Mocking Bird l Vancouver Film Photographer » Buying Cameras

How To Use A Polaroid Camera

Amanda — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:07:08 +0000

Polaroid is everywhere right now, yet it is a dying art and people are holding onto it for dear life. Do not listen to those who tell you that it’s too late. It is not. You do need to make a few decisions first.

What kind of camera?

Polaroid SX70 -SLR style cameras

Polaroid auto standard 600 cameras

Polaroid packfilm cameras

Polaroid Spectra cameras

There are other old school kind as well, but these are the cameras that I know and can advise you on.

{Polaroid Auto 600 cameras}

Image by Viv Seattle Bon Vivant

These are the most modern of the Polaroid cameras and were your standard automatic point and shoot style camera. There is no fussing around with these cameras and they are often used as party cameras. My little sister owns one and inserts the still available 600 film straight into the camera, points and shoots, Polaroid ejects out. Simple, easy. Artistically speaking, though, you may not be able to get the focus and colours on these cameras that you will with an SX70 or SLR680.

Image by dfuster74 on flickr

Check out more examples here.

Newest model to look for: Polaroid 600 One Classic Film needed: 600

{Polaroid SLR type cameras}

Image by Tae on flickr

There are many choices here but the one I know and love the best is the SX70. There are many different kinds of SX70 cameras also. I have the original fully manual camera- the brown one! It takes some getting used to as you need to do all the focusing yourself. The sonar /auto models have auto focusing. You will also need to make a few alterations to your camera and film for this camera to work. You can use either 600 or 779 film but you will need to adjust the film to make it fit into the camera.

There are 4 little nubs underneath the film pack. You will need to remove these with a knife or pliers. I have always used pliers but here in Vancouver, I have just been hacking them off with a Stanley knife.

You will also need a ND filter to go over the film pack or to stick over the lens. I prefer the film pack as it does not alter your view of the shot you are composing. As I have shown over at Paper Cameras before, here is a great video explaining how this is done.

Some people have cameras that do not need them to use a filter at all. It takes some playing around and working out what is best for the camera you own.

Edit: Susannah informs me that you don’t HAVE to remove the little nubs. Check out the comments to see what she says!

Image by buradori on flickr

Models to look for: Polaroid SX70 (original brown casing), Polaroid SX70 Sonar (automatic focus), Polaroid SLR680

Film needed: 600 or 779

As you can see in the links, I’ve given you a few options to find film. There are a few independent camera stores that will still stock Polaroid film. I know of at least 4 in Sydney that still do. You need to do some research and put in the leg work if you desperately want to find it. It is still out there!

You can also get your film from online places such as:

Please Note: PolaPremium have contacted me and wanted the US shoppers to know that for items marked USA, you can purchase with a shipping rate of $9 which is definitely reasonable for shipping costs.

If you want more control out of your shots, I recommend getting an SX70 out of the 2 listed.

In the next few days, I will talk about Spectra and Pack film cameras which both use different kinds of film to the cameras I’ve discussed here. Come back soon to see the continuation of my Polaroid camera run down!

Part 11 is here.

New To Polaroid? Time To Get A Camera!

Amanda — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:00:32 +0000

Do you spend time fawning over beautiful, light filled Polaroids on flickr wishing you had a camera of your own? Do you love the ease of digital photography but prefer the look of film? Do you want to be like all the cool camera kids?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then I suggest you do yourself a huge favour and get yourself a Polaroid camera.

What? Is she mad? Polaroid film is dead, kaput, discontinued! Yes, this is true (for now- thank you Impossible Project) but it is still available if you look hard enough and depending on the camera you have, readily available in the form of Fuji Instant.

Gorgeous shot by Molly of Orangette

Why am I trying to convince you to buy shoot Polaroid?

Your heart will sing and you will feel joy that you have never felt before.
You will experience that pure happiness that one does when shooting with a Polaroid camera.
You will be able to not only fawn over others’ Polas but you will be able to show yours off too!
You will be able to participate in Roid Week (Nov 2 -6) which is awesome fun.
You will have jaw dropping little squares of magic all over your house.
You won’t have to take your film to the photo store to be developed and printed.
You won’t need to use Poladroid ever again.
You will experience the ecstasy that is the click and whirr.
Your artistic photography skills will instantly jump from hopeful beginner to arty farty photography student.

AND…

You will make awesome Polaroid friends who are super cool!!

Do you need any more convincing?

Now that I have convinced you, later in the week, I am going to show you what you need to do to go about acquiring a camera and where to get your hands on some film.

So You Want to Buy a Film Camera

Amanda — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:27:54 +0000

If you hadn’t heard yet, I’m a bit of a film photography obsessive. I get a lot of emails and flickrmail from people asking me about my cameras, how I use them, which ones to buy, so I thought I would put up a little feature here on why I personally love film cameras and how you can too.

So you’ve decided you want to get into film photography for whatever reason. Maybe you took a photography class back in high school or at university and want to get back into it, maybe you’ve only ever used a digital camera and you’re intrigued by this weird thing called film (what do you mean I don’t plug it into the computer?) or maybe you just love the look of what film can produce.

To me film tells a story, it creates something that could be, may have been or quite possibly wasn’t there, it weaves magic that I still don’t think digital can do. Don’t get me wrong, I love digital (especially the time aspects) and I have used it to shoot my 52 weeks project mostly…which I should just mention, ends this weekend!! However, film can spin that web, can create the magic of story telling, which to me, is what good photography is all about.

So what do you buy? 35mm? Medium format? Polaroid? Toy camera? So much choice!

I would recommend starting out with a 35mm if you just want a straight up film camera that is going to do the job. 35mm cameras are the kind that normal every day film goes into. All old school automatic cameras that our mums and dads used to use were 35mm point and shoots. I own quite a few different 35mm cameras.

35mm:

Pentax K1000

I don’t own one myself but lots of people in the blogging world and in my list of flickr contacts do use the Pentax K1000. You can pick one up on ebay for around $100. Perhaps I should buy myself one for my birthday in the coming weeks seeing as they were made in 1976 and so was I.

K1000 image by Buttons Magee

K1000 image by Jenifer Altman

Nikon FM

My workhorse 35mm camera is the Nikon FM3A. It sits in the Nikon FM family which are some of the greatest manual cameras ever made. They are strong, sturdy and built to last. The Nikon FM2 is a very popular camera and produces some gorgeous results. The special thing about the FM3A was that it was the last manual camera that Nikon built, it is fully manual but nowhere near as old as the others and it has an auto setting for when I’m feeling less than artistic. She is my baby.

FM3A images by me.

The FM3A is a lot pricier than the FM or FM2 cameras, but I hear the FM2 is just as good.
Canon AE1

My grandfather owns a Canon AE1 and I really need to get my hands on it to have a play. It’s one of those cameras that I’ve always wanted to own and in fact, I was tossing up between it and the Nikon FM3A before I got her. The Nikon won out on newness which meant I wouldn’t be inheriting someone else’s problems. My aunt has shot some really fabulous Black and White portraits with the Canon AE1. I really should go and steal it from her. I know Pia Jane Bijkerk uses one of these babies!

Image by Lyndsay Jobe

Yashica Electro and FX

The Yashica Electro 35 G series cameras are also popular. Abby from Abby Try Again shoots with one if that’s anything to go by. I don’t know much about them other than over the years lots of people have told me to buy one. I never really had the chance, until I stumbled across a used camera store in Seattle a few years back. They didn’t have any Electros but I did find a Yashica FX3 which I’d also had my eye on. I have a roll in it that I’m almost done with at the moment, as it’s been a while since I used this camera. Can’t wait to see the results!

Yashica Electro images by Abby Tries Again.

Olympus OM2

The Olympus OM2 has a cult following, as do many of the cameras listed here. This is one camera I have always been intrigued by, along with the Olympus Pen cameras. The king, Tommy Oshima has one, so you know they must be good!

OM2 image by Tommy Oshima.

Just remember that a lot of these cameras are fully manual. You can pick up auto point and shoot cameras that were made later but they don’t offer as much oomph in my opinion. Any of these cameras would be a good choice to start your way in film photography. None should be too pricey, apart from maybe the Nikon FM3A, all costing you between $100-$200. Try ebay for a bargain or the safer KEH or B&H photo. I have bought from both online stores and have been very pleased with the results. If I ever get around to buying myself a Hasselblad, I will most likely purchase from KEH.

I hope you have enjoyed my little film camera feature.

p.s. Sorry about the length of this post, I couldn’t figure out how to use the exerpts on this new theme!