Polaroid B&W - using b&w filters on SX-70 type cameras

[Godfrey]

When Impossible re-started the production of Polaroid SX-70 and 600 type integral films, they did something that had never existed before and made B&W available. The SX-70 and 600 B&W films for these cameras (now re-branded as just Polaroid again, finally) are my favorite way to shoot instant print nowadays. But ... b&w photography is very dependent upon using filters to manipulate the spectral balance of the scene, to enhance or diminish the relative gray scale values of different colors adjacent to one another.

I'd been thinking of making a filter holder for the SX-70 and derivative models for a while, but I recently discovered through one YouTube channel or another that Brooklyn Film Camera actually made such a thing already, allowing you to easily fit a 37mm filter to your SX-70 camera. Whoopee! I ordered one, and hunted around, found a B&W filter set on Amazon. The brand is LingoFoto and it is a set of six filters (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple) in 37mm screw-in size for the vast sum of about $25.

The leads to the next question: Uh, how do I set exposure? The standard SX-70 camera is entirely automatic and these filters do not come with a piece to cover the light meter sensor, so I guess there I'll just have to experiment with the EV compensation wheel and see if I can get consistent settings that work. However, my Polaroid SLR670m and SLR670x both have manually settable shutter speeds (lens locked to f/8 in manual exposure mode) so setting exposure is simply a matter of calculating the correct ISO setting for each of the filters when used with SX-70 or 600 speed B&W film...

So here's the chart:

​

Now to load up some film in the SLR670x and do some testing... 😀

The numbers are all a little approximate since the film speed is slightly higher than the rated ISO, the shutter speeds are set in whole-stop increments only, and my meter doesn't have exactly those ISO settings anyway, but it should at least get things into the right range with minimal film wastage.

enjoy! G

 

[Mackinaw]

Very interesting. Please post some results.

Jim B.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Polaroid made B&W film for the 600 series "back in the day", I used to shoot a lot of it 1999~2004 (I just found the box of Polaroids, stored in the box for an i960 dev kit) until they quit. I've also used the new B&W film, made a filter holder for it to use Kodak Wratten type filters. I used the holder for the Sunshade. The new film seems to have less latitude, and a different spectral response than the original of 20+ years ago. I placed a small strip of the Wratten filter over the Electric Eye for compensation.

Next time I try some- will use a Green filter for skin tones.

This- experimenting with new film, was with a Magenta filter:

 

[OlivierAOP]

I wonder how these filters compare to the Wratten contrast filters. From the description it seems they are used for funky white balance on digital but it would be nice if they worked for black and white film.

 

[Kai-san]

MINT sells a filter set for the SX-70, although somewhat more expensive. It contains orange, blue, ND and a fish-eye lens.

 

[Godfrey]

Very interesting. Please post some results.

I made two sets of exposure tests ... one in the 1/500 to 1/30 second range, the other in the 1/30 to 1 second range. I always let my Polaroid integral film sit and process for a day before I start examining it when doing this kind of evaluation.

At a quick glance, however: The filter holder works, the filters are good enough to fit it properly, and the exposure values I could achieve with the SLR670x are close enough to the mark to work with. The difficulty of getting the "right" exposure is what I mentioned ... getting a value for an ISO setting has to be approximate, and the resultant exposure setting is also approximate, due to the whole step nature of the shutter speed settings and the approximately .3 step settings of the light meter's ISO setting. But "close" counts, just as in horseshoes.

I'll report more on this when the prints are fully developed and I can scan them.

Polaroid made B&W film for the 600 series "back in the day", I used to shoot a lot of it 1999~2004 (I just found the box of Polaroids, stored in the box for an i960 dev kit) until they quit. I've also used the new B&W film, made a filter holder for it to use Kodak Wratten type filters. I used the holder for the Sunshade. The new film seems to have less latitude, and a different spectral response than the original of 20+ years ago. I placed a small strip of the Wratten filter over the Electric Eye for compensation.

Next time I try some- will use a Green filter for skin tones.

This- experimenting with new film, was with a Magenta filter:
[... snip ...]

I never saw 600 integral B&W, but I was out of the Polaroid game for a long while ... probably sold off all my Polaroid stuff in the early '90s. I got back into it when my uncle handed me his original SX-70 in 2011.

I was thinking of using the sunshade holder, but wanted something a little sturdier. The one I got works pretty nicely and is sturdy enough to fit a decent wide angle lens converter too.

I wonder how these filters compare to the Wratten contrast filters. From the description it seems they are used for funky white balance on digital but it would be nice if they worked for black and white film.

I'm not terribly well versed in the specifics of the Wratten filter range. My preliminary check says these will do the job I want, to a greater or lesser degree, and the cost of both the filters and the holder was cheap enough to not worry and consider as a fun experiment. 🙂

G

 

[Godfrey]

MINT sells a filter set for the SX-70, although somewhat more expensive. It contains orange, blue, ND and a fish-eye lens.

Yes, I have the MiNT accessory set. It's has a "full frame fish-eye" accessory lens, close up lens, ND 4x, K2 yellow, and 80B blue filters. It's a good set, but I wish it had an orange and a green, and that the close up and other filters would stack. The wide lens is not too useful as it flares a lot. Their filter holder shades the sensor a bit so you have to fuss with it to get the right exposure sometimes if you're using Auto exposure. All of these filters and lens accessories are best used with one of the manual exposure capable cameras.

G

 

[x-ray]

I’m curious whether anyone has used this film recently. Several years ago I bought several packs and shot one then the other packs failed to work. The battery in the packs was dead and those were purchased from B&H just a couple of weeks before I shot it. I understood from other people that they had the same problem. Did they get it straightened out?

Also the images I did get faded and turned an ugly brown. If I run across any of these I’ll post them but not sure if I tossed them.

Anyone have the fading problem and brown tint with the B&W? I never tried it again because it’s just too expensive to throw money into something that doesn’t work.

 

[Kai-san]

I’m curious whether anyone has used this film recently. Several years ago I bought several packs and shot one then the other packs failed to work. The battery in the packs was dead and those were purchased from B&H just a couple of weeks before I shot it. I understood from other people that they had the same problem. Did they get it straightened out?

Also the images I did get faded and turned an ugly brown. If I run across any of these I’ll post them but not sure if I tossed them.

Anyone have the fading problem and brown tint with the B&W? I never tried it again because it’s just too expensive to throw money into something that doesn’t work.

Yeah, free sepia toning is included. But they have improved over the years. I do not know if Polaroid is doing any research into fixing this issue. I've shot more than 2000 Impossible/new Polaroid films over the years, but I have never come across a pack with dead batteries.

 

[Godfrey]

I've probably done a similar number of Impossible films as Kai-san and never had a dead battery either. @x-ray : sounds like an anomaly!
Regardless: To get the freshest film possible, I always order direct from Polaroid.

Regards tone: When properly or slightly under-exposed, prints made with current fresh film tend to a slightly warm tone. Over-exposed prints tend to go warmer. Presuming the prints were kept warm/room temperature during the first few minutes of processing, and allowed to sit and fully develop over the next 24 hours in a dry, room temperature place, I have not seen residual color shifting or tone shifts with the B&W packs produced since about four years ago. Prior to that, the chemistry was a bit more unstable, and fading/tone shifting was common ... None of which makes much difference if you scan the originals a day or three after they're made and archive the digital scans as your masters, but was a bit of a pain if you wanted to use the originals as masters.

The current film is very nice, at least as I use it, and the results are consistent and predictable. The biggest issue is the 'always issue' with instant print films: the film's latitude and getting the exposure just right for the particular subject. Even with a light meter and one of the manually controllable exposure cameras, getting everything "just right" is a bit of an art: it takes practice and insight into the recording materials' behavior. The Fujifilm Instax materials are a bit more stable than the Impossible/Polaroid materials, but both are of the same ilk in this regard. To me, I like the challenge and enjoy the results when I get it right. 🙂

G

 

[Godfrey]

Okay, now back to my filter factor work.

Yesterday, I made exposures of a simple test subject, including a Color Checker and a Tri-Tone target, with no filter and with each of the color filters in the set, using Polaroid 600 B&W film packs, the Sekonic L-358 to measure and set exposure times, and the Polaroid SLR670x by MiNT for its manual exposure capability. The results show that my calculated filter factors/resultant ISO settings are in the right range for most of the filters, with primarily the Red filter factor being way off (it was about 2 stops too overexposed). The Green filter and calculated factor produces about the closest to the no-filter exposure, with most of the others produced about a half-stop of over exposure.

I think this red result shows that the meter is much less sensitive to red light than the film is, and I'll make some tests to bring the factor into the right range.

The testing did point out issues as I thought it would: the meter does not have ISO settings that fit the calculated ISOs right on the money, and the fact that the camera in manual exposure mode is locked to f/8 and the exposure times available are in whole stops from 1/2000 to 1/2 second (timed) means that there is only rarely a perfect match from the meter to the actual exposure you set: you always have to fudge the shutter speed to just slightly over- or under- expose in about a +/- 0.5 EV range.

The camera should have a great deal more exposure precision available when shooting in Automatic exposure mode since it can vary both the aperture and the shutter time steplessly that way, and then the exposure accuracy comes down to figuring out where on the compensation wheel's setting range the filter factors are about right. Alternatively, doing what Sonnar Brian mentioned (making a small gel filter for the light sensor to match each of the filters) would ease the settings issue, presuming the sensor is a reasonable match to the film's spectral sensitivity. I supposed I could do this with a pair of polarizer gels set up to act like an ND filter, varying the angle between them to obtain the right EV absorption rather than finding gel matches to the actual filter color... I haven't done any experimentation with the automatic mode yet. 🙂

My results from yesterday also pointed out the difficulty of trying to achieve precision exposure tests in bright sunlight with the SX-70 and the modern film. The new films are much less sensitive to light as they eject from the camera, but for my high-range tests in sunlight (settings from 1/500 to 1/30 sec) a good bit of variability in the print exposure is directly related to how quickly/completely I managed to get the film covered from sun light as it came out of the camera. The low-range tests (1/30 to 1 sec) were performed indoors with the sunlight illuminating the scene through my patio door windows and prove much more consistent due to the lower light levels striking the print as it is ejected from the camera. I think, for daylight use, I'm going to go back to an opaque shade over the print as it slides out of the camera to enhance consistency. (Easy to make from a film pack's dark slide and some artist's tape, or use the roll-up flexi slide available from Impossible/Polaroid.)

Fun stuff, if a trifle pricey to do this testing. Yesterday consumed two packs of prints, and today will likely consume a couple more ..
I'll try to scan some results soon, but I'm also getting ready to be out of town for a week and this project will likely have to wait until I get back to be completed.

enjoy! G

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Thankyou for doing the experiments- much more detail than what I did. My opinion formed after looking at some of my results- the new film is more sensitive to Red than what the exposure meter of the camera measures. I'm thinking a green filter would be best for shooting people. Next batch- will try.

Do you have a cable release for the camera? Does it take the #112?

 

[Godfrey]

Thank you for doing the experiments- much more detail than what I did. My opinion formed after looking at some of my results- the new film is more sensitive to Red than what the exposure meter of the camera measures. I'm thinking a green filter would be best for shooting people. Next batch- will try.

Do you have a cable release for the camera? Does it take the #112?

I just did an entire pack of 600 B&W exposures experimenting with the red filter. Sunlight levels today (gray overcast vs yesterday's clear blue sky) were about half, and the ISO 640 setting on the meter netted f/8 @ 1/10 second recommendation. Since the f/stop is fixed in manual mode and the shutter speed is only in whole steps, I made two exposures at 1/15 and 1/8 sec with no filter as a reference baseline; it shows "perfect" exposure would indeed be halfway between them but both are good, depending on what you're after. Then I made exposures with the red filter fitted at 1/4, 1/2, and manually timed 1 second. The 1/2 second exposure falls almost perfectly in between the no-filter 1/15 and 1/8 second exposures—just about a perfect balanced exposure—so the correct factor for the red filter is right about +2.5 EV.

It then occurred to me that the SLR670x has automatic modes for both 600 and 100 speed film. Hmm, 100 speed is just about +2.5 EV different from 600 as well. So I switched the camera to A100 and tried three exposures with the EV compensation set to the center (0), at lighten 1/2, and at lighten max. I'd have done darken 1/2 and darken max too, but didn't want to sacrifice another pack to testing. The center (0) setting on A100 produced the same exposure as the manual exposure at f/8 @ 1/2 second—just about perfect balanced exposure. I think that setting the EV compensation at 1/2 darken would net the same as the 1/15 sec no-filter reference exposure.

I think I have plenty of information now and can juggle my exposures with all the filters successfully. It is interesting that the film does seem to have much more red sensitivity (or the meter is much less red sensitive) than expected.

—
Yes, the SX-70 takes the #112 remote release. I have a couple of them... some years ago I bought two or three Polaroid SX-70 Accessory Kits as NOS, because I wanted spares (and they were very cheap at the time...). I have four of the cameras and I use them enough to be worth having a few spares. Since the original Polaroid remote release buttons alone are now looking to be up to $80 occasionally on Ebay, there's an aftermarket replacement that looks good and is somewhat less expensive, if someone needs one. See:
Retrospekt SX-70 Yellow Remote Shutter Release

The other thing out of the Polaroid SX-70 accessory pack that I use often is the SX-70 tripod cradle, rather than using the tripod mounting screw and a camera adapter plate for my tripod ... It puts less strain on the body (particularly when using the 1.5x telephoto lens accessory which is rather heavy) and allows you to take the camera on and off the tripod quickly for reloading.

fun fun fun !
G

 

[Godfrey]

I *still* have a bunch of my exposure tests to scan, and about six packs more prints to scan, and ... and ... and...
It's been a difficult start to the year.

The past week and some I've been concentrating on using the SLR670a with 600 Color Round-Frame. That's been making some good photos for me, now that another threshold awareness has corrected my shooting ... yeah, I've known forever that one should concentrate on relatively simple scenes with clear shapes and such in Polaroid work, but now my vision is beginning to grok that and bend that way without constant thought and concentration. 🙂

Yeah, I'll get to scanning some stuff soon. Soon as I clear the other projects off my desk so I have room for the scanning setup... 😱

G

 

[Godfrey]

Sheesh. Time grew jetpacks under its wings... And I'm so caught up in so many different things I barely notice that weeks have elapsed on this project yet again.

Good news today, though, is that I decided to load up the SLR670x with some 600 B&W, fit the Orange filter, and go walking with it. I set the camera on Auto100 ... by my chart above, the corrected ISO setting should be 150 with this filter, and the SX-70 B&W is nominally ISO 150. And it worked! Very good exposures all through, despite some being difficult lighting where I tweaked the auto setting with some EV Compensation.

And now to set up the scanning jig... 🙂

G

 

[Godfrey]

Some scanned results of testing and shooting with BW and bw filters.


Experiments with filters on BW600 film using SLR670x and manual exposure. Note that it is quite difficult to get precise exposure because the lens is locked to f/8 in manual mode and shutter speeds are only selectable in 1-stop increments.



I think the effect of using different filters is visible in the Xrite Color Chart renderings by looking at the relative intensity of different swatches in the different exposures..

---

Some photos made with Polaroid SLR670x on B&W 600 with Orange filter fitted. Orange filter is easy to get reasonably consistent exposure since it drops film speed from ISO 600 to ISO 150, and the SLR670x has auto settings for both 600 and SX-70 speeds (SX70 is ISO 150 approximately). This allows you to use the Auto100 setting and get much more precise exposure out of the camera since it has the full range of f/stops to work with and stepless shutter times from 1/2000 to about 15 seconds.

Stop Sign by Godfrey DiGiorgi, on Flickr

Notice how the Orange filter in this case causes the stop sign to practically disappear.

... continued in next post ...

 

[Godfrey]

... continued ...

Window by Godfrey DiGiorgi, on Flickr

The tan-ish wall of this house shows more detail with the filter than without a filter.

Palm by Godfrey DiGiorgi, on Flickr

The orange filter in this case helps separate the green tones of the Palm tree fronds in a more exaggerated manner.

Awnings by Godfrey DiGiorgi, on Flickr

In this photo, the orange filter exaggerated the contrasts a touch more than no filter would have.

I shot another pack of 600BW using the Green filter yesterday that I have not had time to scan yet, but just looking through results, it shows a very different level of difficulty in getting correct exposure (manual exposure) as it drops ISO to near 40 and getting a good setting with whole-stop increments only just proves tricky due to limited film latitude...

More when. 😀

G

 

[Godfrey]

Out for breakfast and then later a walk yesterday...

Man at Table with Hat and Cellphone - San Jose 2023


Locks - Santa Clara 2023​

Both made with Polaroid SLR670a, +600 BW film +Orange filter (set to middle scribe on Lighten control).

Enjoy! G

 

[Derek Leath]

SX-70 B&W

SX70 by Derek Leath, on Flickr

 

[Derek Leath]

SX70 No Filter

SX700003 by Derek Leath, on Flickr