Just bought mint polaroid 195!!

[pavost]

I just splurged on a mint 195 from some left over Paypal funds and was super excited to get shooting.. started to look at some film only to find out that Fuji has discontinued their FP100c colour film.

Kind of depressing that I'll have to pay 3000b prices in the not too distant future 🙁 Picked up 10 packs expired Polaroid 667 from eBay and 20 packs Fuji FP100c from B&H for $16.99/pack.

Do you think a company like Impossable will create a Land pack film in the future?

Anyways I'll have a nice expensive decorative piece when the film disappears for good.

Peace out

 

[Dante_Stella]

Do you think a company like Impossable will create a Land pack film in the future?

Anyways I'll have a nice expensive decorative piece when the film disappears for good.

1. Yes. Easier to make than integral film. Impossible has been having issues with the opacifier, which isn't a thing with peel-apart.

2. Considering that 667 and 669 were last made in 2008, and you can still get them, that day is a long way off for FP-series films. Even "exploitation" prices today are about what they were when Polaroid was making film. A pack of 8 shots of 669 was 10 bucks back in 1999. We all got spoiled with Fuji making it cheaply.

Dante

 

[SteveM(PA)]

Congrats on your 195! For years, I've been shuffling around the gear in my head that I would sell in order to buy one, and I still might do it. 🙂 Please post your shots ... I LOVE 195 shots!

 

[pavost]

Congrats on your 195! For years, I've been shuffling around the gear in my head that I would sell in order to buy one, and I still might do it. 🙂 Please post your shots ... I LOVE 195 shots!

Thanks mate! Can't wait to start shooting with it. I'd say now might be the time to buy as people will no doubt be offloading their pack film gear. Film is on route, but will definitely post some pics once everything arrives.

 

[gdmcclintock]

Here's a picture shot with my 195:

 

[GarageBoy]

I just got a Graflex XL back, so I feel your pain
I have 6 packs of FP3000B and 5 packs of FP100C - t won't go crazy looking for more - factoring the price of the back and film - it'll cost me about $3 a shot - hoping to amortize the back, if I see more FP100C at below $20 a pack

 

[pavost]

Received the 195 and the focus is off. Tried a DIY ground glass and found I cant focus on infinity.
The bellows fully extend and click into place, the struts appear straight. With the focus fully at infinity the focus point is only 4-5 meters away according to the ground glass.

Also the body is from another camera like a 250 but shouldn't be an issue since they are interchangeable.

Is there a possible solution to this focus issue I can perform at home? Lens calibration? I just want to figure out if I can remedy the issue before I return the camera.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[GarageBoy]

Lens probably needs to be shimmed further forward

 

[Dante_Stella]

Lens probably needs to be shimmed further forward

Backward. Or a spacer is missing or misplaced.

The OP is right; the only things that differentiate a 180/190/195 body from the now-cheap versions are (a) the front standard (with lens/shutter), (b) the accessory shoe (contact me if you need a new one), and (c) the numeric distance scale (I believe I have a scan of one somewhere from when I managed to score one new). Polaroid sold all of these as spare parts, and changeovers were within the ken of any competent repair shop. All of the manual bodies are either based on the 250/350 body, both of which have a flat surface on the top where the flash attaches (it does not have a screwed-on "bracket" like the 440/450). The 195 had the plastic 2-window finder from a 440, and many people have switched those out for the combined metal Zeiss unit found on the 180/190/250/350/360/450.

BTW, the automatic ones and the manual ones were originally the same price - which tells you something about the cost differential of making a lens/shutter assembly in Japan and making a much higher-tech version in the U.S.

Dante

 

[Huss]

Here's a picture shot with my 195:



View attachment 103994

Very cool!

 

[Timmyjoe]

It's a very cool camera, but the lack of available, affordable film, caused me to sell mine a number of years ago. It was completely reconditioned when I bought it in the 1990's. There was a company that rebuilt them to factory specs back then. It was fun to shoot with.

 

[aizan]

is the metering on the automatic models still reliable? it'd stink to waste lots of shots, though I wouldn't want to spend so much money for one of the manual models.

 

[gdmcclintock]

This picture was made with a model 250.

 

[pavost]

I've seemed to have gotten the focus reasonably accurate at closer distances by experimenting/adjusting the Zeiss finder.

I read a flickr post a while back of someone who successfully rotated the lens element to calibrate a focus issue. Is this possible? And how would I go about doing this myself?

Here's a 195 shot from a recent shoot.