The Polaroid OneStep 2 is a vintage camera for the digital age
When Polaroid released the "OneStep" camera in 1977, the company described it as "the simplest camera in the world." Equipped with a fixed focus lens, development takes only a few minutes. It was equipped with an automatic feeding function to eject the developed film.
OneStep was indeed simple. It's also pretty cheap compared to Polaroid's $180 ($1,000-plus in today's prices) for the SX-70, a foldable instant camera five years before the OneStep.
The OneStep, which sold for $40, was the first Polaroid camera to feature an autofocus function, and was a gadget that even those who hated machines could operate with a single button. Developed as a rugged, inexpensive, and mass-produced product, it became one of the company's best-selling cameras.
Polaroid exited the instant camera business in 2007, ending production of the OneStep and its successors, but one iconic Polaroid product remained. “The design is absolutely legendary,” says former Impossible Project CEO Oskar Smolokowski.
The Impossible Project reproduces Polaroid instant film and designed the instant camera "I-1". And Smorokowski, who became the CEO of a new brand called Polaroid Original, recently announced a new product "OneStep 2" with the latest technology added to OneStep.
An instant camera from the iPhone era
The OneStep 2 is the first Polaroid Original camera. Under a new Polaroid brand, the company will focus on classic cameras for this digital age.
The OneStep 2 is similar in many ways to the original. Compact, plastic molded. Two body colors are available: white and graphite. The viewfinder is on the far left (just above the exposure control knob) and the red shutter button is on the right. Paying homage to the original striped sticker from the time, a newly designed rainbow mark extends towards the bottom of the camera.
There are also big differences. The new OneStep has an automatic flash built in, making it easier to take photos at night. In addition, it has a 10-second self-timer and a USB rechargeable battery that lasts for 60 days. There is an LED display on the top of the camera that lets you know how many of the 8 rolls of film are left. The film is from Impossible Project and it takes two minutes to develop the first sheet. It takes 15 minutes to develop the colors clearly and well.
But the most important change is the inclusion of a "selfie" lens. Made of aspherical polycarbonate, it can take sharp pictures at a maximum distance of about 60 cm. The original product required a distance of at least 120 cm.
Simple operation of "just take a picture with the camera"
Although it has been modernized, the OneStep 2 is clearly analog compared to Impossible Project's I-1. Reinvented to be "instant photography for the iPhone era," the I-1 had manual focus and an Instagram-like filter application.
However, for users who were looking for the convenience of instant photography, manual settings and smartphone-connected applications were too complicated. “The Impossible Project was really an experiment,” recalls Smolokowski. "The features were cool, but it was a little confusing as to how quickly the gadget would produce the photos I expected."
