The Instant Film Society

Polaroid Spectra

Posted on April 11, 2013 by The Instant Film Society Posted in The Basics

Impossible Project PX-70 COOL

The Spectra is a cool looking analog camera. Since the 1980′s I’ve seen these but never really paid any attention to them. They have a unique optical system utilizing a 125mm f/10 quintic lens. The focal length equivalency is about about 43mm in the 35mm format. Like most Polaroids, you don’t have a ton of control over the exposure. The most important options at your disposal are: an exposure lighten/darken switch, a switch to toggle the flash on/off, an AF override switch to set focus to infinity, a self timer and a tripod mount.

The autofocusing feature on Spectras, and many other Polaroids, is done by sonar. When you press the shutter halfway, it emits an inaudible sound wave to measure the distance between the camera and what you’re shooting. It sends the sound waves out, the sound waves bounce back, and the distance is displayed at the bottom of the viewfinder (there is a little switch to toggle between showing ft/m on the camera). There is an autofocus lock feature, in the sense that after you press the shutter halfway, you can hold the shutter and move your viewpoint to keep that particular distance focused.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Film used: Impossible Project PZ-680 (color) or PZ-600 (b&w)

Sonar Autofocus: 2 ft. – infinity

Lens: 125mm f/10 three element quintic lens

Shutter Speeds: 2.8 secs ~ 1/200 sec.

Flash: Most models have it (some can toggle on/off)

Exposure Compensation: Lighten/Darken Slider

- For a more in depth look at Spectras go to CameraPedia -

Check out the Impossible Frog Tongue. If you don’t have one of these things, do yourself a favor, pick one up. These work exactly as designed. They fully protect the image from direct sunlight as the image ejects from the camera.

CAMERA OPERATION:

Opening the camera

Flipping open the film door

Loading film

Darkslide ejects

Overexpose/Underexpose

Flash On/Off

Autofocus lock at infinity switch

Self-Timer

Toggle beep on/off

Flip switch to close camera

TIPS/TRICKS:

Parallax Error - When shooting close at 2-4 feet, keep in mind that image you’re seeing in the viewfinder isn’t exactly what you’re going to be recording onto your film. Because it’s next to the lens, parallax error occurs as a result.

Multiple Exposures – You can trick the camera into taking multiple exposures if you want to get a little funky. It’s simple. After you’ve pressed the shutter release button, keep holding it down and flip the front flap open on the camera. It switches the camera off and you can now safely release the shutter button without fear of it ejecting. Now, flip the flap back up and take another exposure. Repeat as many times as you’d like.

Protecting your film from ambient light – Some Spectra instant film is sensitive to ambient light when it first ejects from the camera. One way to protect your image can be done by utilizing a feature of the self-timer. After you’ve taken your shot, while holding down the shutter release button, flip the timer switch on. By switching the timer on, the camera holds the image inside until you’re ready to eject the image (flip the timer off), one of the features of the self timer. If you’re in bright sun, you can go over to a shady spot, eject it out into your camera bag or directly into a box. The more you protect your image from light with some films, the better.

CONCLUSION:

How can we NOT promote this camera? The Spectra is durable, easy to operate and can take quality instant images.

Photo: Laidric Stevenson – Impossible Project PZ-680 CP

Multiple Exposure – Photo: Amanda Potter – Impossible Project PZ-680 CP

Photo: Justin Goode – Impossible Project PZ-680 Expired Film

Photo: Justin Vinson – Impossible Project PZ-680 Expired

Photo: Justin Goode – Impossible Project PZ-680 CP

Photo: Justin Goode – Impossible Project PZ-680 Color Shade

Polaroid Land Camera – 100 series

Posted on March 6, 2013 by The Instant Film Society Posted in The Basics Leave a comment

Polaroid 100 Series Land Camera

The Polaroid Land Camera. Almost anytime I see someone break one of these out, heads in a room turn towards this thing immediately. They spark up conversations very quickly.

These are pack film cameras which use peel-apart instant film and they’re a lot of fun to use. The controls are pretty basic. When using one, there some things you have to get used to; loading film, pulling the tabs to pull the film through the rollers, knowing when to peel the image etc. There are a variety of models, ranging from ones that have auto-exposure to more professional models which give you complete control over the shutter speed and aperture (models 180,185, 190 & 195).

SPECIFICATIONS:

Film used: FujiFilm FP-100C (color), FP-3000B (b&w) or a variety of expired Polaroid pack film

Variable Focus: 3 feet – infinity (closer with close-up adapters)

Lens: 114 mm f/8.8 triple element glass or double element plastic*

Shutter Speeds: 10 sec. – 1/1200 sec.*

Flash: Yes w/ Flash Cube

Exposure Compensation: Lighten/Darken Knob

Batteries: 4.5V battery / Conversion

* – Model Dependent

- Detailed information on specific models on the Land List -

CAMERA OPERATIONS:

- Opening the camera

- Pulling off the front cover

- Extending the bellows

- Opening the back

- Loading film (make sure the white film tabs don’t get stuck in the camera)

- Pulling out the dark slide

- Adjusting film speed on the front of the camera

- Cocking the shutter

- Adjusting focus

- Firing the camera

- Pulling out the first film tab

- Pulling the second film tab to pull film through the rollers

- Adjusting the exposure dial

- Collapsing the camera

***************************************

- Extending the bellows

- Adjusting the exposure dial

- Changing the film’s speed to meter correctly

- Collapsing the camera

TIP: When shooting long exposures, make sure your camera is mounted on a tripod or is firmly positioned on a solid surface. Also, when you press the shutter button, keep pressing it down for the duration of the exposure. You should be able to hear two clicks, one for when the shutter opens and one for when it closes. The time between clicks is dependent on the ambient light within the scene.

Once you’ve taken your image, you need to wait a specific amount of time before you peel the image away from the negative that its sandwiched onto. On Fuji’s film, there is a chart on the film tabs that will guide you as to how long you need to wait before you peeled, which is related to the ambient temperature while developing. For the color film, on average you have to wait 60 seconds and with their B&W film, you wait 15 seconds before peeling following its development. A special process, the internal dye diffusion-transfer, unique to the world of instant photography is taking place during this time. I was in New York a few months ago and asked John Reuter, the director at 20×24 Studio exactly what’s taking place during the development process …

How does the transfer process work between the negative & the positive after developer paste has been smeared in between?

When you expose an image, if you make a comparison to conventional photography, let’s say with a B&W portrait for instance .. you have the whites and you have the blacks. When you develop that up, in conventional and then you fix it, you reduce what was not used. So, the areas that would be black or dark gray, don’t develop out. They just sit there and when you fix it, they go away and the film becomes clear and it prints black. What happens with instant, is instead of being reduced by a fixer, it instead transfers over to the positive. Where you have no exposure, all your black will come over to the positive and give you black. Where you have exposure in the highlights, it will all stay on the negative and not go into the positive. Obviously various tones transfer over and it moves into the gray tones. Rather than being fixed out, reduced and run down the drain, it instead just moves over to another piece of material and you get two products from it, the positive print and the negative.

EXAMPLE IMAGES

: Photo: Justin Goode – Fuji FP-100C – Polaroid Automatic 100

: Photo: Justin Goode – Fuji FP-100C – Polaroid Automatic 100

: Photo: Justin Goode – Fuji FP-100C – Polaroid Automatic 100

: Photo: Justin Goode – Fuji FP-100C – Polaroid Automatic 100

: Photo: Daniel Rodrigue – Polaroid 180 – Fuji FP-3000B

If you have any questions whatsoever, post a message below, tweet us @UseInstantFilm or send us an email: info@instantfilmsociety.com

-Justin

One Step / 600 Series

Posted on March 4, 2013 by The Instant Film Society Posted in The Basics Leave a comment

Ascension Coffee House - Impossible Project PX-680 Color Protection Film

Impossible Project PX-680 Color Protection Film – Polaroid SX-70

The first Polaroid camera I had was a OneStep. It was given to me when I first got into photography in 2007 and honestly, I didn’t really use it much before it was put on the shelf. The instant bug hadn’t bitten me yet. Later on when it finally did, I picked up the OneStep yet again to explore its potential.

Using a Polaroid OneStep is pretty straightforward. Everything beyond 4 feet is in focus, some have a little switch that slides an optic over to adjust its focus closer, from 2-4 feet. The models with a flash have two shutter releases buttons; one which fires the flash and another below it, which fires the camera without. Depending on the ambient light, the shutter speed fluctuates from 1/4 of a second up to 1/200th and the aperture opens up to f/11.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Film used: Impossible Project PX-680 (color) or PX-600 (b&w)

Fixed Focus: 4-5 feet (some models have close up adapter to focus at 2-4 feet)

Lens: 116 mm f/11 single element plastic

Shutter Speeds: 1/4 – 1/200 sec.

Flash: Most models have it

Exposure Compensation: Lighten/Darken Slider

- Detailed information on specific models at Camera-wiki.org -

These cameras are relatively durable. I have no idea how many of these were made, but I would assume it’s in the hundreds of thousands. You can usually find these for fairly cheap on Craigslist, estate sales, eBay and a variety of other places online.

CAMERA OPERATIONS:

- Opening the camera

- Loading film

- Dark slide ejection

- Using the close up adapter (2 to 4 feet – 4 feet to infinity)

- Moving the underexposure/overexposure slider

- Fire w/ flash

- Fire w/o flash

You might have noticed the Impossible Frog Tongue in the video. If you don’t have one of these things, do yourself a favor, pick one up. These work exactly as designed. They fully protect the image from direct sunlight as the image ejects from the camera.

TIP: When shooting close at 2-4 feet, keep in mind that the viewfinder you’re looking through isn’t exactly what you’re going to be recording onto the image. Because it’s next to the lens, parallax error occurs as a result.

CONCLUSION:

Overall, a great camera to get your feet wet with instant photography. You don’t have to worry about the exposure that much (metering tendencies aside) and the focus on most is fixed.

It’s a classic Polaroid point-and-shoot.

If you have any questions about this camera please send a message my way – info@instantfilmsociety.com

- Justin

Video recorded with Steve Reeves at Makeshift Photography in Dallas, TX