Back in 1960s, automatic exposure was an amazing advance in photography. Polaroid, in its quest to make a really easy-to-use camera, made most of its cameras with only automatic exposure. I mean, who needed anything else? Fast forward to today and it seems automatic exposure has lost its mojo. Complete control over shutter and aperture […]
Tag: Polaroid
Posted in5 Frames...
5 Frames… Crisscrossing the old Route 66 on a Polaroid 600 – by Matt Andrews
On December 21, 2022 I headed out of Nashville on I-40 towards Camarillo, CA for the holidays. I barely outran the “bomb cyclone” storm just past Oklahoma City and had pretty good weather for the next 2 weeks. I brought a few cameras, but the wildcard was my mom’s Polaroid 600. She was an elementary […]
Posted inGuides & How-Tos
How-to: Shoot 120 & 35mm film in a Polaroid pack film camera
After using a Polaroid pack film camera to shoot paper negatives, I was wondering how easy it would be to shoot other film types. The closest size native to the Polaroid is 120 film, so it made sense to explore that option. I’ve seen other conversions to 120 using existing commercial 120 backs adapted to […]
Posted in5 Frames...
5 Frames… Of Polaroid Color SX-70 Film at the tiny Greek island of Anafi (ISO 160 / Polaroid SX-70 + 116mm f/8 lens) – by George Pavlopoulos
The journey to the island of Anafi takes me more than half a day from Athens, and returning every summer has become something more than a ritual: it’s a seal that marks one more time around the sun. The small Cycladic island doesn’t seem to belong in the digital era, and that’s probably why I […]
Posted inGuides & How-Tos
How-to: Shoot paper negatives with a Polaroid pack film Land Camera
Prices of Polaroid 100 series pack film keep rising as existing expired stock becomes rare. At some point in one’s own economy, it becomes too expensive to shoot. I reached that point when my pack film stash ran out and the going price was around $80/pack (a couple of years ago, now). I thought it […]
Posted inFeatured projects
Build log: Take one Polaroid Model 455 and one Instax 100 camera and what do you get? A serious hack job
After Fujifilm’s FP instant pack film was discontinued back in 2016, the remaining larger-format instant film choices were few: Impossible Project integral film, which took 30 minutes to develop with unpredictable results, or Fuji Instax wide film. Sure, you can still buy expired pack film, or spring for One Instant, but at over $20/photo, it […]
Posted inGuides & How-Tos
Repurposing orphaned instant cameras: Creating the Polaroid “SX-450”
2016 hit me hard. 100-Series pack film for Polaroid cameras would no longer be produced and it was only a matter of time before all of my packfilm cameras would become orphans. By 2019, my film stash was running low and I was toying with the idea of making these cameras work with other film […]
Posted inPhotosets and stories
Instant Memory: Textile collages on vintage found Polaroids and contemporary Fujifilm INSTAX film
This series of textile collages began with finding a collection of seemingly random Polaroid images from my late Great Aunt Thelma’s house. As one of the executors of her estate, my father asked me and my mother to help go through her belongings at her small home in Oklahoma. Among our findings were boxes and […]
Posted inArticles
5 Frames… Of the Mojave Desert region on Polaroid B&W SX-70 film with a Polaroid Pronto! RF
I have always had a soft spot in my heart for instant photography. I have always enjoyed looking at other people’s Polaroid photographs. Somehow photos made with Polaroid cameras at social events always appear more spontaneous, less posed. Travel Polaroids always feel more heartfelt, as though the photographer is more interested in giving you some […]
Posted inNews
Bringing back instant 20×24″ photography in an age after the 20×24 Polaroid with CAMERADACTYL
During the long pandemic quarantine, I bought a laser cutter the size of a small Volkswagen to cut ventilator prototype parts, Brooklyn Film Camera Polaroid scan trays, and a number of other photographic equipment parts. I bought the largest cutter that I could fit in my shop, because I had been dreaming of the 20×24 […]
Posted inGuides & How-Tos
The Remora-01: An alternative Polaroid SX-70 battery
In 2013 I got my first Polaroid camera, and since then I have been journeying into the world of instant film. From the inception of the Impossible Project to its recent merger, I eagerly followed the rediscovery of the formula for instant film, but was always frowning when I had to trash a battery. When […]
Posted inArticles, Film camera reviews, Mamiya film camera reviews, Reviews
The Analogue Studio Polaroid conversion kit for the Mamiya RB67
I get easily excited about the little things. Whether it’s a new film stock, a film stock revived from the dead (come on Agfa Vista 400!), a new camera, a newly discovered old camera, or literally anything with the word Mamiya in it, my creativity starts rolling and I get my butt off the couch […]
Posted inFeatured projects
The evolution of the camera as seen through X-ray imaging
It’s no secret that for many film photographers, taking photos of their cameras is as enjoyable as making photographs with them. Don’t take my word for it, just take a quick look on social media (and probably your own phone’s camera roll) to confirm it’s the norm rather than the exception. Fine art photographer Kent […]
Posted inArticles
Celebs selling Polaroids in the 1970s, 80s and 90s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csqQ14YnESY I haven’t had cable TV in a very long time. I cut the cord almost 12 years ago and all of the ads I get now are less than 15 seconds long, skip-able and usually specific to my tastes. The only way to avoid skipping an ad when I was growing up was to […]
Posted inOpinion
Squaring the circle: Polaroid rises from the ashes of The Impossible Project
A little over 12 years since The Impossible Project’s inception, the company has squared the circle and become the very brand whose products it was created to save.
Posted in5 Frames..., Articles
5 Frames… With Fujifilm FP-100C (Polaroid 340 Land Camera)
I’ve been shooting 35mm and medium format film for a quite a while and was never really interested in instant film. But last summer I found out about pack film. It was so different from what I’ve seen before, sharpness and color accuracy – it was all there. Unfortunately, I was too late, the last […]
Posted inNikon film camera reviews
Camera review: 14 years with the “invisible” Nikon FM3a
In January 2006, after 5 or so years of film photography with a combination of cheaper cameras (e.g., a Minolta SRT-101, a Fed-3 and an old Mamiya 35mm), I bought a like-new Nikon FM3A for $429 USD on eBay. Since then it has shot hundreds (if not thousands) of rolls of film, and has accompanied […]
Posted inFeatured, Film camera reviews, Polaroid film camera reviews, Reviews
Camera review: Polaroid Automatic 100 Land Camera
In 1963, the Polaroid Corporation introduced the Automatic 100 Land Camera (also known as the Model 100). Named after Polaroid co-founder and genius inventor Edwin Land, the Land Cameras would go on to be a successful line of cameras for the company, produced in one form or another until the early 2000’s. Front View of […]
Posted inWet plate collodion
Not for legal use: Polaroid passport photos on wet plate collodion
Wet plate collodion doesn’t spring to mind as either the most practical or in fact, legal approach to creating passport photographs but that didn’t stop EMULSIVE interviewee #196 Markus Hofstaetter from giving it a shot.
Markus isn’t a stranger
Posted inFilm Photographer Interviews, Interviews
EMULSIVE interview #183: I am Abigail Crone and this is why I shoot film
Welcome, welcome, welcome!
