My New Toy!

[VTHokiEE]

My wife's Grandmother gave me her old Polaroid 250 Land Camera. After modding a battery holder for the battery compartment, I was able to take a few test shots. Unfortunately it tends to under expose, but only slightly with the dial set all the way to lighten. I think it's going to be a fun camera!


Polaroid Land Camera 250 by VTHokiEE06, on Flickr

Any tips/pointers on getting the most out of the camera? or instant film in general? I also received a Fuji Instax 210 for Christmas so I've a few options in the instant world all of a sudden.

 

[DominikDUK]

Use a ND filter over the electric eye to correct the under exposure. The Image looks correctly exposed and not underexposed at all imo. Have fun

 

[VTHokiEE]

Thanks for the idea, I've started looking into it and may I can hack a Polaroid Cloud filter to work? I suppose I should say that with the dial all the way to lighten the images look correctly exposed. However, this leaves me with no wiggle room if I want to lighten the scene more. So far the prints don't seem to like much contrast (and I haven't even thought about saving the negatives yet).

 

[vdonovan]

It's a great camera! I tape a bit of tissue paper over the electric eye on my 250s that run a little dark, which worked fine. ND filter would work just fine too. Cloud filter might not give you enough density.

One fun thing you can do with these cameras is time exposures. Just go out at night and put it on a tripod. Cock the shutter, push the shutter release and then HOLD IT DOWN. The shutter will stay open for as long as you hold the shutter down (up to 1 minute, I think).

You can do double exposures too, just cock the shutter again and re-shoot.

Too bad Fuji's 3000b is out of production, it was a great film to use with the 250.

 

[robert blu]

For sure a great camera, you'll enjoy it!
robert
PS: yrs, Fuji FP3000B is (was) an excellent film ...

 

[VTHokiEE]

Darn, I took a shot earlier and two pictures pulled out. This messed up a third by pulling the negative off without the rest of the image. I opened the back to clear out the rest of that half shot. I imagine the next shot will probably be lost to opening the back. Hopefully there is some hope for the final 2 shots in the pack. Any idea what I might have done wrong?

 

[crosseyed-cricket]

Just make sure that you make sure all of the white tabs are free and not binding when you load the film pack and close the door.

I just used some ND filter on mine to get the exposure correct with the 'lighten' dial in the center. I actually opened the shutter box and taped it on the inside. Although, I had to open it anyway to fix a few things.

Mine was about 2 stops too dark. Now, it works great. Such a fun camera to use!

I have some extra ND filter material I can send you...just send me a PM with your address and I'll put it in the mail to you.

 

[VTHokiEE]

Thanks for the tip and the offer. I sent you a PM.

 

[sebastel]

and keep the pressure rolls clean!

 

[Godfrey]

Ah, a 250! enjoy it.

I have a 350. Mine had problems with the Fuji film packs. The Fuji packs are thin and flexible plastic compared to the old Polaroid packs. The spring in the 350's back, and the electronic timer, were crushing the film pack and causing the film to mis-feed. I removed the timer and the spring. Now the camera works properly.

The 250 doesn't have the time to worry about, but the spring might be the cause of your misfeed. It didn't hurt anything to just remove it in the 350. There's enough friction that the pack is retained fine without the spring pressure.

G

 

[Range-rover]

Where did you get film for yours and what kind did you get?


Range

 

[Godfrey]

Where did you get film for yours and what kind did you get?

If you were referring to me, I bought my film from B&H Photo. When Fuji announced they were going out of production on FP-3000b, I bought 25 packs. I've used about six of them now. I also buy FP-100c when I want to do color.

Both films are excellent. But when I run out of the B&W, the camera will mostly become a shelf queen because I really prefer shooting B&W with film cameras.

G

 

[VTHokiEE]

Where did you get film for yours and what kind did you get?

I purchased two packs of Fuji FP-100c for testing (and will probably purchase a few more). I bought it from Amazon (to get it here quick), but next time it will be B&H or Freestyle.

I wish I could justify buying some FP-3000b, but the remaining stock is simply to expensive in my opinion.

 

[VTHokiEE]

The 250 doesn't have the time to worry about, but the spring might be the cause of your misfeed. It didn't hurt anything to just remove it in the 350. There's enough friction that the pack is retained fine without the spring pressure.

Do you have (or know of a link to) a picture of the spring? This sounds like a good idea, but I can't open the camera yet with the remaining film in it. Of course I may find later today that the rest of the pack is lost anyways 😱.

 

[Godfrey]

Do you have (or know of a link to) a picture of the spring? This sounds like a good idea, but I can't open the camera yet with the remaining film in it. Of course I may find later today that the rest of the pack is lost anyways 😱.

I hunted around a bit but couldn't find one.

It should be obvious: it's a strip of spring steel that is riveted to the hinged back (vertically, in line with the hinge). It presses on the film pack when the back is closed. I use a Dremel Moto-Tool with a grinding wheel to remove the rivets after masking off the camera with a large plastic bag.

G

 

[crosseyed-cricket]

Here's a picture of the spring (although, I have not had to remove mine)

Also, this is a nice overview of the camera here:

http://obsessedwithphotos.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-complete-guide-for-getting-started.html

 

[VTHokiEE]

Thanks for the picture! I think I'll try one more pack before doing something invasive like removing that spring.

 

[bobkatz]

same problem...

same problem...

simply change de plastic back of the fuji film packs for the metal back from older fuji packs...🙂
worked fine on me😉

 

[Godfrey]

I don't own any older fuji packs. taking out the spring and the timer solved the problem for me. I figure when I run out of the B&W film I stocked up with, the camera is dead anyway since the film is out of production.

G

 

[sebastel]

I don't own any older fuji packs. taking out the spring and the timer solved the problem for me. I figure when I run out of the B&W film I stocked up with, the camera is dead anyway since the film is out of production.

G

that would be a pity. i found the colour film to be a nice one - but of course, it's just not the same as B&W.