My impressions of Impossible Project instant film for Polaroid cameras over the past couple years have followed a pattern of running from hot to tepid. I start out hoping the film rocks the house, but realize soon enough the film, on the whole, just isn’t ready for prime time.

The folks at Impossible seemed to agree when they halted film production in August, 2013. A reboot ensued, and IP released a new generation of its instant films for a few months ago, including those for SX-70 cameras.

I’d been sifting through comments about the film on various websites, trying to decipher if this latest iteration of film was worth investing in. Or perhaps might now be the time to finally pull the trigger and purchase Fuji’s mondo Instax 210 camera to satisfy my Polaroid habit while IP figures out how to make a commercially viable film? After all, the Fuji integral films offer better quality and faster development, are far more stable, and are less expensive than Impossible’s integral films.

This past December, I came across a short interview of Wim Nijmeijer on the IP’s blog. Nijmeijer is the Quality Manager at the company’s Netherlands plant. I found it a refreshingly candid interview, especially amongst the ongoing din of enthusiasts extolling the virtues of Impossible’s films (leaving me to wonder just how many IP fans were around to have even shot with unexpired Polaroid integral film). Nijmeijer addressed IP’s decision to halt the film’s production in August due to persistent quality issues while touting improvement in the film’s performance. But he conceded that “as a quality manager, I can still see a lot of room for improvement. We’re not there yet.”

Not exactly a mea culpa, but the production reboot and Nijmeijer’s remarks were quite a concession. IP had finally stopped trotting out their oft used defense of “we’ve built from scratch in just two years what Polaroid did in 10 years,” and owned up that their film had shortcomings and were taking steps to improve the product (it’s interesting to note that Fuji films have never been part of IP’s ‘we’re-new-at-this ‘argument).

I like candor. So I bought some of their new color film for SX-70 cameras to see for myself what sort of improvements IP had made.

Turns out Nijmeijer was shooting straight. While closer to the mark of being a film of consistent quality, Impossible isn’t there yet. The film is still too temperamental: it still requires shielding as it ejects from the camera; it still renders whites as creamy reddish-yellows; and though it’s marketed as an “instant film,” at nearly 40 minutes,  it still takes too long for an image to fully develop. It’s got strong shadow and mid-tone detail, but even when the SX-70’s exposure wheel is dialed all the way dark, the film still struggles with any sort of highlight. It’s still, essentially, a beta product.

Not that IP is standing pat with this latest film. In his interview, Nijmeijer said that a more rapid development was one of IP’s goals for 2014. At the South by Southwest conference earlier this week the company announced it would make a new color film, Gen 2.0 Color 600, available for testing to its “Pioneer” customers that fully develops in two minutes.

So while Impossible films aren’t there yet, it seems as though they are getting there. I only wish they’d get there faster.