Over the week-end the folks at The Impossible Project announced they had encountered yet another challenge to overcome.

The so-called “problem” was somewhat dramatically referred to as the “the attack of the killer crystals.”

In a long and detailed newsletter to its customers the founder of The Impossible Project, Dr. Florian Kaps, addresses the problem of crystallization in the PX 600 Silver Shade film, and to his credit he discusses the latest unfortunate development in quite an open manner.

Alarmed by reports from the community and customers regarding the stability issues, Kaps went on to review his personal collection of Silver Shade pictures and found that one of his favourite images had been affected by the crystallization issue. Obviously this finding stroke a chord with Kaps.

It’s good to see that at least this latest stability issue has not been ‘marketed’ as another beautiful characteristic of the film, asking customers to embrace the unpredictability of the killer crystals as an artistic trait that adorns your pictures.

Instead it has been acknowledged as a “problem we have to face, analyze and fight.”

Anything else would also have been commercial suicide if you ask me.

At 20 Euros for 8 pictures the PX 600 Silver Shade film is expensive and while being promoted as “experimental material that will produce changing results depending on light conditions and temperature” I have always been of the view that there is a natural limit to how experimental and how changing results photographers want to accept at such a price level.

Photo by Andy Wilson

I’m very passionate about photography in general including all kinds of instant film, but I must say I personally reached my pain threshold with The Impossible Pricing and The Impossible Cost of Shipping as I also wrote about in this post.

At 2.5 Euros per picture (plus the high cost of shipping) I’m not prepared to lose too many frames due to stability or sensitivity issues in the development of the film.

Nor am I prepared to accept an attack by killer crystals after I might have been lucky with a stable development of the film – provided I:

• shot in just the right temperature range (17-24°C / 63-75°F); and
• made sure to shield my picture from light immediately; and
• developed the picture upside down for 60 – 90 seconds; and
• let my image dry properly before storing them in a cool place protected from light

If – in an effort to try and avoid the crystallization – I then also have to:

• cut another central vent in the middle of the upper lamination on the backside of the developed picture to help to fight the humidity; or
• peel the image apart by turning my image over to the back, using scissors or a knife to stick the blade under the upper white sealed foil and then opening it along the edge and repeat the action along the sides so that I can remove the positive from the negative while making sure that I peel gently but not too slowly; and
• put silica gel into my storage box to ensure a controlled humidity below 40%.

By then I think my acceptance threshold has been way exceeded.

A very different story, though, if the film wasn’t so incredibly expensive. Then I could understand and better relate to the arguments that The Impossible Project is “an experiment you can be a part of” and “you have the chance to be at the forefront of the development of a brand new instant film.”

But when I’m hit hard with marketing hype that – at least to me – is trying to sell me a product at 20 Euros for 8 pictures which has multiple stability issues and which – in my opinion – is not ready for commercial mass distribution then I back off.

Mounting Frustrations

If you look outside the hard core group of Impossible fans more and more people are getting increasingly frustrated about the product and its stability issues. It seems to me that most people just want a better, more stable product and less marketing hype.

There’s a definite consensus that photographers are feeling users are paying a large premium for testing an unfinished product.

Photo by Andy Wilson

Fact is: most photographers don’t want to “experiment”. Most photographers want reliable and predictable results. Most photographers want a film they can use whether it’s 10°C, 20°C or 30°C.

And fact is: most photographers – myself included – admire the challenge The Impossible Project has taken on and most photographers want them to succeed.

So the question beckons: Is The Impossible Project shrouding a mediocre product in clever marketing? Did they rush an unfinished product onto the market prematurely?

If you ask me the answer to both of the above questions is “yes.”

It’s almost as if the used car salesman put on an Armani suit and tied his tie in a loose trendy style, got rid of the balloons and tacky flags, then had the car with a transmission problem painted and polished, changed the sales sign to feature a cool new font and then increased the price by 50%! All in an effort to sell the car here and now instead of getting a mechanic to take a second look at that transmission problem.

It’s understandable though; the eagerness, the excitement, the pressure and the anticipation. It’s easy to see how it happens. Is it excusable though? Not really.

At the very least a strategy should have been devised whereby the so-called “First Flush” was sold at a much more reasonable price –  an “Experiment Price” – which might have avoided many disappointed customers.

The Twist

And just as the tone changed slightly to one of a more straight forward acknowledgement of a serious problem it seems like TIP just can’t help themselves.

They have deployed yet another clever marketing push: The Pioneer Card.

TIP writes this about the new Pioneer Card:

“If you are one of our essential supporters who purchased our films from the very start, curious enough to dive into the First Flush, strong enough to continue the adventure after the LLP, brave enough to support us also in our fight against the Killer Crystal, you will be rewarded with your personal Pioneer Card. This will qualify you for a lifetime discount on all Impossible products that we will develop in the following decades.”

Read between the lines and it’s pretty obvious what TIP is really trying to say.

Oh, and by the way, the Pioneer Card isn’t quite launched just yet, but “more details will be available within the very next weeks.”

Come on guys! People just want a product that works and less of all the marketing hype. It’s simple.

There is Always Hope

Let’s just hope, though, that TIP will jump over this latest hurdle, hear the cries to turn down the volume of the marketing hype button and manages to create an instant film that is stable, can be used in various temperatures, is reasonably affordable and commercially successful to the mutual benefit of TIP investors and instant film consumers.

Less hype, better instant film…

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• The Impossible Delay
• The Impossible Project Reveals New Monochrome Instant Film For Polaroid Cameras
• How To Do Polaroid Emulsion Lifts