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greetings people
im doing a long term art project where i take narrative candid pics of aimless everyday life and to try and present it in a contemporary context, each series is taken with a different camera
1st on the list is instantmatic polaroid

firstly i need someone who would be kind enough to tell me where in sydney i could get a working polaroid instantmatic camera, the cheaper the better as i want it to take the sort of characteristic images it's famous for, overexposed and blury and somewhat lacking in shadow tone, and most of all the polaroid film

i dont realy want to buy from ebay unless i really have to

and any info regarding polaroid use would be great, i was born after the polaroid craze so im out of touch

thanks muchly in advance

somethign like this would do splendid

wendellt wrote:and any info regarding polaroid use would be great, i was born after the polaroid craze so im out of touch

I suspect that a significant proportion of polaroid use was to take photos of wives and girlfriends
sans clothing. So a badly exposed (no pun intended) photo of a naked woman looking slightly
annoyed could be just the ticket.

Wendell,

wendellt wrote:instantmatic polaroid

No such thing.

"Instamatic" was a trade mark used by the Kodak company for their cartridge loading phd cameras. There were, IIRC, two different Instamatic formats, the 110 or pocket Instamatic cameras, and the larger version, which were just called Instamatic. For each of these formats you purchased your film in a preloaded cartridge, and just dropped the cartridge into the back of the camera.

When you had finished the roll, you took the cartridge to your minilab for processing.

The disposable camera killed the Instamatic.

Polaroid made cameras that processed their images "instantly". There were a variety of cameras and styles, but these broke down into two basic types. Both types had you drop a cartridge of some sort into the camera.

The older technology utilised a set of paper, negative material, and chemistry, packaged in a pull-apart image set, with, I think, 8 exposures per cartridge. After making your exposure you would pull out some leader paper, then you would pull out your exposed image set. This caused that image set to be passed between some rollers that burst the sealed section of the set and released the chemistry, and then spread the chemistry between the layers within the image set. After one minute (more or less, depending upon the ambient temperature) you would then separate the negative from the print, and then you needed to dispose of the negative portion, which usually also contained some pretty nasty chemicals, and so care was needed.

With some variants of this technology, (B&W, for instance) you then needed to coat your image with some protective stuff. I think it came with the cartridge.

The newer technology self-developed the image within a single sheet of paper, with no obvious disposable waste. The exposed imaging material would be ejected by the camera after exposure, and the ejection process forced the material between a pair of rollers which burst some internal packaging that contained the activation chemistry, and then dispersed that chemistry over the imaging area. After a short time, could see the image start to appear on the paper, and after about three minutes the image was fully processed.

Polaroid's version of instant took, at best, 60 seconds before you could see the image, which is a long way behind the capabilities of even the lowliest PHD.

Images made on a Polaroid were, typically, of a one off nature; while there was a Polaroid film type that produced negatives, it was rarely seen in captivity.

Polaroid has been killed by the digital camera, and media upon which to shoot is getting very difficult to find, and very expensive.

I suspect that a local hock shop would be a good starting point for one of these cameras. Film? try any camera store, and good luck.

hi people

thankyou so much

gary that was a real lesson, i will let you know how i go but i definately want the more instant new version

best

Wendell

wendellt wrote: i definately want the more instant new version

One thing that you can do with that format is manipulate the image while it's being developed.

The instructions warn you to not touch the image area during this phase ... and thus it stands to reason that doing exactly that can allow you to produce some quite interesting images through squeezing and otherwise ill-treating the emulsion whilst it's not yet fully developed. Fingers, blunt pencils and the like are all quite useful in this endeavour.

exactly what i had in mind what better wya to personalise a photo by allowing the subject to lick it and fingerprint it
and imortalise the action

thanks muchly

wendellt wrote:lick it

That’s a no-no, unless you require your subjects to pose for a real-time death scene

sirhc55 wrote:

wendellt wrote:lick it

That’s a no-no, unless you require your subjects to pose for a real-time death scene

Quite.

Wendell, just looking around, the film is getting very difficult to find. The best stuff is the Time Zero, but that's out of production. That would fit the SX camera that you showed. Wikipedia has some good information.

If you get one of the 600 series cameras (I used to have a couple; don't know if I still do) then you'll need the 600 film, which might be a tad easier to get.

Might be.

Expect to search low and high.

This site contains some information that you may find to be of interest.

This one was far less useful, but it also contained a link that gives one instructions on how to use a pay phone.

my local Kmart had 10 packs of 6 exposure Polaroid film. $66 ea.. So not cheap.

MATT

Just a silly question, but arent the passport photo cameras used in Pharmacies and the like Polaroid? You could possibly find out what film they use and see if you can get a body to suit.

Ant.

I have 7 packets of 669 Poloroid ....... now these will not fit the camera you showed, but will fit a number of Poloroid backs for various makes of professional roll film cameras....... I have a back somewhere that takes this stock for 5X4....... pm me if you are interested in the poloroid stock

Grrr I have managed to write a reply and not post it AGAIN (I can be so stupid at times)

$66 for 10exp, not Polaroid 600 I hope, we sell it at the shop for $30 for 10 exp and $50 at 20 exp so either your Kmart is selling something different or overcharging massively. Please be aware that the Polaroid films have been out of production for awhile. There was rumors of 3rd party Polaroid film but we have not seen anything come up.

Have you considered getting a Fuji Instax instead? The film is still around and will be for a while (esp in the 'Mini' credit card sized) format which is still very popular in Japan and Hong Kong. A friend is bringing me a Fuji Instax Mini 7s back from Hong Kong, but there is also the Instax 200 that shoots pictures that are 99x62mm (picture size) and the film is available at VanBar. The Mini is available over ebay quire readily.

Hey Wendell, I have a couple of polaroid 600 cameras, you can have one for nothing when you come over to bring back my lens. Don't have any film for it though.

Wendell
The image of the Polaroid in your post is their SLR version from memory. These particular cameras are capable of very beautiful imagery. One thing....the film is expensive and it must be fresh as the chemicals go off over time, seriously degrading the processing quality.

Polaroid fans may be pleased to hear of the announcement by Polaroid 9 or 10 days ago of the PoGo at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. A digital compact with a built-in 2x3" printer, in essence it is a digital Polaroid. It is expected to be on sale in the US in March or April for around US$200. The Age posted a review here.

hi thanks people
valuable info
phillip ill take you up on your deal with an edit - i'll pay or get you something
all i have to do is get the stock

and thanks again for the info everyone

your all the cats pyjamas!

my first ever camera was a polaroid where you had to pull out the pics and separate the sheets ... they may have been crap pics but they were expensive

funnily enough, my first digital camera was also a polaroid ... it had about 8mb internal memory and took up to 15 pics before you had to download them ... it also took crap pics

Big Red wrote:my first ever camera was a polaroid where you had to pull out the pics and separate the sheets ... they may have been crap pics but they were expensive

funnily enough, my first digital camera was also a polaroid ... it had about 8mb internal memory and took up to 15 pics before you had to download them ... it also took crap pics

My D700 was expensive and I take crap pics

Funny how a thread like this gets you thinking and asking, the in laws have Land Camera 650 in the back of the cupboard..

MATT