Old Polaroid Cameras...check your closets

[Sdashiki]

I am in the market for an older Polaroid camera. Older meaning before the 1980s. Most of them are the collapsible folding kind, with bellows.

Ones that take the currently available "Pack-Film", also known as 100, 667, 669 etc. This is the kind that is the peel-apart film, NOT the "shake it like a polaroid pictcha" film.



Millions upon millions of people bought these different models over the past 4 decades, maybe you have one in your closet?

If you do, perhaps I can make better use of it than a dust collector.


On a side note, anyone do anything interesting with their Polaroids?

and DUH, im looking on eBay, but why not ask the folks here?!

 

[mantic]

I am in the market for an older Polaroid camera. Older meaning before the 1980s. Most of them are the collapsible folding kind, with bellows.
View attachment 71965
Ones that take the currently available "Pack-Film", also known as 100, 667, 669 etc. This is the kind that is the peel-apart film, NOT the "shake it like a polaroid pictcha" film.

View attachment 71964

Millions upon millions of people bought these different models over the past 4 decades, maybe you have one in your closet?

If you do, perhaps I can make better use of it than a dust collector.


On a side note, anyone do anything interesting with their Polaroids?

and DUH, im looking on eBay, but why not ask the folks here?!

I use to have a few of those.. You're a couple years too late though.. Good luck.. Curious - why are you so nostalgic about them?

 

[IJ Reilly]

I believe we still have a Model 800 around somewhere (circa 1960). It was quite the high-tech gadget in its day.

 

[Sdashiki]

Nothing nostalgic, i just like the peel apart film. and any "newer" camera that takes that film, sucks in terms of quality. the older ones were pretty nice.

id actually use the camera, not just admire it.

"the 800" is a nice one.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Our Model 800 took very good, if very small, black and white pictures. They've held up well over the years. Can film be purchased for this camera today?

 

[mantic]

Nothing nostalgic, i just like the peel apart film. and any "newer" camera that takes that film, sucks in terms of quality. the older ones were pretty nice.

id actually use the camera, not just admire it.

"the 800" is a nice one.

Gotcha.. Well I hope you find what you're looking for. Have you tried a 'fleamarket"... Don't know if you have those where you live but seems like I see a couple everytime i've been.

 

[scotpole]

Polaroids

I have two real old Polaroid cameras. The first is a Polaroid Swinger Model 20. I do not know what type of film this uses but the camera is probably somewhere around 1966 circa. The Other old polaroid is a Big Shot portrait camera and on the camera it says it only takes type 108 color film and magicubes.

What did you inherit the film, but not the camera?

Good Luck.

 

[Sdashiki]

Im just interested in the pack film again, i was for a bit in college.

you can do some fun stuff with it, but at about $1 a shot, it keeps alot of people away.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

I was about to post this in the picture of a day thread, but then I saw the polaroid thread so I thought I'd share some ways to use polaroids...

 

[Sdashiki]

very nice job. i really like the entire image.

but, thats the wrong kind of film.

with those, there truly is NO other photo quite like it, and never will be.

Packfilm, leaves you with a positive AND a negative.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

Oh, I know. Before I came to France, my professor and I messed around with some polaroid film that had the negative and the positive. It was black and white, using a camera originally intended for photographing monitors. So it has a very fixed focal length on it. The key to the film is overexposing for a good negative, or underexposing for a good positive.

That's about all I know about the film, though.

 

[seenew]

I have an old Land Camera, but you'd have to pay me a lot to part with it. It was my dad's.

 

[shecky]

Sdashiki, something else you may want to look into tangential to the camera is Polaroid transfers (google images).

in a nutshell its a little device with a flash on one end, a place to put a slide, and a place to put the polaroid film on the other end. you expose the film with the built in flash, then let the film develop for a few seconds, and press it into wet paper thereby transferring the image and getting some really nice effects.

worth a look, anyway.

 

[Sdashiki]

Sdashiki, something else you may want to look into tangential to the camera is Polaroid transfers (google images).

in a nutshell its a little device with a flash on one end, a place to put a slide, and a place to put the polaroid film on the other end. you expose the film with the built in flash, then let the film develop for a few seconds, and press it into wet paper thereby transferring the image and getting some really nice effects.

worth a look, anyway.

A Daylab is $$$, and is what I wanted first.

but cutting out the middle man is much easier, now I can take a photo with a camera and get it to the film directly.

a daylab IS nice, but extremely $$$ and rare.

 

[shecky]

ill ask my girlfriend exactly what model it was, but she found a simple one on ebay for $50 or so.

 

[Sdashiki]

Vivitar Slide Printers were cheap, but give you far less control.

Anyway, i dont want a DayLab anymore, im going right to a camera instead.

i hated having to shoot slides, then shoot them to polaroid.

 

[Sdashiki]

Just got my Polaroid 150 Land Camera.



Thank you eBay!

Sweet!

Ill be posting pics and a how-to on my project's progress, eventually.

Shhhhhh its a secret! For now.

Google and youll prolly find it out anyway.

 

[Sdashiki]

About 60% completed with the project. Though this is my trial run and have not kept any worklog.

the second time around, I definitely shall.

still looking for anyones ol vintage Polas...

 

[teleromeo]

I used to have one of these to make pasport pictures in my shop. I sold it 3 years ago to a congoleese guy. He was planning to take it over there to start some photo business in Kinshasa. It uses the same peel-of film as your camera and the quality was always awfull. Nowadays I use a digital camera, a photoshop droplet and a fuji frontier to print extremely high quality pasport pictures. When you run a shop you don't have the time to be nostalgic but when you browse a forum you can ...

 

[Sdashiki]

almost all polaroids take crap images because the glass (in most cases, plastic) is hideous.

this is why im sticking to early models, they had 3-4 element glass lenses.

 

[midnightgypsy]

Polaroid Land Camera Speedliner Model 95b ?

Can anyone tell me if this is worth anything?

 

[milozauckerman]

The 95b takes Polaroid rollfilm that's been discontinued for years. It's also not one of the models regularly converted to current packfilm or 4x5 - so it has a little collector's value, but not much.

I just got a pair of SX-70 Sonars - one modified to take current 600/779 film, one that still has to use the old SX-70 film or current 'Polaroid Blend.' The sonar autofocus is surprisingly awesome.

Had a 110a modified to take packfilm, but I sold it a few months ago - great fun, bit rather large and heavy.

 

[seenew]

I'll be using polaroid film to do image transfers and lifts in the next couple of weeks. I'm excited...

 

[Sdashiki]

The 95b takes Polaroid rollfilm that's been discontinued for years. It's also not one of the models regularly converted to current packfilm or 4x5 - so it has a little collector's value, but not much.

Had a 110a modified to take packfilm, but I sold it a few months ago - great fun, bit rather large and heavy.

i second converting the 95b if you want. Its a nice compact and well built body.

3x4 packfilm is available and should be for years. lets you do some fancy artistic stuff too.

ive got a website dedicated to Polaroid conversions, the 110A/B conversion is a nice one. (check my avatar!)

if you want something less bulky you can take the lens from a 110A or a Speed graphic etc, and put it onto a bellows packfilm camera, like the Automatic 100-400 series.

I just got a pair of SX-70 Sonars - one modified to take current 600/779 film, one that still has to use the old SX-70 film or current 'Polaroid Blend.' The sonar autofocus is surprisingly awesome.

is your SX70 electronically or physically modded to take the 600 film?

the blend stuff, sucks and costs too much, stick with 600/779.

the sonar models are awesome, but the AF mechanism can go crazy after awhile and are more than a pain to fix.

 

[milozauckerman]

The first SX-70 was electronically modified - meter, etc. - from a camera repairman in LA. He said that he finds Polaroid flashes every once in a while and mods those as well, I'll be keeping my eye open.

I might get one pack of Blend to give the other SX-70 a run, but at $2/shot (plus shipping), I don't see much reason to use it. Will look nice on the shelf though.

I sold the 110a (a Four Designs mod) hoping I'd run into a 110b converted to packfilm or 4x5 cheap, but it hasn't happened yet.