Polaroid announced a new instant camera at CES 2011 – a digital instant camera.
The new Polaroid GL30 is a digital camera with a built in printer for instant gratification. It has a swivel display for framing and viewing at different angles.
The GL30 also doubles as a digital photo frame by standing upright and displaying photo slideshows.
Polaroid has yet to release prices or full specifications for the new GL30. According to Polaroid, the GL30 will be available for purchase later in 2011.
The arrival of the GL30, however, brings the death of a camera that never quite saw the light of day. Last year at CES, Polaroid teased the radical, retro PIC-1000 which has generated a lot of buzz since the first big tease.
Unfortunately, the PIC-1000 is dead – at least for now.
A Polaroid representative confirmed to me at CES 2011 that Polaroid’s focus is now squarely set on the digital format with the new GL30 instant digital camera and the rest of the new Grey line. Moreover, there no plans for additional analog cameras at present, which means the rather humble Polaroid PIC-300 will be the sole instant film camera offered by Polaroid, the instant film brand.
More details on the new Polaroid Grey Label products in the press release below.
Polaroid Grey Label Press Release
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6, 2011 – Polaroid and its Creative Director, Lady Gaga today unveiled Polaroid Grey Label, an original line of products co-designed with Lady Gaga. This collaboration between two cultural icons reflects Polaroid’s long standing tradition of innovation tracing back to founder Dr. Edwin Land and Lady Gaga’s mission to deliver products that enable creativity for all, celebrate artistry and make sharing instantaneous across the physical and digital. The inaugural Polaroid Grey Label line is truly expressive of Lady Gaga’s artistic vision and includes the GL10 Instant Mobile Printer, GL30 Instant Digital Camera and the GL20 Camera Glasses, a unique new look at how to turn images into a fashion statement.
“I consider myself to be a visionary, not just a songwriter and a singer. I am an artist,” said Lady Gaga, Polaroid’s Creative Director. “I brought my vision and love of fashion, technology and obsession with the future into all of my work with Polaroid.”
Polaroid Grey Label Products
Polaroid and Lady Gaga today unveiled the first trio of Polaroid Grey Label products at Polaroid’s CES booth:
1. GL10 Instant Mobile Printer:
• Advanced Technology: The newest instant printing experience begins with the embedded dye-crystal ZINK® Zero Ink® Technology from ZINK Imaging. Patented ZINK PaperTM is an advanced composite material with cyan, yellow, and magenta dye crystals embedded inside. Before printing, the embedded dye crystals are clear, so ZINK Paper®, looks like regular white photo paper. The GL10 Instant Mobile Printer uses heat to activate and colorize these crystals.
• Superb Print Quality: The GL10 Instant Mobile Printer uses ZINK’s second-generation thermal technology, delivering image quality that rivals a photo-lab. Prints emerge fully developed and protected by a smudge-proof, water-resistant coating.
• Aesthetically Pleasing and Environmentally Responsible: Designed for both form and function for use both in the present and future. ZINK technology requires no messy ribbons, toner or inkjet cartridges.
The GL10 Instant Mobile Printer will be available in May 2011 (US $149.99 MSRP). ZINK 3×4″ Paper will be available in May 2011 at a price to be announced.
2. GL30 Instant Digital Camera:
• Brings the Polaroid Instant Experience to Life: Introducing a new generation to the joy of instant photography, the GL30 uses next generation ZINK Zero Ink Technology from ZINK Imaging.
• Fuses the Digital and Physical Worlds: Featuring the benefits of a digital camera, instant photo printer and digital display, the GL30 is a creative tool that delivers the best of the digital and physical worlds.
• Pays Tribute to Polaroid’s Legacy: Reminiscent of Polaroid cameras of the past, the GL30 is clearly a significant departure from a typical camera. Designed for longevity, the GL30 is not only for the future, it’s an object of desire. Users can select from a number of filters and borders to create truly original images that instantly fit in the palm of your hand.
The GL30 Instant Digital Camera will be available later this year, at a price to be announced.
3. GL20 Camera Glasses:
• Merges Fashion With Photography: Never before has the world seen fashion, photography and technology come together in one, singular product.
• Tells Your Story to the World: Users can instantly capture or upload photos with the built-in camera and then display the images on the glasses’ LCD screens for others to see.
• Expresses True Artistry and Originality: Only Lady Gaga could create a hybrid that’s part fashion statement, part revolutionary technology and part tool for self-expression.
The GL20 Camera Glasses will be available later this year, at a price to be announced.
The Polaroid Grey Label Evolution
After being named Polaroid’s Creative Director in January 2010, Lady Gaga and Polaroid collaborated to define a direction for the line that blended the brand’s core values with Lady Gaga’s creativity. Stemming from “greige goods,” a fashion-industry term for fabric in its purest form, the Polaroid Grey Label line encompasses Polaroid’s heritage of delivering simplicity with the style, wit and sensibility of Lady Gaga.
Committed to bringing originality back to product design across all genres, Lady Gaga articulated that all Polaroid Grey Label products communicate three essential elements of self-expression:
• Creativity: All Polaroid Grey Label products are designed with the idea that creativity and sharing go hand in hand, in both the digital and the physical world.
• Instant Artistry: All features found in Polaroid Grey Label products celebrate, express and bring an element of artistry and originality to the act of image making.
• Fashion: Intended to be just as much everyday fashion accessories as innovative imaging tools, all Polaroid Grey Label products feature unexpected design elements such as leather touch points, brushed metal and exposed mechanical details.
“The Polaroid Grey Label line embodies the Polaroid brand, with an injection of the future-looking fashion and design mantra of Lady Gaga that simply can’t be replicated,” said Scott W. Hardy, Polaroid’s President. “It represents Polaroid innovation for the new generation, one in which there are no limitations to sharing creativity through photography, both physical and digital.”
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Congrats to the new Polaroid for bringing us an ugly hunk o’ digital crap nobody wants and killing off the camera everyone did want – nobly carrying on the business ineptitude that made the original so healthy….
lol, Lady Crapa? Really? Yes, she’ll generate sales from where they weren’t before, but I’m sure they’ll lose sales in other places. Like the ones that count. “I consider myself to be a visionary…” Visionary my rear. I agree with omigoodness… I’d rather have the one that didn’t look like some metallic “vision” from Mr. Gaga’s a$$-backwards mind.
ugh so agrivated with polaroid right now. i’ve been searching for a instant and was looking forward to the pic 1000, but this new camera is NOTHING that i wanted in the old one. i wanted the old retro feel and the white bordered photos, not some lady-gaga crapola.