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I feel like, if you wanted to pick the film-photography version of Instagram, a better choice would be Polaroid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_Corporat

I feel like, if you wanted to pick the film-photography version of Instagram, a better choice would be Polaroid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_Corporation Kodachrome was always preferred by serious photographers (at least until the Japanese film companies started muscling their way into the US in the mid-'80s), but Polaroid was the peoples' choice -- cheap, social and fun. People would crowd around a Polaroid exposure taken at a party, watching the image develop and commenting to each other on it. Nobody ever confused it for high quality film, but for the purposes it was put to, that didn't matter.

armadsen 7y ago
I agree. Even more directly, Instagram's early icons were pretty clearly inspired by Polaroid, with one of them even a straight up illustration of a specific Polaroid camera. See the second icon here: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/54bb4cfce4b045585ada36f7/1464087195265-470BIQAP3J8KAOXQ878J/ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/54bb4cfce4b045585... It's a Polaroid OneStep with Q-Light: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/bb/16/a4/bb16a4b51206b9fdbc73135c6f6a5af0.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/736x/bb/16/a4/bb16a4b51206b9fdbc73135c6...
m463 7y ago
Kodachrome might have arguably been the most NON-instant film you could use. It was possible to develop Polaroid in a few seconds. The next easiest was black-and-white film, which you could do in your own home. It was also possible to do normal color film (like c-41) in your own home (with difficulty), but you could also drop it by a local lab and pick it up the next day (or a few days). But Kodachrome - that required a tech tree. It had to be sent off to a special facility. There were only a few of them, which required the ability (and certification and chemicals) to develop it.

armadsen 7y ago

I agree. Even more directly, Instagram's early icons were pretty clearly inspired by Polaroid, with one of them even a straight up illustration of a specific Polaroid camera. See the second icon here: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/54bb4cfce4b045585ada36f7/1464087195265-470BIQAP3J8KAOXQ878J/ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/54bb4cfce4b045585... It's a Polaroid OneStep with Q-Light: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/bb/16/a4/bb16a4b51206b9fdbc73135c6f6a5af0.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/736x/bb/16/a4/bb16a4b51206b9fdbc73135c6...

m463 7y ago

Kodachrome might have arguably been the most NON-instant film you could use. It was possible to develop Polaroid in a few seconds. The next easiest was black-and-white film, which you could do in your own home. It was also possible to do normal color film (like c-41) in your own home (with difficulty), but you could also drop it by a local lab and pick it up the next day (or a few days). But Kodachrome - that required a tech tree. It had to be sent off to a special facility. There were only a few of them, which required the ability (and certification and chemicals) to develop it.