The Polaroid SX-70 Project

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A lot of people have asked me why I have been shooting nearly everything with Polaroid for the last several months.

At the beginning of April, 2022 I decided to buy a forty-four year old Polaroid SX-70 camera. I had originally intended to just play around with it for fun; but I began to wonder if it would be possible to use the SX-70 for serious documentary photography and fine art photography, despite the limitations imposed by a camera that has a non-interchangeable lens, doesn't allow fully manual exposure control, and uses a film with a very high contrast rendering compared to digital cameras and conventional color films. It has been a challenge!

As most people on RFF know, for nearly thirty years, I have been working on a long-term documentary project centered on my home state of Indiana in the American Midwest. This year, I am using the Polaroid camera for nearly all of my continuing work on these projects.

I've built a website explaining the project in more details, with galleries of the nearly 300 photos I have made so far (well, the ones that came out good!).

https://sx70project.com/

 

[jsrockit]

Well done. A nice added touch to your project overall.

 

[JoeV]

Chris, I’ve been following your project with interest, and congratulate you on your success.

I’ve had an SX-70 for decades, that sat unused in its brown leather case in my darkroom loft. Then, a few months ago, I was visiting my friend Ethan Moses (who runs cameradactyl cameras) and he mentioned his friend “Dr. Germs”, a medical student here in ABQ named Jeremy who converts SX-70s to use Type 600 film. So I had him convert my camera, which ended up being in excellent condition, despite the poor storage conditions it had been under. Now I too am enjoying this marvelous piece of mid-century American engineering.

I’ve just ordered the Mint electronic flash unit, looking forward to using that.

Heres a sample print I made yesterday afternoon, of my grandson in front of our house, after a rain storm.

Noah by Joe Van Cleave, on Flickr

 

[Retro-Grouch]

Chris, it's good to see you diving into documentary with a somewhat unconventional tool. There's a notion, still prevalent, that only certain types of cameras and certain styles (or non-styles) of photography are appropriate to the documentary mode. I call nonsense on that! It's impossible to have an "objective" document of what's in front of the camera; every film, every lens, every step to the left or right contributes to the subjective uniqueness of the photo, whether intended or not. I feel that it's better and more honest to acknowledge and embrace that inevitable subjectivity. From the Polaroids you've posted, I get a very good sense of the material world that you're documenting, but I also get a strong sense of your feelings about it. The strange, dreamy look of the Polaroid materials contributes strongly, in that regard. This is a wonderful and meaningful project. Best of luck with it!

 

[Godfrey]

A lot of people have asked me why I have been shooting nearly everything with Polaroid for the last several months.

At the beginning of April, 2022 I decided to buy a forty-four year old Polaroid SX-70 camera. I had originally intended to just play around with it for fun; but I began to wonder if it would be possible to use the SX-70 for serious documentary photography and fine art photography, despite the limitations imposed by a camera that has a non-interchangeable lens, doesn't allow fully manual exposure control, and uses a film with a very high contrast rendering compared to digital cameras and conventional color films. It has been a challenge!

As most people on RFF know, for nearly thirty years, I have been working on a long-term documentary project centered on my home state of Indiana in the American Midwest. This year, I am using the Polaroid camera for nearly all of my continuing work on these projects.

I've built a website explaining the project in more details, with galleries of the nearly 300 photos I have made so far (well, the ones that came out good!).

https://sx70project.com/

I visited your Polaroid site ... You have some lovely work posted there!

One of my Polaroid cameras is an original, 1974 model SX-70, purchased new by my uncle back in the day. He gave it to me a decade ago; I don't think it has ever needed service or repair. It continues to work perfectly and makes excellent photographs today with the re-born Polaroid SX-70 film.

I can't thank Florian Capps and all the other folks of The Impossible Project enough for not letting all this wonderful stuff go extinct.

G

 

[KoNickon]

I can't think of an SX-70 without hearing Laurence Olivier's voice from the original advertisements. I like your pictures, Chris, but I am still not a fan of the Polaroid "look."

 

[Pál_K]

Chris, your excellent work shows you are a perfect ambassador for documentary photography, for your town, and for SX-70 photography. You bring all of these components together in a wonderful display of art and history. The narrative you provide with these photos is significant and enjoyable as well.

For me, the original SX-70 film had a color palette and look that I found extremely pleasing. The original 600 film did not have it and the new re-created Polaroid films don’t have it. That’s ok - that we still have a supplier of film for these cameras is a miracle.

 

[Godfrey]

Chris, your excellent work shows you are a perfect ambassador for documentary photography, for your town, and for SX-70 photography. You bring all of these components together in a wonderful display of art and history. The narrative you provide with these photos is significant and enjoyable as well.

For me, the original SX-70 film had a color palette and look that I found extremely pleasing. The original 600 film did not have it and the new re-created Polaroid films don’t have it. That’s ok - that we still have a supplier of film for these cameras is a miracle.

Yes, the re-created color film is certainly not the same as the original SX-70. However, it is good in its own right, and the fact that there's B&W for the SX-70 now is marvelous. I usually by 2 packs of B&W to every pack of Color... 🙂

G

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Nice to see the SX-70 in use for this project. I had the SLR680 rebuilt by Retroskekt.

My Favorite Polaroid- an SX70 Sonar that I modified to use with 600 film. Use it with a 2350 Flash and the 1.6x Telephoto- perfect exposure.

SX70 film was color balanced for Flashbars, 600 speed for Flash. I was never happy using the SX70 film with the 2350 flash, and used up my Flashbars.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Nice to see the SX-70 in use for this project. I had the SLR680 rebuilt by Retroskekt.

My Favorite Polaroid- an SX70 Sonar that I modified to use with 600 film. Use it with a 2350 Flash and the 1.6x Telephoto- perfect exposure.

SX70 film was color balanced for Flashbars, 600 speed for Flash. I was never happy using the SX70 film with the 2350 flash, and used up my Flashbars.

What's a 2350 flash? There are places selling old flashbars, but they want $25-$30 each!

Is the 1.6x tele lens you're using the original one made by Polaroid or something else? I'd love to get the Polaroid teleconverter but they go for outrageous prices.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255697647194

Polaroid 2350 electronic flash for the SX70, side-mounted and uses a baseplate that screws into the tripod socket. I bought mine and the Polaroid 1.5x Telephoto (# 119a) directly from Polaroid over 30 years ago.

 

[hap]

I love to do those manipulations. Where do you get real SX 70 that you can push around the emulsion?

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I love to do those manipulations. Where do you get real SX 70 that you can push around the emulsion?

It was discontinued around 2005. The Original Polaroid Corporation went out of business in 2008. The stuff made now is from a different corporate entity; they have the Polaroid name but are not related to the original Polaroid. The current SX-70 film has a hard emulsion that you can't manipulate. 🙁

 

[hap]

A SX-70 without the possibility of manipulations is a Fuji.

 

[hap]

It was discontinued around 2005. The Original Polaroid Corporation went out of business in 2008. The stuff made now is from a different corporate entity; they have the Polaroid name but are not related to the original Polaroid. The current SX-70 film has a hard emulsion that you can't manipulate. 🙁

Too bad....the picture I manipulated of the commercial jet plane , originally at the gate, but manipulated to appear in flight.(sort of)

 

[Godfrey]

A SX-70 without the possibility of manipulations is a Fuji.

It should come as no surprise that Fujifilm instant films ... both the pack types and the integral types ... were developed based on Polaroid patents. Fuji, unlike Kodak, were good business partners with Polaroid and respected Polaroids patents, used them under license with permission. Fuji has, of course, developed the films beyond the original patents and license as well.

Back in the day I acquired some SX-70 Time Zero "art" film that came with a stylus for manipulation. Manipulating the film with the stylus was interesting for a frame or three, but it was not my thing at all, so I didn't buy any more. Current Polaroid film (nee: Polaroid Originals, nee: The Impossible Project) have a completely different emulsion chemistry compared to the Time Zero films and take less well to being mechanically smooshed around. Other manipulations are possible ... But these sorts of manipulations remain "not my thing" so I haven't experimented.

🙂

G

 

[JoeV]

It should come as no surprise that Fujifilm instant films ... both the pack types and the integral types ... were developed based on Polaroid patents. Fuji, unlike Kodak, were good business partners with Polaroid and respected Polaroids patents, used them under license with permission. Fuji has, of course, developed the films beyond the original patents and license as well.

Back in the day I acquired some SX-70 Time Zero "art" film that came with a stylus for manipulation. Manipulating the film with the stylus was interesting for a frame or three, but it was not my thing at all, so I didn't buy any more. Current Polaroid film (nee: Polaroid Originals, nee: The Impossible Project) have a completely different emulsion chemistry compared to the Time Zero films and take less well to being mechanically smooshed around. Other manipulations are possible ... But these sorts of manipulations remain "not my thing" so I haven't experimented.

🙂

G

I may be wrong, but I’d heard the Instax film was based on a competing process from Kodak’s integral instant film product, released after SX-70 and not enjoying much commercial success (and later liscensed by Fujifilm); BTW, I have seen several old Kodak instant cameras in thrift stores. The narrative I’d heard was Kodak had to figure out how to expose the print through the reverse side, rather than Polaroid’s front-side exposure (which is why Polaroid cameras needed the angled front-surface mirror, to reverse the image).

 

[Godfrey]

I may be wrong, but I'd heard the Instax film was based on a competing process from Kodak's integral instant film product, released after SX-70 and not enjoying much commercial success (and later liscensed by Fujifilm); BTW, I have seen several old Kodak instant cameras in thrift stores. The narrative I'd heard was Kodak had to figure out how to expose the print through the reverse side, rather than Polaroid's front-side exposure (which is why Polaroid cameras needed the angled front-surface mirror, to reverse the image).

All of this is documented in "A Triumph of Genius" by Ronald K. Fierstein, which documents the life of Dr. Edwin Land, the development of the Polaroid company and its products, and the nineteen-years-long, patent suit that was waged between Polaroid and Kodak. Polaroid had patented both the front-side and back-side processing constructions some time before the SX-70 was released. The reason they used the front-side processing construction was that the hardware team working on the camera had already finished the design and was busy building prototypes, waiting for the film (being done by a completely separate team) to be ready to test. The back side processing construction design was one of the patents that helped prove that Kodak, in their instant film cameras, had illegitimately used Polaroid patents without proper licensing and permission; they lost the case after the long bitter 19 years and were found against to the tune of over a billion dollars...

Fuji's instant film licenses were with Polaroid. Fuji chose the back-side processing construction design because it made the cameras simpler to design and construct. Polaroid might have done the same if the SX-70 hardware hadn't been so far along in development already by the time the film came along. (Note that Land announced the first shipment date for the SX-70 before the camera hardware team had ever seen even a prototype of the film... They simply had a design spec and drawing to develop the camera around!!!)

G

 

[JoeV]

Thank you, Godfrey!

 

[Derek Leath]

A lot of people have asked me why I have been shooting nearly everything with Polaroid for the last several months.

At the beginning of April, 2022 I decided to buy a forty-four year old Polaroid SX-70 camera. I had originally intended to just play around with it for fun; but I began to wonder if it would be possible to use the SX-70 for serious documentary photography and fine art photography, despite the limitations imposed by a camera that has a non-interchangeable lens, doesn't allow fully manual exposure control, and uses a film with a very high contrast rendering compared to digital cameras and conventional color films. It has been a challenge!

As most people on RFF know, for nearly thirty years, I have been working on a long-term documentary project centered on my home state of Indiana in the American Midwest. This year, I am using the Polaroid camera for nearly all of my continuing work on these projects.

I've built a website explaining the project in more details, with galleries of the nearly 300 photos I have made so far (well, the ones that came out good!).

The Polaroid SX-70 Project by Christopher Crawford

This is a very cool web site, and the photos are equally very cool to look at. Nice job