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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
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Photography Accessories

Review: Impossible Project Black and White 2.0 Fim (600 series)

Chris Gampat
No Comments
07/04/2015
3 Mins read

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Film–it’s something that tugs at the hearts of many a photographer. It has a beautiful nostalgic look to it and one that reminds us in a world that is primarily digital that there are still things that are tangible and one of a kind. So when the Impossible Project updated their black and white film to version 2.0, we joined other photographers in pure excitement. The company promised that the images would fade and turn to sepia much slower–additionally they promised better image quality.

Indeed, when you go for the impossible task of reverse engineering some of the world’s most popular films, you’re going to run into mistakes. For this, it’s excusable as it’s a tough task after all. But it’s also the only black and white instant film available on the market since the discontinuation of Fujifilm 3000-B.

Pros and Cons

Pros

– Beautiful image quality when you overexpose the scenes.

– Fun to use.

– Likely to start a conversation…or many.

– Forces you to be very careful about what you’re shooting because the film is so rare.

– Fast development time.

– Very detailed images.

Cons

– Fades to Sepia very quickly.

– Near indistinguishable image quality from the original version unless you scan and look at the images at 100%.

– You get eight shots per pack when Polaroid used to do 10.

– Expensive.

Gear Used

We tested the Impossible Project Black and White 2.0 film with the Polaroid Autofocus 660 with Sonar autofocus.

Tech Specs

Specs taken from the Impossible Project listing

  • 8 exposures per pack
  • Type: Black and white instant film for Polaroid™ 600-type cameras
  • Format: 8.8 x 10.7cm (3.5 x 4.2in)
  • Image area: 7.9 x 7.9 cm (3.1 x 3.1 in)
  • Finish: Glossy
  • Emergence: 20 seconds approximately at 70°F (21°C)
  • Full development: 5 minutes approximately at 70°F (21°C)
  • Battery: Built-in, long lasting battery to power up the camera and flash

Ease of Use

To use this film, what you’ll need to do is load it into the camera via the front. The cool thing about 600 pack film is that the pack includes the battery with it. Though if you think about it, it also means that you’re just wasting batteries.

Once you shoot the film, it’s best to put it in your pocket or inside a book for a while so that the film can fully develop in its own right. It’s also a good idea to press it down a lot to ensure that the development chemicals go through the entire image.

Image Quality

Black and White 2.0 scan

We got in two packs of black and white 2.0 and two packs of the original black and white and to be very honest, we couldn’t tell the difference unless we scanned them. The 2.0 version yields better image quality, but they both fade to sepia quite quickly.

The images above were taken with all 2.0 film.

Black and white again

This images above here, however, was taken with mostly with the 1.0 version with the exception of the far left image. Again though, we can’t really tell the difference except that the newer version is only slight less sepia.

If this doesn’t bother you too much, then carry on. Otherwise, you’ll need to get yourself a Polaroid Land camera and pony up lots of dough for some leftover 3000-B film.

Conclusions

We like the Impossible Project’s Black and White film version 2.0–especially since it’s some of the last black and white instant film in production. But what we don’t like it how expensive it is and the fact that it seems nearly indistinguishable in terms of quality except to the most trained eyes out there.

Still, you can surely create some great moments with it–just be sure to give it lots and lots of light.

three-Phoblographer-Star-rating

We rate the Impossible Project’s Black and White 2.0 film with three out of five stars. Hopefully, the company’s newer version of their color film will perform better.

black and white black and white 2.0 color film impossible project instant film Photography sepia
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Written by

Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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