Polaroid fans ponder a filmless future (AP/CNN) {mfg to end}

[eppur_se_muova]

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- When Jerry Conlogue heard Polaroid will soon stop producing its instant film, he worried about his mummies.

Conlogue uses Polaroid film when he travels deep into the Peruvian jungle to take X-ray photographs of ancient mummies, so he doesn't have to lug cumbersome developing chemicals. Now he and other enthusiasts who use the film for art or specialized industrial photography are left wondering where they'll go to stay stocked.

"We're incredibly despondent," said Conlogue, co-director of the Bioanthropology Research Institute at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, where researchers frequently visit remote sites to capture X-ray images of mummies. "I don't really feel that there is going to be a replacement for it, which is a real problem."

Concord, Massachusetts-based Polaroid Corp. announced last week that it plans to close factories in Massachusetts as well as Mexico and the Netherlands that make film formats for industrial and consumer uses.

Polaroid instant film will be available in stores into next year, the company said. Meanwhile, Polaroid -- which stopped making instant cameras over the past couple years -- is seeking a partner to acquire licensing rights, in hopes that another firm will continue making the instant film and keep limited supplies available.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/02/14/polaroid.film.ap/index.html

Great ... now small XRD groups will have to spend the $$$ to get area detectors.