Polaroid to stop producing instant film

WALTHAM, Mass., Feb. 9 (UPI) -- U.S.-based Polaroid says it will stop producing its instant photo film by next year, ending a photographic run that began in 1948.

The Waltham, Mass.-based company is closing factories in the United and overseas because of a market lost to digital cameras that fit in a pocket and don't need film or processing emulsion to produce an image, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

Polaroid introduced the Land Camera, which used rolled film, in 1948, and switched to cartridge film in 1963 with the introduction of its 100-series camera, favored by professional photographers who shot instant test photos before committing an image to negative, the Post said.

Polaroid's most popular period dawned with the introduction of SX-70 in 1972 and the company's employment peaked in 1978.