Godfrey
somewhat colored
I can only imagine what you'll be saying when 'One Instant' ships. My calculation is that each exposure will cost me something like $20. I don't mind ... I don't intend to make more than 18 exposures of One Instant photographs. Each one will be a special, one of a kind thing.
I'm pleased with the quality and consistency of current Polaroid Originals films, and always delighted with the Polaroid SX-70.
Polaroid SLR670a by MiNT
Polaroid Originals 600 Black & White film
G
Mackinaw
Think Different
I too, have finally given up on IP/Polaroid Originals. I’ve been buying their stuff from the start, and readily admit their film has gotten much better throughout the years, but their inconsistent quality and generally poor results have finally soured me on their products. The straw that broke the cameras back was a model shoot last year. The young model I was photographing had never seen an instant pic before so I figured I’d dazzle here with a few B&W’s from my SX-70. Disappointment! The pics were all over the place. Washed out, too dark, flat, lacking contrast, etc., just terrible. The film was fresh too. So goodbye IP/PO.
Now, when I want to shoot instant, I use my Instax SQ-6. I wish the picture area of the SQ6 was a bit bigger, but the superior Instax image quality always delivers.
I wish IP/PO well, but until their product improves, they won’t have me as a customer.
Jim B.
Now, when I want to shoot instant, I use my Instax SQ-6. I wish the picture area of the SQ6 was a bit bigger, but the superior Instax image quality always delivers.
I wish IP/PO well, but until their product improves, they won’t have me as a customer.
Jim B.
goamules
Well-known
Yep, I've avoided the quasi-polaroids because every shot I ever see looks terrible. It's like the guys that love a poorly executed wetplate, it's all about the uniqueness and process, but they forget 1860s wetplates were fantastic quality. As were the original Poloaroids. The new stuff is a joke. I use instax for the "wow it's a print!" factor, and get pretty good results too.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
You know, a lot of what I hear as problems with the film has to do with using 40+ year old cameras which have aged in various ways. At one point I had six original SX-70s and did some testing on this score: same lighting, same film batch, etc, and each camera produced a different result. The SX-70 that my uncle gave me produced consistent and correctly exposed results ... he had purchased the camera new in 1973, used it consistently over all the years, never mishandled it, and only stopped when his arthritis meant he could no longer hold a camera steadily.
I had one of the other cameras rebuilt by MiNT ... and now it too produced perfectly consistent, excellent results just like my Uncle's camera did. I became convinced that a lot of the film problems in the IP ramp years (not all, but the majority) were more a matter of old cameras that had fallen way out of spec than problems with the film itself.
This was one of the things that motivated me to buy the upgraded and fully refurbished Polaroid SLR670 cameras produced by MiNT. All three of these cameras produce superbly consistent and high quality results with the now much more consistent and high quality PO film.
So think carefully when you dis the film if you're using old cameras. It is perfectly true that the PO instant film has its issues, and that instant film in general is tricksy on exposure and contrast, etc, in ways that standard films are not. There's a learning curve to getting good results even with a perfect camera. But a lot of the inconsistencies have to do with ancient meters, ancient shutters, etc, that simply are no longer in spec and need to be overhauled to produce the results your after.
And IP/PO, by comparison to Fujifilm, is a shoe string operation financially that simply cannot afford 1/1000 the R&D expenditure that Fuji can do. The Instax film products are pretty darn solid ... My Lomo Instant Square, MiNT InstaKon RF70, and Instant Magny 35 produce very very nice results, albeit with many of the same exposure and contrast issues that are there in the Polaroid Originals film.
G
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BTW, just had to say: I use all the cameras I buy, as much as I have time for. I can't use cameras that are inconsistent and unreliable in any useful way. So every time I buy a nice old camera that I think I'll enjoy nowadays, I budget the price and time to buy it with a trip to a camera technician for a CLA and checkout. When I get the camera I do an exhaustive checkout of all of its features and accuracy and if it needs help, off it goes to the shop for a month.
I had one of the other cameras rebuilt by MiNT ... and now it too produced perfectly consistent, excellent results just like my Uncle's camera did. I became convinced that a lot of the film problems in the IP ramp years (not all, but the majority) were more a matter of old cameras that had fallen way out of spec than problems with the film itself.
This was one of the things that motivated me to buy the upgraded and fully refurbished Polaroid SLR670 cameras produced by MiNT. All three of these cameras produce superbly consistent and high quality results with the now much more consistent and high quality PO film.
So think carefully when you dis the film if you're using old cameras. It is perfectly true that the PO instant film has its issues, and that instant film in general is tricksy on exposure and contrast, etc, in ways that standard films are not. There's a learning curve to getting good results even with a perfect camera. But a lot of the inconsistencies have to do with ancient meters, ancient shutters, etc, that simply are no longer in spec and need to be overhauled to produce the results your after.
And IP/PO, by comparison to Fujifilm, is a shoe string operation financially that simply cannot afford 1/1000 the R&D expenditure that Fuji can do. The Instax film products are pretty darn solid ... My Lomo Instant Square, MiNT InstaKon RF70, and Instant Magny 35 produce very very nice results, albeit with many of the same exposure and contrast issues that are there in the Polaroid Originals film.
G
---
BTW, just had to say: I use all the cameras I buy, as much as I have time for. I can't use cameras that are inconsistent and unreliable in any useful way. So every time I buy a nice old camera that I think I'll enjoy nowadays, I budget the price and time to buy it with a trip to a camera technician for a CLA and checkout. When I get the camera I do an exhaustive checkout of all of its features and accuracy and if it needs help, off it goes to the shop for a month.
raid
Dad Photographer
This thread includes some interesting images!