I grew up using several Polaroid instant cameras. My family traded in lots of surplus and salvage goods and that meant plenty of expired or almost-expired Polaroid instant film. This was probably one of my first introductions to the camera and certainly the most comical.
If you've used instant film before you know how funky the images can be if you're working with old or improperly stored film. You got stuff that was too blue or too green, sections of the exposure would look like it had been exposed to some type of radiation. It was a lot of fun! And I won't go into discussion on what a large gathering of males do for comic relief with instant film. Lets just say that nothing was private and anything could be used against you.But I digress. You aren't reading this tutorial to hear about my Polaroid past with salvaged film, you want to know how to use that old camera you yourself probably found in an antique store or on grandpa's shelf.
The video on this page will probably be the most entertaining but, for those of you who want a quick primer without having to watch me - here it is.
Film
I'm going to briefly go over my experience with the Polaroid 420 landcamera, one of several Polaroids I own. But, one of the few I still use since I can find a compatible film and a reasonable price.
Thats the first thing you will want to purchase, film. Fuji makes a line of instant film that still fits Polaroid cameras like the 420 and it works pretty good, makes a nice picture too. I've purchased several packs myself from places like Amazon.com for a reasonable price. You can get it in either color (FP-100C) or black and white (FP 100B). There is also a higher speed black and white (FP 3000B) but, I've never tried it.
(Looking for some film for your Polaroid? I've been getting mine at Amazon which seems to have the best price so far.)
FUJIFILM FP-100C 3.25 X 4.25 Inches Professional Instant Color Film
FUJIFILM FP-100B 3.25 X 4.25 Inches Professional Instant Black and White Film
FUJIFILM FP-3000B 3.34 X 4.25 Inches Professional Instant Black and White Film
Batteries
So you've got your film and ready to shoot right? Well - maybe not. See, the 420 uses a battery to fire off the shutter. If you turn the camera over you will see a place in the body that pops open to get to that battery compartment. Go ahead, open it up. See that old battery? Yep, you can still buy those but, I wouldn't bother. They are pretty inefficient by todays standards - and pretty expensive too.
What you really want to do it just take that whole housing out, and replace it with a AAA two-battery holder you can pick up at an electronics store. So, go get one, some AAA batteries and rewire the insides by sniping the wires and tying them off to the ends on the new holder. I went ahead and removed the holder brackets from the old set so I could put the entire thing back in the camera and close it up nicely.
Watch a short video I put together a few years ago that might help you out!
Shoot!
Ok, so you've got the film, replaced the batteries and are ready to go, right? Almost - I figure you might not have a manual and want to understand how this thing works.
To load the film open the back of the camera, upack the film from its packaging and load it into the slot. Oh, one thing - you might run into problems with a piece of tension metal inside the housing. Its a long flat piece held on with rivets, grind them off and remove the metal if you need to.
Sometimes it puts too much pressure on the Fuji pack which doesn't need the extra help like Polaroid film did.If you decide to leave it expect that you might have a little more trouble pulling the film free of the housing after each shot.
Next close the camera up and pull the black paper tab sticking out of the side. This removes the protective shield from the film - from this point forward don't open the camera or you risk exposing the whole pack.
Extend the bellow and set the exposure dial at the lens to a little past the arrow which indicates an average exposure - Fuji film sometimes needs it to be a little darker. After that push down the shutter knob thats in the front of the camera and go find something interesting to shoot.
After you find that pretty flower you will need to focus the camera. How do you do that? Well next to the viewfinder is a little round hole. And if you look down from above the camera you will see two knobs with arrows - push them left or right - this is how you will focus. Back at the little hole you will see two images, as you push the focus left and right they start to line-up on top of each other. When the both match, you're in focus!
Finally, push the big red button and snap - you've taken your first shot. Pull the film out by yanking on the white tab of the first shot. It will the film tab out and you can then remove it from the camera. Let it sit for around 50-90 seconds, peel the wrapper apart - and you have your very own instant picture!
I hope this short tutorial helps you out with your instant pictures. And watch the video to help clear things up!
