Polaroid Now Camera

Polaroid Now is a weird product because it does everything worse than a phone camera. That's exactly why I like it. Photos are grainy. Color shifts depending on temperature. You get 8 shots per cartridge at about $1 per photo. Then you wait 15 minutes for the image to fully develop. But the physical print coming out of the front of the camera is an object unlike a JPEG on your phone. I took one to a friend's birthday party. People passed the photos around, wrote on the white borders with Sharpies, stuck them on the fridge. Nobody does that with a screenshot from Instagram. Polaroid went bankrupt and came back. The kind of brand story only works if the product still fills a real need. The need isn't photography. It's creating a physical thing that captures a moment and exists in the world rather than in a cloud server. Autofocus is fine for group shots at arm's length. Built-in flash handles indoor lighting well enough. At $100 for the camera and $17 for a pack of film, it isn't economical as your only camera. But as a party accessory or a way to decorate your room with actual moments, it earns its place.