Poladroid brings some “old skool” to digital photos
Last winter, the world was saddened to learn of the demise of the instant film produced by the Polaroid Corporation, which filed for bankruptcy. In spite of a resurgence of popularity by hipsters and fans (read: everyone) of the Outkast song “Hey Ya!” digital cameras have taken over the market, and people just weren’t buying Polaroid devices like they used to.
Luckily, the Poladroid project has stepped in to fill that void. The software app enables you to drag digital photos into the “camera,” which then “develops” the photos with a Polaroid-like finish. And unlike the real Polaroids, shaking the image as it develops actually has an effect! Or simply leave it alone, and watch as it slowly develops. Like a true Polaroid cartridge, you can only process ten images at a time (how quaint!).
The site has also started a Flickr group, where users post their newly-retroized images and share their feelings about the app. Currently, Poladroid beta is only available for OS X, though it appears that a Windows version is in the works. Now they just need to let you scribble on the film as it develops to leave your signature on the image, just like old times.
23 Responses to “Poladroid brings some “old skool” to digital photos”
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Gotta love how much traction this app is getting. I wrote about it earlier today and these guys are definitely onto a winner…
You coulda chosen a happier voter of yourself – you look like you just lost your cat.
i have no idea why i wrote happier “voter” of yourself…clearly that should be “photo”… i’m not even American!
For iPhone users, also check out the app called CameraBag!! It does the same thing with the built in camera, but also lets you choose several different types of ‘cameras’ to achieve different effects.. i love this trend
This would be a great time to mention the Camera Bag app for the iPhone.
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?mt=8&id=291176178
This app has stylized filters representing classic camera. Includes Helga and Lolo filters!
Very Cool, I’m super sad that polaroid discontinuing there film. Even the film is super expensive. Luckily I have my stockpiled 200+ polaroid 600 film to get some use on new gem I found at the salvation army store.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ron2/2966462502/
omfg this is awesome, wow wow wow
I think my dad still uses Polaroids! lol…
Now if I can just teach him how to use a computer he can then ditch it and use this app!
Don’t mean to sound too sour, but I wish you had mentioned it was mac only. You got my heart all a flutter only to have it dashed on the rocky shores of Redmond.
It looks really cool thogh VB, thanks for the link.
I have a very personal thought about theese “artificial old style” on everything. Realize this: videoclips shooted in super8, yellow filters digitally applyed, jeans looking old right from the store, many new stuffs made to be already used. People doesn’t have any time to spend/wait the time itself ! They want to buy new stuffs, but they want to buy the “time of use” also, as if those stuffs looks like they already have a story to tell with it all.
I hope you get the picture.
If my english was better, I could roll-over the idea with some Master/Doctor/PhD/MBA monography for you.
This is a really fun app. Thanks for writing about it! I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else. Now to somehow script it to take dozens of photos as input and create a collage of photos for a desktop image or something. Sweet!
PolaDroid?
Polar Androids, designed to do battle in the cold, cold reaches of the Poles. I like it. I’ll take a gross.
@Zee: Yeah, it’s like a stoic Veronica! Eee Freud.
This is such a fun app — I didn’t notice shaking made it develop faster, altho that was my first instinct to try. Will have to play ’round more later.
[...] Belmont wrote on her personal blog yesterday about a new application called Poladroid. The software, a simple [...]
So I “poladroided” the same photo twice. I shook one of the images and left the other alone to develop. Was I supposed to see something different with the “shaken” image or does it develop the image quicker? Either way, it’s a cool app and I’m enjoying playing with it.
[...] [via:Veronica Belmont] [...]
I have a few packages of 600 film in the basement. My problem now is… what to use it on? These could be the last 20 polariods in the world! I also have a package of the really old polaroid peel and wipe B&W film, but the wipey stuff is all dried up. Anyone know what that stuff was made of?
OK I tried the program… it ROCKS! The kids were similarly impressed. Shaking the photo definitely speeds up development… unlike the real thing, but people thought it helped, and now it does!
Hi veronica you could make any type of photo look good youre gorgeous you even looked sexy as a zombie
Hey this is really neat, my dad would love this. He loves polaroids.
I was going to recommend CameraBag as well – it’s on sale people!
the Polaroid effect makes you look like a Playmate circa 1971. very nice!
Veronica thank you for this. Seriously.
[...] As some of you may know, the polaroid camera is all but dead. The company will cease to make film for the cameras by the end of 2009. This is very unfortunate. There have been quite few photographers who have made Polaroid cool again such as our man Rony. But don’t worry (sort of). There is a real cool little app that allows you to create polaroids from your digital photos, and it does a pretty good job of it. The free application is called Poladroid. Currently it is for the Mac (that is how we do it). However, there is a PC version on the way. The little app takes your digital pure photos and make them imperfect like a Polaroid. It gives your photo an organic look. (via Veronica Belmont) [...]