Dear Packfilm Saviors,
For the last 9 months or so we've had a semi-secret project going on behind the scenes, but now that we've reached an important milestone we figure we can finally shout it from the rooftops...
We are resurrecting black & white peel-apart packfilm!
This journey is chronicled on our IMPOSSIBLE ONE INSTANT microsite, so if you're interested in digging deeper you can read all about the history there.
But long story short, we did it! Or rather... we're doing it...
The project always hinged on the 20x24 Studio's ability to successfuly recreate the reagent, which proved to be no simple feat of chemical re-engineering. After 9 months of attempts, setbacks, reformulations, bouts of bad luck, extreme weather, broken equipment, bad chemicals... you name it.... the boys in Boston have perservered and managed to pull it off.
John Reuter and his team deserve a ton of praise for their hard work in reformulating this reagent from scratch. They took Doc's impossible vision of resurrecting black & white packfilm and made it a reality. Thank you guys! We think the results speak for themselves...
These test shots from the 20x24" format show the lovely quality of this reagent in combination with the PP400 negative/positive materials. Needless to say, we can't wait to load it into thousands of ONE INSTANT cartridges and ship them all over the world.
Of course our first priority is to fulfill the 3333 pre-order shots that we've promised to the black & white believers, but our big hope is that this marks the (permanent) return of monochrome packfilm.
There are still challenges to overcome, that's for sure. For starters, the stock of b&w film that we have is quite small compared to the enormous stockpile of P7 we've been sitting on for the last couple years. Until we can get an accurate count of the viable film that we have, it's hard to say how much b&w film we'll ultimately be able to produce.
However, the long-term goal is to get our hands on new negative/positive materials, and once we achieve that we are no longer tied to existing stocks of legacy materials, which would be huge.
Our friends over at New55 have proven that this is possible, but the problem with packfilm is that the negative material must be coated on a light-proof film base. This is in contrast to Type55 films, which are processed in a light-tight envelope and thus don't have this requirement.
Suffice it to say, there are many more challenges that lay ahead, but I guess for the time being we should just bask in the glow of the 20x24 crew's achievements, and celebrate the fact that for the time being, there is black & white packfilm once again being made on planet Earth.
In the coming weeks and months we will clarify and announce our plans for the future availability of ONE INSTANT BLACK & WHITE, in addition to discussing the many other exciting projects and products we're dreaming about. So please, stay tuned to this blog!
As usual, we'd love to hear from you at techsupport@one-instant.com and you don't even need a good excuse to write; we just like chatting about ONE INSTANT and packfilm!
Till next time,
Chris H.
Production Manager
