Dear Saviors of Packfilm,
ONE INSTANT production manager Chris here, writing to you with an exciting bit of (potentially) very good news. To get right to the point... we might be able to offer black and white film in the ONE INSTANT format; our very own version of a revived Polaroid 672 type black & white film.
Before you get too excited though, let me explain the whole situation in a little bit more detail...
Back in 2017, John Reuter and his team at the 20x24 Studio mixed up the last batch of reagent for a black & white material known as PP400. This is the exact same film/paper used in the legendary Polaroid 672 and 664 black & white films; PolaPan materials that were particularly beloved among the countless photographers who shot on them.
This final batch of pods was intended to serve the few remaining master rolls of PP400 material on hand in Boston, as well as the half-dozen or so cases of 20x24" material that SUPERSENSE had down in their cellar in Vienna. Indeed, this was supposed to be the end of the line for b&w in the 20x24" format, due to the fact that one of the crucial chemicals in the formula had run out and was not easily replaceable.
Flash forward to a few weeks ago, when John (during a lockdown inspired house-cleaning) uncovered an additional canister of the missing polymer used in the reagent formula.
The implications of this discovery were immediately evident; it meant another chance to produce fresh pods for a black and white packfilm!
Upon receiving this news from the States, Doc directed me to go down and take stock of our inventory of PP400 materials, which much to our delight was way more than we thought; still sealed and fresh. We also had a handful of the 2017 20x24" pods on hand, and although badly oxidized and in pretty rough shape, they were good enough for a few quick & dirty tests.
So, we have a significant amount of PP400 material on hand in Vienna, but we need fresh pod chemistry if we want to offer a ONE INSTANT b&w film. John and his crew have just discovered that they have the potential to make new pods, but they still need to make the necessary tests to ensure that their chemicals have remained viable. (they are, after all, not exactly fresh)
But a distinct scent of optimism fills the air, and it is only out of an abundance of caution that John is giving it a 50/50 chance of success at this stage.
Now, if you know SUPERSENSE, 50/50 chances are exactly the kind of impossible odds that our founder Doc Kaps thrives on, and Doc has wasted no time in coming up with an ambitious plan to support the R&D efforts of John and his team.
This endeavor requires a fair amount of pre-investment, and with the reality that 2020 has been a particularly hard year for all of us financially, we've decided to launch a pre-sale offer for the first 3333 shots of ONE INSTANT B&W film in order to bankroll it.
We are once again counting on you, the packfilm saviors, to help make this dream come true. Doc and all of us at SUPERSENSE believe 111% in our analog SUPERHEROES in Boston, but we need you to join us to make it real.
We've all hit the ground running here, with Ema and Anna in the print department already stamping out some prototype boxes, and assembling a few cartridge mock-ups to show you what the finished product will look like. We're continuing to make tests with the limited number of old pods that we have on hand, and already starting experiments with different rail thicknesses and so on. Meanwhile, hard at work in the States, John is preparing everything needed to mix up the first test batches of reagent.
So without any further ado, I would like to share with you the rather exciting and adventurous pre-sale format that Doc has come up with...
Phase 1: Begins now.
Pre-order ONE INSTANT B&W Film for a very special "True Believer Deal".
The price starts out at 8 EUR/shot. This price will hold until Phase 2 begins.
Phase 2: Begins when John and team have mixed their first successful batch of fresh PP400 reagent and shared their 20x24" format results with everyone.
Then the price will jump to 9 EUR/shot. This price will hold until Phase 3 begins.
Phase 3: Begins when we've received new pods in Vienna and have shown you all that they work well with our materials in the ONE INSTANT format.
Then the price will jump to 11 EUR/shot; the final price. The pre-sale is for a limited amount of 3333 shots.
Phase 4: Begins with production. The timeline depends on how long the R&D process takes, but we hope/anticipate that production will begin in February 2021. We will start shipping as soon as we can, at a weekly production rate of approximately 200 cartridges, with orders being fulfilled in the order they were received.
Now... a very important point.
Since we are asking you to buy a product that doesn't actually exist yet, we've come up with a safety net that should give everyone complete peace of mind. In the worst-case scenario that the boys in Boston truly cannot achieve a successful run of fresh pods, all b&w pre-sale orders will be converted to ONE INSTANT color cartridges. That essentially means that your only risk is getting ONE INSTANT color shots at the lowest price ever. Should this (sad) circumstance come to pass, we would probably know by February.
So what do you say? Are you in?!
Please let us know what you think about this crazy endeavor by either emailing us at techsupport@one-instant.com, by commenting here on our blog, or by letting us know via Instagram at #oneinstantfilm.
Spread the word, spread the faith, and be sure to check back here regularly for updates on our progress.
Here's to the future of packfilm!