Almost 60 years after the commercial release of its first instant camera, Polaroid Corporation announced last week that it would cease manufacturing instant film.

As reported on Bloomberg.com, the company that invented instant imaging will produce enough film to last into 2009 before closing plants in the U.S., Mexico and the Netherlands. For die-hard Polaroid fans, the company plans to license the technology to third-party outfits that will continue production.

Founded by Harvard University dropout Edwin Land in 1937, Polaroid introduced its first instant camera in 1948 and chocked up $5 million in sales during the first year. In 1965, it brought out the Swinger, a $20 black-and-white camera that was a big hit with teens.

This 1965 Polaroid Swinger TV commercial, featuring "Ally" McGraw, can be seen on YouTube.

In 1972 the SX-70 hit the market. That camera, originally designed with serious amateurs in mind, made a match with artists and professional photographers, including William Eggleston, who introduced the camera to Walker Evans on a 1973 road trip through the South.

With 40% of its business devoted to professional photography, Polaroid created instant film packs for medium format cameras, from the 56 x 56mm Hasselblad to the 60 x 170mm Fuji Panoramic. The company became known for innovative products and marketing, creating film and accessories designed specifically for medicine, law enforcement and industry.

Polaroid rolled out the 20 x 24 inch camera in 1978, attracting a legion of artists including Chuck Close, Mary Ellen Mark and David Levinthal. Only three of these mammoth cameras exist and can be used on a rental arrangement at the Polaroid Studios. The director of the 20 x 24 Studio in New York was not available for comment, but an assistant said that they have enough instant film in stock to continue operations through the year and are optimistic about future availability.

In the "postphotographic" age, with YouTube and Second Life exerting an increasingly stronger hold on today's instant image-makers, a look at Polaroid's 1965 Swinger commercial, starring the pre-Love Story Ali McGraw, offers far more than a nostalgia trip. Its cinematic style seems as if just created for viewing on YouTube.

Find out more about the Polaroid Corporation, including the copyright infringement suit the company brought against Eastman Kodak – the largest patent lawsuit in the history of photography.