8mm Forum: Instant Photos

This is topic Instant Photos in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on September 28, 2011, 06:28 PM:

Last year as we were trying to get a photo of my grandaughter with my wife digital camera "I still dont own one" my grandaughter was clicking away back at us with our old Polaroid.

That started me thinking, [Roll Eyes]

what happend to those instant photos. I do remember the film was expensive and the quality was not that great, however they were instant...well almost.

caught with the Digital camera [Smile]

The only remaining instant photo I could find was one of an old Morrie Minor 1950s. I had just cut the rust out and re-painted "old aircraft paint" a present to my better half. Thats me in the background admiring my fantastic paint job. [Big Grin]

Who else can remember those instant Polaroid days?

Graham.

Posted by Bryan Chernick (Member # 1998) on September 28, 2011, 06:53 PM:

You can still get film for some of the old Polaroid cameras. I think a group of former Polaroid employees bought the plant and continued making the film.

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on September 28, 2011, 06:59 PM:

HI Graham

Great to hear from you. I remember those days and the cameras well. I had every new model that came out. I still have some photos somewhere. I love the car. I don't suppose you still have it?

PatD

Posted by Claus Harding (Member # 702) on September 28, 2011, 08:04 PM:

We used to have the deluxe model, the SX-70. It wasn't that bad as long as you stored the prints out of sunlight; shelflife of the color tended towards the unpredictable.

On a sidenote, my wife, being from the Middle East, told me of a Western photographer who made quite a living in the region photographing all the royal families in the area back then.

The reason he got the assignments: large-format Polaroid.
They did not want their souls "captured" by having someone walk away with negatives of their likeness, so the Polaroid prints were perfect.

I still have a few of our SX-70 images around here; nice to look at from time to time.

Claus.

Posted by Kirkamus Anderson (Member # 2441) on September 28, 2011, 08:25 PM:

My lady and I shoot a lot with our Fuji instax Mini!
Brand new instant film!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/639489-REG/Fujifilm_15834705_Instax_Mini_7S_Instant.html

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on September 28, 2011, 08:46 PM:

I still have my Polaroid Swinger. Love that song!

Doug

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on September 28, 2011, 10:44 PM:

All my wife's Polaroid's from the 1950's have faded to red.
Anyone on the forum ever use the Polavision instant movie system?

Graham,
That is a really great photo of the little girl with the camera. [Smile]

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on September 29, 2011, 02:44 PM:

Thanks everyone, those links to the Swinger Commercial etc were very interesting. [Smile]

Pat the old Morris is sadly long gone we replaced it with a 1966 Ford Cortina. The car in the garage is a 60s Hillman Imp [Eek!]

When I came out here in 1973 most of the cars on the road were British and to buy a car was expensive so the old stuff hung around for many many years.

Graham.

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on September 29, 2011, 05:37 PM:

I have about 200 polaroids of my family from late 60's thru early 80's and I have been very careful storing them. Last time I looked thru them (year ago) they still looked good. Although on some of them the picture itself was coming apart and the surface was cracking so some are very brittle...colors so far so good.

Bill [Smile]

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on September 30, 2011, 02:16 AM:

Did a lot of work last year with the Fuji Instax, fun results.

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on September 30, 2011, 04:25 AM:

Dad was very keen on Polaroid in the 60’s and can remember him pulling out the picture from the camera after taking which had then to be slipped into some sort of metal thing, then put that inside your pocket for heat and then you could peel the paper away from the photo print after a bit. These pictures still look ok but it did seem rather complicated early on. In the 70’s the instant cameras were very evident on film sets for continuity records I seem to recall.

Posted by Jerome Sutter (Member # 2346) on October 01, 2011, 11:46 AM:

If you want Polaroid Film, here is the outfit that is now producting it:

theimpossibleproject.com

They now have a office in NY. Good luck.

Jerry

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on October 01, 2011, 09:15 PM:

My experience with Polaroids is kind of...industrial.

Back when I started out in electronics if you wanted to save a waveform you hung a Polaroid 'scope camera (-Oscilloscope, not Cinemascope!) over the screen and snapped a black and white Polaroid.

It was actually kind of an art: often if you wanted to see a really slow waveform it came down to doing a multiple exposure with the 'scope graticule (graph lines) so the graticule wouldn't overexpose the picture if left on the whole time. The intensity settings to make a good one had to be just right.

Young idiots we were at the time we figured out that if you put the thing over your face you could shoot a self-portrait. Many of our cubicles had them on the bulletin board. They looked better than the copy machine self-portraits and weren't nearly as blinding! (Why they didn't fire us all I'll never know!)

These days when you want to save a waveform you plug a thumb drive into the 'scope and press "Save Display": easier for sure, but the satisfaction in a job well done because of a skill learned is no longer there!

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