Impossible I-1 Review

October 31, 2016 | Amy Davies | Rating star Rating star Rating star

Introduction

The Impossible Project launched in 2008 with the aim of reviving the defunct Polaroid format, which had not long before announced it would stop creating its classic instant film. Starting with creating film for existing Polaroid cameras, the Impossible I-1 marks the first actual camera that the company has produced. It takes Polaroid 600 film, whether you have some classic stock in your fridge, or some of the new film produced by the Impossible Project (I-Type). The camera is completely point and shoot, however if you pair it via Bluetooth with a smartphone app, you can take manual control of it. The Impossible I-1 officially retails for £300 / $300. Packs of film cost around £16, and are available in black and white or colour.

Ease of Use

The Impossible I-1 is by modern standards a very unusual looking camera. Certainly, it drew some strange glances when using it out and about in public.

It has a large body, which is necessary to facilitate the film in the bottom of it. You can’t really use it one handedly - or if you do, it’ll be very awkward. There’s no grip built into the camera, but a hand strap comes in the box to help you hold it more securely.

In terms of buttons and dials, it’s quite a simple setup, with it being designed to be a basic point and shoot if you’re using it as a standalone camera.

The first thing you’ll need to do is charge the Impossible I-1. A Micro USB cable is supplied in the box, meaning you can charge the camera via a smartphone charger, or by plugging it into your computer. Doing the latter will take longer to charge - plugging it into a wall socket should fully charge it in around an hour or so.

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Front of the Impossible I-1

There’s a small LED light just next to the Micro USB socket on the front of the camera. This will glow permanently red while the camera is charging, switching off when full power has been reached. When the camera is unplugged, after switching on, the red light will blink if there’s not enough power to charge the ring flash on the front of the camera. If you see it doing that, you should only use the camera for bright sunlight shots.

Around the front of the Impossible I-1 is a ring flash, which you will need to use in most shooting scenarios. It also doubles up as a handy way to tell you various things about the camera. There are eight lights around the flash, which you can use to gauge battery life and how much film is left. If you press down the shutter release while the camera is left, the number of lights which flash show you how much battery is left. If fewer than three lights flash, you’ll know that there’s not enough battery to use the flash.

When you switch on the Impossible I-1 the number of lights that flash on the ring flash indicate how many shots in the film pack are remaining. There are 8 shots per film pack, so you just need to count how many light up. If the top light flashes red, then you know there’s just one shot, and if it flashes rapidly, you know that you need to replace the film pack.

When you use the ring flash to take a photo, all of the LED lights will flash at once, along with supplementary smaller LEDs to bring the total up to 12. Impossible says that you need to use the flash in all but the very brightest of sunlight.

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Rear of the Impossible I-1

To switch on the Impossible I-1 there’s a round dial on the side of the camera. It can be rotated into three different positions, and there’s there’s a line across it to help you determine whether it’s in the right place or not. If you switch it so the line lines up with the line on the ring, then it’ll be switched on. Turn it one way the other way and it’s switched off, and one way in the other direction, then you’ll have switched to Bluetooth mode.

Around the ring flash housing, there are two switches. You can switch the flash on or off (again, it’s recommended that you leave it on all the time), and the second switch can be used to control exposure compensation. It’s a very rudimentary control, there’s just standard, and one step negative, and one step positive.

On the top of the Impossible I-1 is a viewfinder, which is attached by magnets and can therefore be very easily removed if you don’t want to use it. The viewfinder is also collapsible. To open it push the side of it to release the latch and it should pop up. The viewfinder isn’t optical, it’s designed more of an aid than a specific and accurate finder. It has silver markings on it that help you to align the camera. The best way to use it is to hold it around 4-5cm away from your eye. In the middle of the finder is a silver dot - when you see that this is in the middle of the frame, then you’ve got it roughly aligned. It takes some time to get the hang of, but once you have it’s a good way to get a better idea of exactly what will be in your frame and what won’t be.

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Side of the Impossible I-1

In order to take a picture, you should first half press the shutter button to make sure the Impossible I-1 has focused. If you are somewhere quiet, you may even hear the sound of the focusing mechanism. Fully depress the shutter button to take the picture. The picture should be ejected straight away from the slot, where it will be protected from light by the “frog tongue”. Make sure to take the photo out, and continue to protect it from light while it develops - but also be careful to make sure you don’t damage the frog tongue. If you’re outside and it’s cold, it’s worthwhile putting the film somewhere warm, such as an inside pocket, while it develops. The black and white film takes between 5-10 minutes to develop, while the colour film takes more like 20-25 minutes.

You can download the free I-1 app for iOS and Android. To connect it, simply make sure bluetooth is switched on for your phone, and switch the camera to the bluetooth position on the power dial. Once connected you’ll see that you have various options, including a remote trigger, manual mode, self-timer, double exposure, noise trigger, light paint, colour paint and scanner.

The remote trigger allows you to trigger the shutter release by pressing a button on your phone, which is useful for group and self portraits. Under manual mode, you’ll see you can adjust shutter speed and aperture, as well as change the intensity of the flash. You can also change the focus setting, and exposure compensation.

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The Impossible I-1 In-hand

For self-timer, you have a choice of 5 seconds, 10 seconds and 20 seconds. Double exposure is a fun thing to experiment with - simply press the button once and it will take one exposure without ejecting the film, press it again and you’ll have a double exposure. Use the noise trigger and you can record a trigger that you can use to trip the exposure, such as a hand clap or a shout.

Light painting mode utilises the torch on your phone. Press the shutter release button, then hold down the torch icon and you can paint something that is captured by the camera, pressing the button again will stop the exposure. You could also use another torch if you wanted to.

Colour Paint also uses your phone. You can choose the colour you want to paint with on screen, then when you’re ready press the shutter button on the screen. Then wave your phone in front of the camera, finally pressing the shutter button again to eject the photo from the Impossible I-1.

Scanner is simply a way to take a photo of your instant prints using your phone camera.

Image Quality

A fair description of the results from the Impossible I-1 would be mixed.

It can take a lot of time to get to grips with how the camera works, its particular idiosyncrasies and how to get the best results from it. That wouldn’t be so problematic if it wasn’t so expensive to experiment - of course you have the initial outlay of the camera itself, but with each film pack setting you back around £16, every mistake you make effectively costs you £2.

In bright light, results can be quite pleasing. Colours are a little faded, but it’s how instant film looks, so you have to expect that. Black and white film has a nice level of contrast, but again, it’s a very stylised look that won’t be to everybody’s tastes.

However, if the light is anything but brilliant sunshine, it can be difficult to get good results. Even with switching the flash on, it’s a struggle to know exactly what you’re going to get. Sometimes the photos are too dark, while switching positive exposure compensation on, can have the opposite effect too much.

If you can put in the investment to learn exactly how each configuration will look, you should eventually get to figure out how to best use theImpossible I-1, but it may take a while to get there - especially if you’re used to coming from digital cameras where the results are easier to control.

You should also be mindful of defects in the film sometimes producing odd artefacts. Some will say that this adds to the charm of instant film, while again others won’t appreciate it so much.

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Product Images

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Front of the Impossible I-1

 
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Side of the Impossible I-1

 
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Side of the Impossible I-

 
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Side of the Impossible I-1

 
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Rear of the Impossible I-1

 
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Top of the Impossible I-1

 
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Bottom of the Impossible I-1

 
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Side of the Impossible I-1

 
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Side of the Impossible I-1

 

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Side of the Impossible I-1

 
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Side of the Impossible I-1
 
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Side of the Impossible I-1
 
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Front of the Impossible I-1

Conclusion

The Impossible I-1 camera is a great achievement in terms of bringing back a classic style of camera, all the while giving it a little bit of a modern twist. Adding bluetooth connectivity is a great innovation that gives you good control and adds some fun elements (such as double exposure) to the experience of using the camera.

However, for most ordinary consumers, this will simply be too expensive. Not only is £300 quite a large outlay for a fun camera of this type - but you have to pay so much for film, and ultimately to experiment with how to use the camera - that you have to be a real aficionado of instant photography to want to get involved. Which, to be fair, some people are.

Results from the Impossible I-1 are mixed, and while some of the shots turned out to be quite pleasing - a lot of them simply didn’t work, which was disappointing. Colours are washed out, focus isn’t always spot on, and there are faults in the film - again all things which some people will believe to be a charm of instant, but other people will just think is a fault.

That all aside, it’s fun to have a camera like this, and it’s also fun to see other people reacting to it. If you used to use a Polaroid, then you’ll likely enjoy using this, and if you want to experiment with instant and analogue photography, you’ll probably also find it enjoyable. It would make a great gift for any photographers in your life, too.

It’ll be interesting to see where Impossible go from here. It has spent a lot of time and effort developing the I-1, so hopefully it’ll reap the rewards and continue to work on more instant cameras for enthusiasts to own - if for no other reason than to hopefully bring the production costs down.

3 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 4
Features 4
Ease-of-use 3
Image quality 2.5
Value for money 2.5

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Impossible I-1.

Leica Sofort

The brand new Leica Sofort is the German manufacturer's first ever instant film camera. Entering a market dominated by Fujifilm, the Sofort (German for "instant") can take both colour and black & white pictures, and features a small mirror for easier selfies. Read the World's first Leica Sofort review now to find out what it offers...

Lomo Instant

Born out of a successful Kickstarter campaign, the Lomo Instant is the most advanced instant camera on the planet. Using the widely available Fujifilm Instax Mini film, the Lomo Instant offers advanced features like manual aperture control, a built-in flash, and a bulb mode for long exposures. Read our Lomo Instant review now...

Lomo Instant Wide

The new Lomo Instant Wide uses Fuji Instax Wide film, which is twice as wide as Instax Mini film. The Lomo Instant Wide offers advanced features like three different shooting modes,a fully programmatic shutter, a built-in flash, and unlimited multiple exposures. Read our Lomo Instant Wide review now...

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Impossible I-1 from around the web.

theverge.com »

The Impossible Project was created in 2008 in order to preserve Polaroid’s instant film process after Polaroid revealed that it would be killing it off, and in the past few years at least, it’s a bet that worked. The project has kept a tiny part of the photography market alive with the supplies that are necessary to continue shooting this particular brand of instant film.
Read the full review »

ephotozine.com »

The Impossible I-1 Instant camera is the first new camera to use the original Polaroid photo format in over 20 years. Tghe camera has a host of innovative features that look to give instant photography a modern makeover, whilst still retaining the most important thing - instant images. The camera has a built in ring flash, and an app can be downloaded to bring you more versatility when shooting, including a remote trigger. The Impossible I-1 is available for £229.
Read the full review »

Specifications

440 grams (without film pack)

4°–38°C, 5%–90% relative humidity

Bluetooth Low Energy 4.0

Impossible 600 type and I-type film in both Color and Black & White, including Special Editions

500mAh high performance lithium ion battery (35°C rated discharge current)

Materials

Outer shells: Polycarbonate + ABS plastics with soft touch rubberized coating

Viewfinder, Viewfinder mounting plate, strap mounts: Zinc Aluminium alloy

Lenses: Optical grade polycarbonate and acrylic lenses, coated

Shutter system: Custom design, using precision step motors for shutter and focus control

Optical System

Lens: 6 lenses total, with 5 possible configurations

Autofocus: 5 zone autofocus system, using reflective IR ranging
Macro (0.3–0.5m)
Close-up (0.5–1.0m)
Near-field (1.0–2.2m)
Mid-field (2.2–4.5m)
Far-field (4.5–∞ m)

Focal length: 82–109 mm

Field of view: 41 degrees vertical, 40 degrees horizontal

Flash System

12 LED advanced ring flash, consisting of 8 focused LEDs for increased range + 4 diffuse LEDs for softer light at closer distances (portraits).

App

The I-1 App for iOS works on iPhone and iPod touch devices running Apple iOS 9 and iOS 8. To find out more and download the App, visit the Apple App Store.

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