SX-70 New Film
Gentlepersons:
This Picture In Particular:
Yup, still experimenting with Polaroid Original’s SX-70-speed film. It works in two of my old Polaroid™ cameras, both a Pronto!B and an SX-70 Alpha 1. As you can see, the Alpha 1, although working properly with the flash, was getting the exposure wrong in daylight without the flash. So I’m going to get it fixed by a nice fellow who does this for pin money, Mr. Roger Garrell in Hurricane, UT. When I get it back, I’ll post a picture showing the before and after results.
In July, I’m going to travel back to Montana to my other home where I can try my SX-70, bought new by me when they first came out and probably part of the first production run, but now with the new Polaroid Originals film.
I’m an old man. These are the type of things that get me up and moving around, keeping mind and body active after being retired for so many years.
The Pictures in General...
These recently uploaded pictures have no artistic value. They were just uploaded to be representative of color picture recording during about 95+ years that I was able to take pictures, (age 5-100) mostly slides at first. Unlike in today’s digital world it took time, money and effort to make a color slide. We took fewer pictures back then, trying to stretch resources, but some sere still frivolous. The first picture I remember taking was in the mid-1920s when my mother's sailor boyfriend brought an overseas camera to San Pedro.
I’ve gotten old and I feel it. I NEVER thought I’d be posting today. With a recent a burst of energy (Burst of energy?? Everything is relevant.) I am trying to get in a few last posts showing photography and life in general in the last century. The ratio of today’s digital pictures that are kept for any length of time and/or printed is much less than the film photos taken in days past. History will be lost. Meanwhile you get to be bored by some old Kodachromes, Agfachromes, Anscochromes, Dynachromes, a few Dufaycolors some Polaroids and perhaps an old black & white or so.
The Camera Is A Polaroid SX70 Alpha I:
In 1972, Polaroid brought out a revolutionary instant film camera, the SX-70. After seeing one owned by a friend, I had to have one myself. Polaroid had already evolved from roll film cameras to pack film cameras. But this process, where you could watch the picture develop before your very eyes, and was sealed behind plastic that was both thumbprint and waterproof, was something else.
Polaroid had been selling instant cameras for 24 years. Their first was the model 95. It used black & white roll film which required quite a bit of threading and hinge plate flip-flopping to load, ending up being cut off with a cutter bar. Then you waited 60 seconds, pulled the film piece apart, and quickly coated the positive paper image with a stinky chemical off of a felt and plastic wand. But still, an instant picture was a marvel in the late 1940s. With the original three-element lens, pictures were tack sharp. After all, it was not enlarged but directly printed off the negative on a 1:1 ratio. The camera was about the size of a professional 3X4 camera, bellows and all, but, when folded up, looked like a large, what we later called medium-format folder camera, like a Kodak Tourist.
Then, in around 1963, Polaroid developed the pack film (and new cameras) along with their Model 100. The film was still two-part peel-apart but came in a handy pack which was placed in the back of a much smaller, but still bellows-operated, drop-front camera. After taking the picture, you pulled on a tab and out came both a negative and positive of a 3X4 picture. You still waited a minute and pulled the negative apart from the print and quickly coated the print. If you waited more or less than the minute the picture did not come out right. If you did not keep the developing film at the right temperature the picture did not come out right. Also in 1963 Polaroid first offered color film.
Now comes 1972, where the SX70 offered a true SLR experience, along with an extremely clever setup from a smooth, suitcoat pocket-sized, folded-up camera. It was auto exposure and had a little lever for exposure compensation. Later models were also auto focus, using a sonar-operated system that would actually focus the quite adequate four-element lens. The new film was totally different. It was sized 3 ½ x4 3/16” with an exposure area of about 3X3” within its white border. Furthermore, there was no peel-apart. Instead, there was a glazing window over the exposure which contained the finished printing paper and the used chemicals that had developed it. Development to maturity was now a little closer to two minutes. This way, you could also watch the film develop in front of your eyes because in normal light the film would not continue to expose itself. That’s different than the new Polaroid film that must be light-shielded for at least six minutes and takes about a half hour to fully mature.
The original SX70 had a four-element, 116 mm f:8 glass lens of good quality. There was a knurled knob to focus a split-image ring which one saw in the SLR viewing. There was no need to use parallax adjustment between the sighting window and the taking lens because you were looking through the actual lens. After purchasing my first one in 1972, I had an opportunity to try telephoto photography by holding up one side of a 7X50 binocular to the taking lens. I adjusted focus on both the monocular and camera until I had a pin-sharp image in the viewfinder. I had to use a little exposure compensation to make up for the light loss caused by the monocular, but it worked.
As an aside, when then-President Gerald Ford visited San Diego, his parade route passed near the Charter Oil Building in which I had an office on the 20th floor. That put me even with the roof of some of the other “early” skyscrapers nearby. Across the street, on the visible rooftop was a secret service sniper who noticed me taking his picture, so he pointed his rifle at me. What an idiot. The rifle had to be sighted to a much different distance in order to protect the President’s route a block away. Had he taken the shot, he would have probably missed me. Furthermore, it was his job to keep an eye on the President and threats in the Presidential area. There was no way, if my camera had been a gun, that I could have shot the President. I was on the wrong side of the building to even see him. But that’s how secret service agents get to feel like they have a larger wiener. One lives and learns. Ain’t life fun?
I still have that Polaroid of him pointing the gun at me. The picture has darkened a little over the almost 50 years but not that much. Since that was done on some of the first SX70 film, refinements and adjustments were made and pictures from a couple of years later are still virtually the same as they were nearly 45 years ago. That’s more than I can say for a lot of the professionally processed, from negative printed snapshots I have from the same era.
The Film: Polaroid Originals SX-70 fresh film,
The Impossible Project almost did the impossible, duplicating Polaroid™ SX-70 and 600 film. They’ve been through several iterations and have gotten pretty good, even if they don’t truly duplicate the original product. The colors just aren’t quite the same and the definition does not seem to be as sharp. However, I have supported their effort and continue to buy and enjoy their film. They have acquired the Polaroid name.
The SX-70 film used was 150 speed (the 1972 stuff was rated at 140 speed), dated as made in October, 2019. The shots were taken in January of 2020, just over two months after manufacture. Polaroid Originals (the new Polaroid company formerly named The Impossible Project) recommends the film be used within a year of manufacture. BTW, the old Polaroid™ corporation used to stamp an expiration date but not a manufacture date on the individual cartridge film boxes. Polaroid Originals also stamps a date but it is the date of manufacture. This can be confusing to traditional film photographers who expect the film date to be the “use by” date. Of course, most photographers today have only lived in the digital age and probably aren’t aware of things like film freshness and the effect of changing colors and film speed that would be altered by age. However, refrigeration around 40 degrees will extend its life. I would define its life as being the time period after manufacture during which film speed and color correctness stay reasonably close to the original specifications.
The colors can be a little wonky and the end results do not have the crispness or snap that the old stuff had. This new Polaroid film seems to react badly to fast electronic flash but more kindly to true flashbulb light.
Still, thank you Polaroid Originals for reviving such a great concept and the ability to use legacy cameras.
The Scanner: Epson V500:
The scanner is an Epson V500. It was bought in about 2012 and was a current offering at that time. It is supposed to scan at 6400 PPI and probably has the sensors to equal that. However, the optics are pretty poor. Furthermore, the scan point is not at the glass, but usually somewhere above, different on each like item produced. Maximizing the focus scan point, I guess at about 2500+ not-so-clear PPI. I do not have my Edmunds Scientific USAF1951 microscope test slide to test it with. I do however have a number of scans on my hard drive here from some of the ten other scanners I have, so comparing the results my guess is probably somewhat accurate. Should I ever make it back to Montana, I will redo this paragraph with numbers off the actual test slide.
This flatbed also does film up to about 58mm wide. Using templates, you can do Minox, 16mm, 135, 828, 127, 120, and a pretty long strip of 58mm of anything bigger than that. With my 4180, I have scanned 8X10s a section at a time and stitched them together semi-successfully. You’d have to use the same process with this scanner.
I bought it refurbished and calibrated for about $100 shipped, just to do a single project and have long since got my money out of it.
As a flatbed, its resolution exceeds all but the best 1950s black and white contact prints that I own.
SX-70 New Film
Gentlepersons:
This Picture In Particular:
Yup, still experimenting with Polaroid Original’s SX-70-speed film. It works in two of my old Polaroid™ cameras, both a Pronto!B and an SX-70 Alpha 1. As you can see, the Alpha 1, although working properly with the flash, was getting the exposure wrong in daylight without the flash. So I’m going to get it fixed by a nice fellow who does this for pin money, Mr. Roger Garrell in Hurricane, UT. When I get it back, I’ll post a picture showing the before and after results.
In July, I’m going to travel back to Montana to my other home where I can try my SX-70, bought new by me when they first came out and probably part of the first production run, but now with the new Polaroid Originals film.
I’m an old man. These are the type of things that get me up and moving around, keeping mind and body active after being retired for so many years.
The Pictures in General...
These recently uploaded pictures have no artistic value. They were just uploaded to be representative of color picture recording during about 95+ years that I was able to take pictures, (age 5-100) mostly slides at first. Unlike in today’s digital world it took time, money and effort to make a color slide. We took fewer pictures back then, trying to stretch resources, but some sere still frivolous. The first picture I remember taking was in the mid-1920s when my mother's sailor boyfriend brought an overseas camera to San Pedro.
I’ve gotten old and I feel it. I NEVER thought I’d be posting today. With a recent a burst of energy (Burst of energy?? Everything is relevant.) I am trying to get in a few last posts showing photography and life in general in the last century. The ratio of today’s digital pictures that are kept for any length of time and/or printed is much less than the film photos taken in days past. History will be lost. Meanwhile you get to be bored by some old Kodachromes, Agfachromes, Anscochromes, Dynachromes, a few Dufaycolors some Polaroids and perhaps an old black & white or so.
The Camera Is A Polaroid SX70 Alpha I:
In 1972, Polaroid brought out a revolutionary instant film camera, the SX-70. After seeing one owned by a friend, I had to have one myself. Polaroid had already evolved from roll film cameras to pack film cameras. But this process, where you could watch the picture develop before your very eyes, and was sealed behind plastic that was both thumbprint and waterproof, was something else.
Polaroid had been selling instant cameras for 24 years. Their first was the model 95. It used black & white roll film which required quite a bit of threading and hinge plate flip-flopping to load, ending up being cut off with a cutter bar. Then you waited 60 seconds, pulled the film piece apart, and quickly coated the positive paper image with a stinky chemical off of a felt and plastic wand. But still, an instant picture was a marvel in the late 1940s. With the original three-element lens, pictures were tack sharp. After all, it was not enlarged but directly printed off the negative on a 1:1 ratio. The camera was about the size of a professional 3X4 camera, bellows and all, but, when folded up, looked like a large, what we later called medium-format folder camera, like a Kodak Tourist.
Then, in around 1963, Polaroid developed the pack film (and new cameras) along with their Model 100. The film was still two-part peel-apart but came in a handy pack which was placed in the back of a much smaller, but still bellows-operated, drop-front camera. After taking the picture, you pulled on a tab and out came both a negative and positive of a 3X4 picture. You still waited a minute and pulled the negative apart from the print and quickly coated the print. If you waited more or less than the minute the picture did not come out right. If you did not keep the developing film at the right temperature the picture did not come out right. Also in 1963 Polaroid first offered color film.
Now comes 1972, where the SX70 offered a true SLR experience, along with an extremely clever setup from a smooth, suitcoat pocket-sized, folded-up camera. It was auto exposure and had a little lever for exposure compensation. Later models were also auto focus, using a sonar-operated system that would actually focus the quite adequate four-element lens. The new film was totally different. It was sized 3 ½ x4 3/16” with an exposure area of about 3X3” within its white border. Furthermore, there was no peel-apart. Instead, there was a glazing window over the exposure which contained the finished printing paper and the used chemicals that had developed it. Development to maturity was now a little closer to two minutes. This way, you could also watch the film develop in front of your eyes because in normal light the film would not continue to expose itself. That’s different than the new Polaroid film that must be light-shielded for at least six minutes and takes about a half hour to fully mature.
The original SX70 had a four-element, 116 mm f:8 glass lens of good quality. There was a knurled knob to focus a split-image ring which one saw in the SLR viewing. There was no need to use parallax adjustment between the sighting window and the taking lens because you were looking through the actual lens. After purchasing my first one in 1972, I had an opportunity to try telephoto photography by holding up one side of a 7X50 binocular to the taking lens. I adjusted focus on both the monocular and camera until I had a pin-sharp image in the viewfinder. I had to use a little exposure compensation to make up for the light loss caused by the monocular, but it worked.
As an aside, when then-President Gerald Ford visited San Diego, his parade route passed near the Charter Oil Building in which I had an office on the 20th floor. That put me even with the roof of some of the other “early” skyscrapers nearby. Across the street, on the visible rooftop was a secret service sniper who noticed me taking his picture, so he pointed his rifle at me. What an idiot. The rifle had to be sighted to a much different distance in order to protect the President’s route a block away. Had he taken the shot, he would have probably missed me. Furthermore, it was his job to keep an eye on the President and threats in the Presidential area. There was no way, if my camera had been a gun, that I could have shot the President. I was on the wrong side of the building to even see him. But that’s how secret service agents get to feel like they have a larger wiener. One lives and learns. Ain’t life fun?
I still have that Polaroid of him pointing the gun at me. The picture has darkened a little over the almost 50 years but not that much. Since that was done on some of the first SX70 film, refinements and adjustments were made and pictures from a couple of years later are still virtually the same as they were nearly 45 years ago. That’s more than I can say for a lot of the professionally processed, from negative printed snapshots I have from the same era.
The Film: Polaroid Originals SX-70 fresh film,
The Impossible Project almost did the impossible, duplicating Polaroid™ SX-70 and 600 film. They’ve been through several iterations and have gotten pretty good, even if they don’t truly duplicate the original product. The colors just aren’t quite the same and the definition does not seem to be as sharp. However, I have supported their effort and continue to buy and enjoy their film. They have acquired the Polaroid name.
The SX-70 film used was 150 speed (the 1972 stuff was rated at 140 speed), dated as made in October, 2019. The shots were taken in January of 2020, just over two months after manufacture. Polaroid Originals (the new Polaroid company formerly named The Impossible Project) recommends the film be used within a year of manufacture. BTW, the old Polaroid™ corporation used to stamp an expiration date but not a manufacture date on the individual cartridge film boxes. Polaroid Originals also stamps a date but it is the date of manufacture. This can be confusing to traditional film photographers who expect the film date to be the “use by” date. Of course, most photographers today have only lived in the digital age and probably aren’t aware of things like film freshness and the effect of changing colors and film speed that would be altered by age. However, refrigeration around 40 degrees will extend its life. I would define its life as being the time period after manufacture during which film speed and color correctness stay reasonably close to the original specifications.
The colors can be a little wonky and the end results do not have the crispness or snap that the old stuff had. This new Polaroid film seems to react badly to fast electronic flash but more kindly to true flashbulb light.
Still, thank you Polaroid Originals for reviving such a great concept and the ability to use legacy cameras.
The Scanner: Epson V500:
The scanner is an Epson V500. It was bought in about 2012 and was a current offering at that time. It is supposed to scan at 6400 PPI and probably has the sensors to equal that. However, the optics are pretty poor. Furthermore, the scan point is not at the glass, but usually somewhere above, different on each like item produced. Maximizing the focus scan point, I guess at about 2500+ not-so-clear PPI. I do not have my Edmunds Scientific USAF1951 microscope test slide to test it with. I do however have a number of scans on my hard drive here from some of the ten other scanners I have, so comparing the results my guess is probably somewhat accurate. Should I ever make it back to Montana, I will redo this paragraph with numbers off the actual test slide.
This flatbed also does film up to about 58mm wide. Using templates, you can do Minox, 16mm, 135, 828, 127, 120, and a pretty long strip of 58mm of anything bigger than that. With my 4180, I have scanned 8X10s a section at a time and stitched them together semi-successfully. You’d have to use the same process with this scanner.
I bought it refurbished and calibrated for about $100 shipped, just to do a single project and have long since got my money out of it.
As a flatbed, its resolution exceeds all but the best 1950s black and white contact prints that I own.