What Is an Instant Film?
Instant film is a type of photographic film that produces photographs within minutes of exposure. It enables the immediate enjoyment of images, a feature that made it widely popular following its development by Polaroid in the late 1940s. Unlike traditional film development, which requires the film to be developed in chemical solutions in a dark room, instant film images undergo a chemical reaction within the camera resulting in their immediate development on the film’s surface.
Key benefits of the instant film include its straightforwardness, distinctive image quality, and the instant gratification of holding a photograph shortly after taking it. However, when compared to digital photography, instant film might not match up in terms of image resolution and is generally more expensive per shot.