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So recently I bought a random Polaroid camera from my local goodwill for like 5 bucks, but it (obviously) didn't come with any film.
I google'd about to see where i could find some film, and I found out that they both stopped making it last year or so, and plan to start making it again. Because of this, most of the film i found goes for about $3.50 a shot on ebay, but then I found this http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/4 ... Film-Pack/, which is 160 shots for $45. Naturally it seems too good to be true, so what do you guys think?
(BTW I'm pretty new to digital photography, and I haven't ever used a film type camera other than disposable ones).

I wouldn't bother, unless you're just fascinated by Polaroid film.

That's what half of me says, but the other half thinks that a couple nice Polaroid shots would look really nice in my portfolio.

Vrock wrote:

I wouldn't bother, unless you're just fascinated by Polaroid film.

Well yea, of course using Polaroids for their picture taking functionality is retarded.

But I think like 25cents per shot is a great deal. It's definitely worth the novelty.

That's why I'm cautious, that's 1 /14th of the going rate.

Well, if it was Ebay I'd be worried, but with OfficeDepot it's probably just a case of dumping discontinued products. You do have to be careful -- all chemical film has a limited shelf life, especially if it's not kept refrigerated. Polaroid film in particular I can recall being sensitive to heat (you'd end up with these washed out, pink-tinted pictures). While there should be a production date (and probably a "use by") date on the package, you have no idea where it's been or what conditions it has been exposed to between then and now.

Then again, if the whole reason you want to play around with Polaroid is for the aesthetic possibilities, maybe you don't care. Shoot a test picture and then try to find a way to work with the spoilage, taking advantage of whatever color cast or other strangeness you get. Polaroid offers all sorts of opportunity for analog expression -- pressing it with objects (even just your thumbs) while it's developing can give you interesting results, and there's a whole sub-genre devoted to abusing the film in various ways; the results can be fascinating.

By the way, these guys apparently took over / rebuilt a production line and are supposedly producing new Polaroid film to sell into that niche market.

This looks like a lot of fun. the only thing is its pretty expensive (that impossible film costs as much as half the camera a shot). That's a pretty steep learning curve.