Polaroid launches new film with more colour than ever before – and I've tested some

Whether you're a lover of vintage tech, a photography superfan or just someone who likes to document life in a retro physical form, it's hard not to love Polaroid. The modern company exists as a love letter of its own, existing only because the team behind it couldn't bare to see it go under.

Buy Polaroid Go Gradient Frames film on the Polaroid website

One of my favourite models in the current catalogue is the Polaroid Go (Gen 2). The brand's dinkiest camera and format makes for a cute shooting experience which is also incredible easy to carry around everyday. In fact, it's become one of my most used cameras for that reason alone.

Recently, the brand announced a new film for the format. Called the Polaroid Go Gradient Frames, this pack surrounds your frame with a gradient of colour instead of the usual white border. It's something we've seen before on the i-Type film, though that was a few years ago now.

I got my hands on a sample for testing, to see if it's worthy of the hype. Overall, I was seriously impressed with the quality, which is pretty much on par with the standard Go film. It's no secret that the brand's chemistry can be a little finnicky, but I had no issues with the quality on offer in this batch.

The coloured borders are an interesting prospect, and they really do alter the feel of the image. It's something you'll see on any of Polaroid's coloured border series'.

It's worth noting that the small size of the prints means the effect of the gradient is sometimes hard to spot. There are a couple which I've got where they look more like a block colour frame than a real gradient. Still, that's no bother to me, and it's unlikely to be for you.

There's also no way of knowing exactly what's coming next. As far as I can tell, there's no rhyme or reason to the order of the colours, meaning you'll only know what colour surrounds your image when it pops out of the camera.

The film is available directly through Polaroid's website, where a twin pack costs £20.99 / €21.99 / US$23.99 / AU$40. That's a hair more costly than the standard film packs, though not so much that it should induce wincing of any kind. As a fun option for a fun camera system, it's a no brainer – I for one hope it's not the last addition to this range in 2026.