Polaroid Big Shot

The Polaroid Big Shot is a big (duh), clumsy, cheap, 90-some-percent plastic, idiot-proof, fixed-focus, fixed-focal length, single-shutter-speed camera built solely for portrait taking, which was briefly manufactured during the early-1970s.

 

Focusing is accomplished by physically moving the camera back and forth (a sort of dance known as the “Big Shot shuffle”) until two rangefinder images in the viewfinder line-up; and for all pictures it uses batteryless Magicubes for flash – which unlike flashcubes are fired mechanically. The only adjustment is for aperture (two cheap pieces of plastic behind the plastic lens element), and the only “luxury” is an impressively-accurate 60-second timer on the back (yes, I tested its accuracy). It’s designed only for 100ASA films, with the only current stock available being Fujifilm FP-100C – for color.

 

Despite all that: image quality is rather impressive. In fact, much so that Andy Warhol was particularly fond of this camera. Many of his portraits were started by taking his subject’s picture with one – often shooting several-hundred pictures until selecting one favorite, which would then be enlarged and the outlines screenprinted on canvas, using that as the basis for his paintings.

 

I modified mine slightly - swapping out the original failure-prone spreader bar with newer rollers out of my dead Super Shooter.

Done