Slashdot Mirror
1970s Polaroid SX-70 Cameras Make a Comeback
cylonlover writes "When it was released in 1972, the Polaroid SX-70, with its foldable SLR design, was the world's first instant SLR. It was also the first camera to use Polaroid's then-new integral instant film that contained all the chemical layers required to expose, develop, and fix the photo. Photojojo is now offering Limited Edition Polaroid SX-70 cameras that have all been restored to working condition, and integral instant film is also available."
I never owned one (I was only a kid) but I recall the advertisements and articles for this camera. It was an enormous step up from the existing instant camera technology with the layers you had to peel off the picture and the chemicals (fixers?) you needed to apply.
The camera body was also a miracle of engineering design because of the way it could fold flat for storage, but pop open in just the right manner for all the optical paths to work (including the SLR aspect).
Much later I owned a Kodak instant camera during their brief foray into instant film, before Polaroid's arsenal of patents (from the SX-70 I guess) did them in.
RETURN without GOSUB in line 1050
Fuji still makes some instant cameras, the Instax and Instax Mini line. The blood-sucking leeches, errrrr, the company that currently owns the Polaroid name rebadges one of the Instax Minis as the Polaroid 300 and sells it at a premium.
The Instax films are not compatible with older Polaroid cameras that use integral films, but Fuji also makes some films that fit the even older Polaroid pack film type cameras (pull the film out, wait 60 seconds, peel, wonder what to do with goopy negative portion).
Slightly disreputable, albeit gregarious
Proper link to Impossible Project not included in the article. They're the people who bought the factory and now reproducing the film packs.
The films from The Impossible Project work, but at this point still need to be considered "experimental". The biggest problem they have yet to conquer is the chemical layer that shields the photo from light immediately after ejection from the camera - aka the opacifier layer.
All the current films require that you immediately protect the film from ambient light while it develops, which definitely kills some of the joy of the original SX70 experience.
Still major amounts of mad props to TIP for saving the film manufacturing equipment from being scrapped and being able to create a whole new film that works even as well as it does, on a shoestring budget in a short amount of time.
Slightly disreputable, albeit gregarious
Sure, but they produce Wide Screen Polaroids ! That's totally like, HD Polaroid, or something. Widescreen, man.
I heard in a few years they're going to be releasing 3-D polaroids, but the first few models are going to require special glasses to view, and they give some viewers headaches.
moox. for a new generation.
Clearly you've never seen the joy in people's faces when you hand them a photo that you've just taken.
I take one of my Polaroids with me to street festivals and such. See a person with a cute puppy or a funny hat or whatever's interesting, take a shot, hand it to them, walk away.
Slightly disreputable, albeit gregarious
Just a few months ago, Technologizer wrote a great article about this very item and the work behind it: Polaroid's SX-70: The Art and Science of the Nearly Impossible
In 1972, instant photography was no longer a novelty: the world had been introduced to it in 1947 when Polaroid co-founder Edwin H. Land unveiled the Model 95, the company's first camera...
The existence of previous instant cameras only helped emphasize what a great leap forward the SX-70 was. Unlike any previous Polaroid, it was a single-lens reflex (SLR) model with a viewfinder that showed exactly what you'd get. Unlike any previous Polaroid, it folded up into a 1"-thick leather-encased brick that was (just barely) pocketable. Unlike any previous Polaroid, it built the battery into the film pack. Even the flash--in the form of a Polaroid invention called a flashbar that packed ten bulbs into a double-sided array--was custom-designed for the SX-70.
Most important, unlike any other Polaroid, the SX-70 asked the photographer to do nothing more than focus, press the shutter, and pluck the snapshot as it emerged from the camera--and then watch it develop in daylight. It was the first camera to realize what Edwin Land said had been his dream all along: "absolute one-step photography."
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Oh, what sad times are these when we have to rely on Hipsters to save our economy. There is a pestilence upon this land. Nothing is sacred. Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
Flexible bare-metal recovery for Linux/UNIX
They are, just not the SX-70.
There aren't many cameras today made as well as the SX-70. Its a work of art.
These days, yes. Back in the "old days" where digitals took crappy photos to begin with, having photos available quickly was quite an advantage over having to finish the roll and waiting 3 days to get it developed and get prints.
With digital cameras being quite good, and instant enough, the market basically vanished. No longer having to wait weeks after a vacation to get back photos to use up the roll, or taking pictures of the airport to use up the roll so you can develop it on the way back has meant well, getting photos done minutes after it was taken is a much smaller niche than just taking the photos, and a few hours later broadcasting it all over twitter and facebook.
The niche now are for those sponaneous moments between strangers where neither wants to share personal information, and documentation for legal or scientific reasons because the photos can be captured right then and there, with no time for doctoring.
See a cute person with a puppy or a funny hat or whatever's interesting, take a shot, hand it to them, ask them out.
I bet you're a blast at parties.
Slightly disreputable, albeit gregarious
One of the overlooked innovations in the film pack was the flat Polapulse battery. It was designed to deliver bursts of high current needed to drive the flash and run the motor that ejected the exposed film. A friend in high school saved the spent film packs from his parent's camera and did an experiment in Electronics to measure the current these could produce using a VTVM (Vacuum Tube Volt Meter) and a known resistance. Even partially drained, ten of these batteries wired in series delivered an impressive amount of current.
Sometimes you really do need it right now. More to the point, sometimes you need something that is guaranteed unaltered. Insurance adjusters have used instant cameras for decades, because they might have one chance to photograph a wrecked car or something like that. First of all, (unlike with traditional film) they can find out on-site if they got the picture they needed; and secondly (unlike with digital) they can pretty much enter it as claim evidence as a true representation of the subject.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
those crappy Polaroid photos won't be around in 10 or 20 years
Which is a good thing, if you go to the kind of parties I used to. The last thing I need is crystal-clear shots of me engaged in "questionable" (or "indictable") activities. I always thought that was kind of the idea of Polaroids -- you can be sure that you have the only copy. None of this "Of course I'll never show anyone these pictures, they'll never leave my phone."
Just junk food for thought...
The SX-70 is one of the greatest works of industrial/product design, ever. Henry Dreyfuss's masterpiece.
IF we taught design as required unit in art in public schools, the work of Raymond Lowey, BelGeddes, Dreyfus , Noguchi, there would be many competators to Apple Inc.
Dreyfuss never designed a second rate anything. Look it up if you cannot name at least three famous examples of his work, you will be surprised. He said 'I don't do packaging' meaning that he needed to be involved from the very beginning of the design/engineering process. Do not expect an accomplished designer to put a sexed-up veneer on a piece of crap at the eleventh hour.
I have two of these cameras just crying for film stock. A thing that is just a pleasure to hold. Who directed the James Garner commercials for this camera ? Ahead of their time.
I get why most 35mm cameras have been obsoleted,
I don't. Analog is still better. Unfortunately for the unwashed masses 'good enough' is just that, good enough and in the consumer world 'good enough' sells more and the people that care about quality often lose out.. A big part of the reason we got stuck with the lesser quality VHS instead of Beta.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
"You see this? It's worthless. Ten dollars from a vendor in the street. But I take it and bury it in the sand for a thousand years and it becomes priceless! Like the Ark. Men will kill for it. Men like you and me."
Am I a hipster? I'm in my 30s making a 6-figure salary. I probably pay more in taxes than you make in salary. I would love to have a camera like this, as it reminds me of the 1970s when I was a young lad. That camera will complement my DSLR with $10K worth of lenses. Again: am I a hipster, or are you just an idiot? Probably the latter.
I see a Corvette and chunky gold chains in your near future . . .
I am not a crackpot.