Polaroid Picture Scanning

Preserve Your Instant Photo Memories

We scan your vintage Polaroid instant photos with the same care and attention we give all photographs. Mix them freely with your other photos—they’re all scanned at 600 PPI, which is typically twice the resolution needed for high-quality results. This extra resolution gives you flexibility to create enlargements well beyond the original print size.

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The Polaroid Camera: A Brief History

Polaroid instant photography was invented by Edwin Land, one of the most prolific inventors in American history with over 500 patents to his name. Land was inspired in 1943 when his three-year-old daughter asked why she couldn’t see a photo he had just taken right away. That question led to one of the most significant innovations in consumer photography.

The first commercial instant camera, the Polaroid Model 95, was sold on November 26, 1948 — the day after Thanksgiving — at a Jordan Marsh department store in Boston. The entire stock of 56 cameras and 57 film packs sold out in hours. The camera was priced at $89.75, equivalent to roughly $1,100 today.

The Cameras Most People Owned

The Polaroid OneStep (1977) was the best-selling instant camera of all time. It used SX-70 integral film that developed in full daylight without any peeling or timing required. The square format with the distinctive wide white border at the bottom became the visual signature of the Polaroid era. If you have a stack of square Polaroids with thick white borders, these almost certainly came from a OneStep or one of its successors.

The Polaroid SX-70 (1972) was the first true folding SX-70 camera and a landmark of industrial design. It was the first camera to use integral instant film that ejected and self-developed in daylight over about a minute. The SX-70 became popular with artists — Andy Warhol used one extensively — because of its unique aesthetic qualities and the manipulable surface of the developing image.

The Polaroid 600 series (1981 onward) used a faster ISO 600 film, making it work better in low light. Models included the Sun 600, the Impulse, and the Spectra. If your Polaroids have a slightly wider border at the bottom than the sides, they are likely from a 600-series camera.

Peel-apart cameras (1960s–1970s) produced prints where you peeled apart two layers after a timed development period. Polaroid Land Camera models like the 100, 150, 180, and 195 used peel-apart film. These photos are often found in the original plastic wallets that came with the camera and are typically more rectangular than the later square SX-70 format.

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How Polaroid Instant Film Actually Worked

The chemistry inside a Polaroid print is remarkable. Each sheet of SX-70 or 600 film contained 17 distinct layers, including the negative, a timing layer, multiple dye layers, and the positive image receiver — all compressed into a thickness of about one millimeter.

When the shutter was pressed, the camera exposed the negative layer. As the print was ejected, it passed between two steel rollers that ruptured a small pod of chemical reagent — a thick alkaline paste — spreading it evenly between the negative and positive layers. This triggered a cascade of reactions that transferred dye from the negative to the positive image surface. An opacifying layer protected the developing image from light while this occurred, which is why the image appeared to develop gradually from gray to full color over about a minute.

This is also why you should never shake a Polaroid — the developing chemistry needed to spread evenly, and shaking could cause uneven development or streaking. The famous song lyric notwithstanding, shaking was never recommended by Polaroid.

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Why Polaroid Prints Fade — and What to Do About It

Polaroid prints are significantly less stable than conventional photographic prints. The dyes used in the image layers are susceptible to fading from ultraviolet light, atmospheric pollutants, and natural chemical degradation over time.

Prints stored in albums or boxes away from light tend to hold up better than prints that were displayed or left in bright environments. However, virtually all Polaroid prints from the 1970s and 1980s show some degree of color shift — typically a yellowing of whites, a shift toward magenta or green in mid-tones, and loss of shadow detail.

Digital scanning captures whatever image information remains in the print. Our Photoshop color correction can often partially compensate for mild fading and color shift, restoring some of the original color balance. Severely faded prints may not fully recover, but scanning stops further deterioration and preserves whatever remains.

The most important thing you can do right now is get your Polaroids scanned before they fade further. Every year you wait, more image information is lost permanently.

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Polaroid’s Decline and Fall

On February 9th, 2008, Polaroid Corporation announced it would cease production of its legendary instant film. The company closed factories in Massachusetts, The Netherlands, and Mexico, cutting 450 jobs in the process.

At its peak popularity in 1978, Polaroid employed nearly 21,000 people worldwide and had annual revenues approaching $1.4 billion. By 2008, only 150 employees remained. The cause was the digital camera revolution — Polaroid’s core product, the ability to see a photo immediately, was made obsolete by digital cameras that showed photos on a screen the instant they were taken.

Polaroid had actually developed one of the first digital cameras in 1981 but corporate decisions led them away from pursuing it aggressively, a strategic error that ultimately cost the company. Film remained on store shelves through early 2009. All Polaroid instant film from that era expired by end of 2009, after which the chemistry degraded beyond use.

A revival came through The Impossible Project, founded in 2008 by a group that purchased the last Polaroid film factory in the Netherlands. They began manufacturing new instant film compatible with vintage Polaroid cameras, later rebranding as Polaroid Originals and eventually acquiring rights to the Polaroid name itself.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What size are Polaroid prints?

The classic SX-70 and 600-series square prints measure approximately 3.1 inches square for the image area, within a 4.2 × 3.5 inch white plastic cartridge. The wide border at the bottom is slightly larger than the other three sides. Peel-apart prints vary by film type but are typically 3.25 × 4.25 inches. Polaroid Spectra prints are slightly wider at about 3.6 × 2.9 inches.

Can you scan faded Polaroid prints?

Yes. We scan whatever image information remains. Our Photoshop color correction can often improve mildly faded prints. Scanning stops further deterioration of the digital record and preserves what remains for future generations.

Do you charge extra for the white borders on Polaroid prints?

No. We scan the entire print including the borders at our standard paper photo rate. We crop off the extra borders to give you a larger image. Size of the full paper print determines the charge for scanning.

Can Polaroids be mixed with regular photos in one order?

Yes. You do not need to sort or separate your Polaroids from other photos. We handle the differences in size and type during scanning.

Should I remove Polaroids from albums before sending?

Yes — loose prints scan better. We leave it up to you if your Polaroids are stuck in albums just remember that forcing a stuck Polaroid can tear the print surface. Do not send the album. All prints to be scanned must not be in albums and be loose.

What did Edwin Land invent besides the Polaroid camera?

Edwin Land held over 500 patents. His most significant invention before the instant camera was polarized light filters, which he developed at age 17 and which became the foundation of Polaroid Corporation. Polarized lenses are still used in sunglasses, photography filters, and LCD screens today. The company was named after this technology, not the cameras.