Polaroid Now offers many new features, including a first-of-its-kind autofocus lens. It's safe to say that this is a great opportunity to get back into instant photography.
Who doesn't love the feeling of picking up a finished photo and obsessively scrutinizing every inch, peering into every grain of faded glory?
After all these years, Polaroid is still associated with instant cameras, even with the
Fujifilm Instax Mini that occupies the shelves of every Urban Outfitters. The 82-year-old company stopped making cameras after the advent of digital, but in the late 90s, a group called The Impossible Project found and revived the last remaining Polaroid factory in the Netherlands.
They relaunched the project as Polaroid Originals, and with the release of Polaroid Now, the brand changed its name again, this time simply as Polaroid. And it looks like they started the rebranding with the right degree.
New features
Polaroid Now has tons of new features, but still feels like the classic instant camera we all know and love.
Compared to the last model, OneStep, Polaroid Now is much more convenient to use. Control elements are located more conveniently. It all feels more natural and you don't have to bend your arms to get the camera to do what you want.
Plus, the Now now has longer battery life, which supposedly lets you shoot up to 20 packs of film (or 160 photos) on a single micro USB charge. For reference, the previous OneStep 2 and OneStep+ had battery life that allowed them to shoot about 15 packs before needing a battery charge.
Polaroid also added "precision flash" to the camera. It takes lighting conditions into account for better low-light shots (and working with low-light is not a strong point of instant cameras).
Perhaps the most important addition to the Polaroid Now is the autofocus lens, the only instant camera with such a lens. The feature is fully automatic, switching between distance and portrait formats by itself, allowing you to focus only on what's in front of you.
The only thing that might disappoint buyers at this time is the lack of Bluetooth support that the OneStep+ featured. It allowed you to take portrait-style photos and remotely activate the shutter, but at least the Polaroid Now is cheaper than the OneStep+.
New look
Now's updated design beautifully blends retro and modern, asserting its own aesthetic identity while still keeping the camera's roots in mind. It is defined by minimalism, a clean look. And how many have already noticed the similarity of clones from Star Wars ;)
Colors are now offered from the five iconic colors of the rainbow, including red, orange, yellow, green and blue, and of course black and white.
Performance
Almost every photo taken by Polaroid Now makes an impression. Either a portrait or a wide shot, image after image printed with clarity (which speaks to how well the autofocus lens does), but not so much that it loses the imperfect charm of instant photos. Especially for shots taken on a rainy day in very low sunlight, this new flash really delivers. As with all Polaroids, a film covers each photo, protecting it from light while you search for a dark pocket to put the failed image into so it can slowly come to life.
When using black and white film, things get a little more complicated because the lack of color requires you to think differently about lighting and framing your photos. In general, they turned out well, although the double exposure function requires frames only if you understand exactly what you will get.
The new button configuration seemed intuitive, making the shooting process very enjoyable, with the amount of film remaining displayed on the LED screen. The layout is definitely a nice improvement, and loading film cartridges seems easier than ever before.
At first glance, the camera does not look so ergonomic, but in fact it is very comfortable in the hands.
The self-timer is one of the great camera additions. You can start it with the trigger located in front of the camera, press the shutter button to start the countdown. The timer itself doesn't raise any questions, but taking selfies here can still be difficult. The opposite side of the Now viewfinder can be used as a sort of mirror, but you'll need eagle eyes to see exactly what's actually in the frame. It is too small and translucent.
The battery is really impressive. After an initial
full charge and about a week of testing, the Now still has a long charge left. The camera also comes with a neck strap, which is convenient if you plan to travel with the camera a lot.
It can be noted that the camera is lacking in terms of protection. The classic Polaroid 600 had a flash that covered the lens, but the Polaroid Now doesn't. It is possible that this is some idea of the designer to reduce all parts to a minimum. Most likely, the camera will not survive an unfortunate fall without receiving some serious damage.
In general, Polaroid surprises as always. This is probably the most affordable and convenient Polaroid to date; the button interface, the autofocus lens, and the rest of the bells and whistles work in harmony to make it not only possible, but likely, that you'll get a quality shot, regardless of your skill level.
Polaroid appears now at the perfect time. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, political upheaval and climate change, many of us are simply trying to hold on to better times; and these small photos make us feel human in times of despair. While an instant camera or any other material possession cannot solve these problems, we can still find some hope in the nostalgic images they create.
