Impossible Project PX70 Color Protection Formula - Food Photography

This past weekend as part of my Roll-A-Week project I came into the studio to work on some tabletop food photography set-ups. I've always been a fan of simple, well-lit food photography and have lately been reading a few different blog posts that highlight some easy available/window light setups and so I thought I'd take an afternoon pretending to be a food photographer. 

Still life and composition is something that I've always explored when shooting instant film, and since it's been so long since I've shot with any of the Impossible Project's films in any serious way it seemed natural to bring along my SX-70 Sonar to shoot each of my setups  alongside my roll of film. The images that I have here today were all taken with the SX-70 and Impossible's PX70 Color Protection Formula instant film. Each was left unshielded out of camera and developed face down in a relatively comfortable temperature (somewhere around 68 degrees fahrenheit). Enjoy.

Impossible Project PX70 Test Film V4B - Colors From the Greenhouse

Yesterday, via a fun little video project at work, I ended up at Cleveland's Rockefeller Park Greenhouse. Another of those Cleveland hidden gems the Rockefeller Greenhouse sits above Martin Luther King Drive on the east side of downtown and is full of beautiful plants and colors and is definitely worth a visit. While I was there to do some video work, I of course had my SX70 along loaded with Impossible Projects newest PX70 Color Protection film and was able to snag a few shots. Actually... I shot almost an entire pack, but, these are my top four favorites from the day.

Impossible Project PX70 Test Film V4B - Festive Fall Colors

Another weekend come and gone, but, this one did provide some beautiful fall weather and a chance to get out and shoot some of the brilliant colors. SX-70's in hand, we ended up at the Rocky River Reservations overlook Sunday afternoon and the photos here are my plunder for the day - four shots, all pretty nice. 

All of these are from the Impossible Project's new PX70 Color Protection formula and were all shot the same way - a half turn towards darken, unshielded out of camera, developed in a pocket for warmth with a total development time in the 20-30 minute range.

The color on this film is really great stuff and much easier to shoot than every before. In fact, It's such a good looking film that even Tiffany finally agreed to let me take her photo with it. Take a good look... this is a rare occasion!

Impossible Project PX70 Test Film V4B - Pomegranates

This past weekends grocery trip left me with two pomegranates, which, I bought specifically to take a photos with. Last night after work the sun was still bright enough to use the window light to snap these two quick shots. Both photos are taken on Impossible Project PX70 Test Film V4b using an SX70 Sonar. Images were left unshielded out of camera and developed in my pocket to add a little warmth. Final results aren't too shabby.

Impossible Project PX680 and PX70 Test Film - Fall Images and 8 Exposures

This past weekend was wrapped up in the changing of the seasons. We drove down to my parents for a visit and then enjoyed the lovely fall weather with a trip to the apple orchard for some apples, pumpkins, gourds and all things fall. I took along my SX 70 and SX 70 sonar loaded with the Impossible Projects PX 680 V4C and PX 70 V4B respectively to snap a couple fall themed images. These are just a few of my favorites from the selection.

At top and above, some images shot on the SX70 with PX 680 V4C - lighten/darken set halfway to darken, unshielded out of camera and developed in my jacket pocket. Below, an image from my SX 70 Sonar using the Impossible Project PX 70 V4B - lighten/darken again halfway to darken, unshielded out of camera and left to develop in my jacket pocket.

And finally, to wrap up this quick post, I'm very excited to be featured on the Impossible Project's blog. Every so often they feature different photographers with their "8 Exposures" question and answer series and just yesterday my responses and 8 photos were published. There's a little preview image of their homepage and blog post below, but, if you'd like to read the entire post and look through the photos featured (including an instant portrait of yours truly) you can jump over to their page with this link.

Impossible Project PX70 Test Film V4B - Now available to everyone!

Yesterday marked the official release of the new Impossible Project PX 680 and PX 70 films with new color protection formula. What's that mean? It means a brilliant new opacification layer that lets you shoot 8 beautiful photos without the worry of shielding the images out of camera like the Impossible films of the past. I've been posting images from the test batches of this film for a  couple of weeks now and must say that these new batches of film have made me fall in love with the Impossible project all over again. Not only does the film produce high quality images like we've come to expect from Impossible, but, now it's easier than ever to shoot. If you've not yet shot Impossible's film and you've been thinking about doing so... Now is the time.

These images were both shot while walking around town one day using an SX70 sonar and the new Impossible PX 70 color shade film. Lighten darken wheel was set about half way to darken and the images were left unshielded out of camera. After being ejected the images were left for full development in my pocket over about 30-40 mins. Feel free to go back through my last couple posts to see a few more (if not better) examples of the new Impossible films that have just been released.

If you're already sold and interested in buying some film for yourself jump directly on over to their store HERE.

Impossible Project PX70 Test Film V4B - Hybrid Fruit

I guess I like to shoot fruit these days. I know it's cliched, but it's available and looks fantastic on this film. I took this one a couple of days ago on the new Impossible Project PX70 V4B using an SX70 sonar. Lighten/darken wheel set half way to darken. Natural window light. Left unshielded out of camera and developed unshielded right side up. Seriously loving this film.

If you're curious as to what these little guys are... the answer would be Plouts. Though they are also known as Apriplums or Plumcots. As you've probably guessed, this strange hybrid fruit is a cross between a Plum and an Apricot. The whole concept of hybrid fruits is a little odd to me, but, I have to admit that these Plouts are pretty tasty.

Impossible Project PX70 Test Film V4B - Moody Swedish Cookies

Just a quick shot from when I got to the office this morning. Anna's has become one of my favorite cookies, whether it's these orange thins or one of the many other delightful flavors, and I've always thought that they have really nice packaging design. I particularly like the color palettes that they use and figured this orange might be a nice color to test out on the new Impossible Project PX70 V4B. I had hoped to offset the color with a deep red background but because of the material I used on the table there was a distinct difference in the amount of light reflected compared to the cardboard of the packaging. So... I ended up losing all of my reds and instead got this moody little portrait of my orange thins.

This was shot on an SX70 Sonar with the lighten/darken wheel turned halfway towards darken. I used natural window light from the right and left the image entirely unshielded during ejection and development. As I've mentioned before and have seen a few others mention recently, you can really notice an improvement in the dynamic range of this new film. Even though I was not able to expose for the red background in this image you'll still notice that there is some pretty good shadow detail on the backside of the box closest to the camera.

Oh, and if I haven't mentioned it before - I really do love this film.

Impossible Project PX70 Test Film V4B - Waterfront & Coca-Cola

The new Impossible Project PX70 V4B test film really is brilliant. Everything you've been waiting for them to improve upon seems to be coming together with the most recent batches of film. The colors are more saturated and true. The film continues to get sharper and carry higher tonal range. The opacification layer has been improved and in my opinion is very functional for a shooter of any level of experience. 

The only draw back that I'm seeing in this current run of film (the PX70 V4B and PX680 V4B) is the time it takes for full development. As I mentioned in some earlier posts, I'm estimating a near full development in the 30-40 minute range with some continuous color and contrast shift over the next 24 hours. Honestly though, I think the PX70 is shifting much, much less over the next few hours than the PX680 was, and, I assume that may be the case with the PX680 V4C as well since it is now optimized for color. When that film arrives later this week I'll be sure to let you know. As far as the long development times are concerned... I'm really not one to complain. This product has come so far in the past few months that it's hard to complain about anything. I, for one, am happy to trade speed for quality.

As for the two shots in this post, they were shot under very different conditions but resulted in equally beautiful results. The photo at top was shot in full sunlight (not a cloud in the sky) with temperatures at about 80-85 degrees. I left the photo unshielded as it ejected from camera but quickly grabbed it and threw it in my shirt pocket for development. The development time was long, but, this is one of the first times I have gotten a blue sky to render blue... for some reason cream has been the norm for me despite the number of beautiful blue skies I've seen from others.

The second photo was shot indoors under more controlled conditions. The light was available, natural window light from the right and the temperature was a much more tolerable 65-70 degrees. This photo was also left unshielded out of camera, but, unlike the photo above it was left right-side up under normal indoor lighting conditions throughout the development process. A bit of a different process, but, just another example of this films ability to capture a completely different range of colors and tones.

The new PX680 V4C should arrive later this week and I'll try to get a few shots with that film posted soon as well. 

Impossible Project PX70 Test Film V4B - Fruit Basket

Normally I go into great detail when I shoot with one of the new Impossible Test films. For the Impossible PX70 Test film V4B though... I'm just going to refer you to my review of the PX 680 V4B. Read that, and just know that this version of the film is even better. If anyone out there still doubts how great Impossible's films are and will be, just go shoot this film and then let it rest.

I shot this photo this morning while literally walking out the door. I notice this basket of fruit sitting by the window, put all my stuff back down, got out my SX 70 Sonar and snapped this. The photo was left unshielded out of camera and then dropped in my bag as I headed out. When I got to the office this morning this was my end result. I think my jaw hit the floor when I pulled this out of my bag.

I can't wait to continue shooting this film. I'll be sharing more soon.

Impossible Project PX70 NIGO - 'Roid Week - Seersucker Pants and Checkered Socks

Wrapping up 'Roid Week with just one more photo that I took while out with some coworkers for lunch today. The one guy, Zach, was wearing an interesting combo of seersucker pants, checkered socks and orange shoe laces which seemed like reason enough for me to take a photo. You can't make out the laces very well, but, the rest comes across pretty accurately.

Shot on an SX70 sonar with Impossible Project's PX70 NIGO. Darken wheel about 2/3 towards darken.

Impossible Project PX70 NIGO - 'Roid Week - Greyhound Station

Photo number two for Wednesday of 'Roid Week. This one shot with an SX70 Sonar using Impossible Project's PX70 NIGO. I just took this little guy over lunch which is reason enough for me to make my second blog post of the day.

You'll also notice that while I pretty much never, ever crop out the border of my Polaroid/Impossible images - I have done so here. Because this is NIGO edition film each frame is a random color. This one just happened to be bright pink and quite distracting (I think anyway) to this particular image. So... Deal with it.

More instant love tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Impossible Project PX70 NIGO - Polar Bear

With all of the 35mm photos I've been showing lately I figured it's high time I post something from the Impossible Project. Today's photo, shot with an SX-70 sonar using Impossible's PX 70 NIGO and an ND pack filter, comes from the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. I've only been to the Cleveland Zoo once before, but, this past weekend we had the opportunity to go and spend the entire day there. 


Camera's in tow, I was hoping to snap quite a few shots throughout the day, but, most of the animals seemed to have different plans as they hid out at the farthest point from all onlookers - generally, somewhere shady on a hot summer's day. That is, until we met this guy - whom I figured would be the most unlikely animal at the Zoo to be laid out sunbathing on a rock. Still, for about ten minutes, he perched there almost as if posing for the crowd like it was his civic duty as an active member of the zoo. 


This may have ended up being my only shot of the day, but, I think it made for a good one.

Impossible Project PX70 NIGO - Texaco

It's been a couple of posts since I've put up any Impossible Project scans - a rarity for this blog. Today though, I have a shot using the Impossible Project PX70 NIGO film that I shot with my Polaroid SX-70 Sonar. I took this photo yesterday while in the tiny little town of West Middlesex Pennsylvania. Before heading back to Cleveland after a fun fourth of July back in my hometown we took a little detour over the PA border to stop in a couple different antique stores and flea markets. While I didn't find anything great, I did come across this Texaco sign which made for a nice quick photo.


Also, I got an email yesterday that my cross processed film from the Analog Pulse event here in Cleveland has been finished and posted to an online gallery - at first glance they look great, and, I will be going through them soon and choosing favorites to post up here on the blog. Stay tuned!

Impossible Project PX70 NIGO - Brooklyn NY Part II

A while back, I posted some images from the Brooklyn area that were all taken with Impossible's PX70 NIGO. Today, I have two more images from Brooklyn that were from the same pack of NIGO - At top, the Eagle Clothing brand sign in the Park Slop neighborhood - And below, a nice looking bike that was parked outside a little cafe.


Not much else to say about these. I still have one pack of NIGO left, though, so keep an eye out for some more colorful frames in the future...

Impossible Project Newsletter - PX70 Push

If you get the chance, pop on over to the Impossible Project's site to check out their most recent newsletter and a great offer on the last batch of PX70 PUSH! for your SX70. You might just notice while you're there that the top image in the newsletter is my very own PX70 PUSH! image from Sara's Diner at the Gateway to Presque Isle in Erie, PA.


PX70 is definitely one of my favorite films from Impossible, and, a big part of what got me started in the world of instant photography. I'm very excited to have one of my images featured on their Newsletter. Thank you Impossible! Keep the great products coming.


View the full newsletter here.

Impossible Project PX 70 Color Shade - Polaroid Walk Follow Up

During a post from last week, I talked about Aperture's first ever Polaroid Walk in honor of Polaroid Week as well as my first experiences with the Impossible Project's PX70 Color Shade. I thought I would do a little follow up to share a few more of the photos from that days walk. 


The first, seen above, is a photo of an arcade bowling game at Prosperity Social Club. Being indoors without a tripod, this image was shot perched atop a bar stool and had an exposure of around 2-3 seconds. I always find that I get really nice colors with long exposures (or, if nothing else, warmer, contrasty colors). Another long exposure from that night (below) was shot in near darkness with just about a 14 second exposure. I shot this little piano with my SX70 propped up on a wallet and tabletop while inside the Literary Cafe.

I did take a couple outdoor shots along the way as well. The first, being a very good example of the color that can be pulled out of the new PX70, was someone's bright yellow front door. And then there's a set of two images taken along one of Tremont's sidewalks... a simple paper lantern and a tree wrapped in lights.

Of course I wasn't the only person walking the neighborhood and shooting Impossible's film that day... As luck would have it, I convinced my girlfriend (we'll call her Tiffany) to come along as well despite having never picked up a polaroid camera before. Aperture was nice enough to be loaning out cameras for the walk, and Tiffany got to shoot the Impossible PX70 as well using a non-folding SX70 Button. Even though I have never posted anyone else's work on my blog before, I thought these two images were a great example of the new PX70 and how wonderfully saturated the colors can be... not to mention, these photos are pretty nice for her first outing with instant film.

Photograph Info:

Location: Cleveland Ohio

Camera: Polaroid SX70 Sonar/ SX70 Button

Film: Impossible Project PX 70 Color Shade

Impossible Project PX 70 Color Shade - Big Grill

As I mentioned earlier, this week is Polaroid week. In honor of the event, Aperture had a little Polaroid walk last night with about 10-15 people. We pretty much walked around town, with a few planned stops, and took some really great photos along the way. 


Almost all the film used throughout this first walk was from the Impossible Project. This triptych was made with an SX70 and the new PX 70 Color shade from Impossible. The film is definitely a nice step forward from the earlier PUSH!, with much more color, very little artifacts or spotting, and a touch less sensitivity to light. I would like to mention though, as with the PUSH! before, that this film does still seem to have a bit of a reaction to heat which can still be used to your advantage to pull extra saturation and contrast from your photos (which makes sense considering heat usually plays a roll in any chemical process)


Overall, I think this film is great. Grab a pack, turn your lighten/darken wheel all the way to darken, shade the film and enjoy the final product.


More coming soon!

Photograph Info:

Location: Cleveland Ohio

Camera: Polaroid SX70 Sonar

Film: Impossible Project PX 70 Color Shade