contact us now.
More info on the format WiKi Page here.
And a clip of the system in action recently.