By Yadira B. Arnold 
What exactly does the “high-end” do in a Polaroid camera? At least for the modern incarnation of the company, there really was nothing like it until now. This is not particularly surprising, because Polaroid has been associated with instant gratification and the simplicity of the point-and-strike for much of its existence. Of course, in the digital age, waiting 10 to 15 minutes for A Polaroid to develop can seem like an eternity. And the soft, saturated images they produce have a decidedly Lo-Fi feel when placed next to the sharp photos that even the lowest smartphone can take.
However, the new Polaroid I-2 retains all the quirks and Charm for which people turn to instant films, while offering a range of modern equipment and features that could appeal to a more serious photographer. There is a lot to like, but there is an immediately obvious obstacle: the price. At 599, the I-2 costs four times more than the company’s next most expensive camera
With this bonus, you are buying the lightest lens in the current Polaroid range. It’s 98mm f/8, which, according to the company, is roughly equivalent to a 38mm f/2.8 on a 35mm camera. I put the numbers in some online calculators and I’m pretty close to this statement, about 40mm to the equivalent f/3.1 at 35mm, given the larger Film of a Polaroid. This is not an exceptionally large aperture, but it is larger than that of most other Polaroid cameras, which often reach their peaks at f/11 or even f/16. And you would have to go back quite far (at least in the 1980s as far as I know) to find something faster than Polaroid’s F/8.
The lens is made of acrylic and polycarbonate instead of glass. However, the company claims that the difference in quality was negligible without significantly increasing the cost of the camera. Again, however, this is an area in which I have to take the company’s word for it, since I have no viable way to test the claim.
However, Polaroid is very proud of this lens, regardless of the specifications on paper. He presents the camera as a love letter to the instant cameras of yesteryear and even brought two Olympus engineers out of retirement to help with the development.
It took about four years for the I-2 to bear fruit, and while holding it in your hand, you feel like it was a labor Of love. Yes, it is almost entirely made of plastic, but it is solid and, in my opinion, it looks beautiful. The matte black body with silver and dark red accents is decidedly more elegant than the Now line adorned with bright colors. Almost every part of the camera is agitated, right down to the underside, which includes a quote from Polaroid co-founder Edwin Land.
It is also the only camera in the current range that can use Standard lens filters. That means you can just walk into B&H and pull a 49mm ND filter off the shelf and hit it. This could also be necessary, since the I-2 has a higher shutter speed of only 1/250 of a second. When combined with the 640 ASA of a Standard Type I film, it can be difficult to get a correct exposure in direct sunlight.
This shutter speed also means that you will not freeze a fast action in your images. That being said, it is still faster than the Now+, which is at 1/200. Oddly enough, the 99 Polaroid Go can actually reach 1/300 of a second, which makes it the fastest camera in the family, and with an almost as large aperture of f/9. this means that it uses a smaller Go film.
What is not found from the I-2, what is not found from the Go and all the other Polaroid cameras of the current generation, are the manual settings on board. While the Now+ offers a few options via an app, only the I-2 allows you to fully control the aperture and shutter speed on the camera itself. However, both are adjusted via a single ring around the lens, so you have to press a catch to switch in the middle them. It is much easier to opt for aperture priority or shutter priority mode, where you only have to worry about one Variable with The ring.
I generally stuck to the shutter priority to have the best chance of avoiding too much camera shake. The placement of the trigger on the front, although traditional, is not very ergonomic. Maybe it’s just because of my small hands and the relatively bulky camera. But I found that it introduced a little more movement than a top-set upped trigger.
One way to avoid this would be to use the application, which is excellent but somehow defeats the purpose of having all the controls on the camera itself. The application connects immediately when you turn on the I-2. There is no coupling and almost no delay. When you change a setting in the application, it immediately appears on the small camera screen and vice versa. After spending the last two years struggling with fuji’s app to log in in the first place, it seemed like a revelation.
However, the application would certainly be useful if you use the I-2 on a tripod. This is especially useful for landscapes and long exposures. You can even do night photography and light painting by setting the shutter to bulb mode. There is also a 2.5mm TS jack to connect an external flash if you want to use your Polaroid to direct a professional Studio.
The only thing the app can’t do is a live view of what the camera sees. To do this, you need to bodily look through the viewfinder. But I have good news: the viewfinder is spectacular. It is large, bright and underneath is a small screen that shows you the exposure information, as well as your shutter speed and aperture. If I have a complaint about the viewfinder, it is a little difficult to know where your frame ends on the right side, especially if you are trying to navigate the eyepiece with your glasses. But I also have similar problems with other cameras.
You can simply point the camera in the general direction of your subject and hope for the best, because the I-2 has a real continuous autofocus system that uses LiDAR. This is in stark contrast to other Polaroid cameras, which are either unfocused or have basic two-zone focusing systems. You can even press the shutter catch on the I-2 halfway to lock your exposure and focus, then crop your photo before taking a picture.