An online petition started in Italy has gathered more than 20,000 signatures from people who want Fujifilm to bring back its peel-apart instant film after the company decided to discontinue the product.
The FP-100C film is compatible with any instant camera that produces photos measuring 3.25 inches x 4.25 inches. Fujifilm described the film as ideal for, “passport photos, commercial test shots, presentations, ID photos and direct printing.”
“For film enthusiasts, such as myself we can sort of see into the future towards the death of film photography,” said Chris Hughes, the founder of A Nerd’s World in Toronto, a boutique agency that specializes in digital marketing and headshot photography.
After Polaroid, the maker of a majority of vintage instant cameras that exist today, stopped making film in 2008, FujiFilm’s instant film became one of the last films compatible with most instant cameras. Since then, film photographers have relied on it for use in their aging instant cameras.
While Hughes has a stockpile of instant film for his personal collection of vintage cameras, he knows that many others don’t. He also knows that there will come a time where even he runs of out of instant film, and the “vintage” cameras will become a thing of the past.
“There will be eventually a time where this film is no longer,” Hughes said, “and for those people that haven’t filled their home fridge with film, these cameras will no longer function.”
This decision to discontinue the instant film came quickly and without warning for photographers, who found out one morning that they simply would not be able to buy instant film anymore.
According to Hughes, the Impossible Project, which makes instant film for certain types of instant cameras, has met with and spoken to Fujifilm about the discontinuation but no details have been released about the meetings.
Fujifilm will continue to make instant film for its own Instax camera, which made Amazon’s best seller list over the holidays.