There’s little I love more than when I creator I like steps outside of their wheelhouse to cover something I’m passionate about in a new way. Still, I never expected to see a video about photography from Alex Hall, who goes by Alexander the ok on YouTube, as the ex-engineer turned data scientist usually covers things like complex mechanical computers, obscure and interesting air and spacecraft, and the designs of various missiles.

You can imagine my delight, then when I saw a video from him pop up about Polaroid film. And in his typical fashion, he dives deep into the topic, covering the fundamentals on how traditional film photography works, and then going into the clever chemistry that allows instant film to develop in a self-contained packet without a darkroom. It also covers various tangents; nearly 20 minutes is dedicated to his journey of making peel-apart instant film at home, and there’s a section on the interesting modifications and improvements he’s made to his personal Polaroid SX-70.

In other words, it’s a video for real photography nerds, which is why I thought it’d make sense to share it here. I’m sure not every DPReview reader will be interested in watching something over an hour long about film (our bread and butter is digital photography, after all), but I’m also convinced that those who are interested will get a lot out of it. I certainly did, and while I don’t think I’ll be making any instant film anytime soon, I know I’ll have a greater appreciation for the science and art of instant photography the next time I pick up my Instax or Polaroid Time Zero OneStep.

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