The Polaroid Camera Blues

Ronan101

Hi,

Okay, so I've just bought a polaroid 600 instant camera off of eBay with two packs of film that have been sitting in some house in Shropshire for god knows how long. I took my first picture and, alas, the image on the film came out all grainy and orange, which I can only assume is due to the film's old age.

So, I'm wondering: Where can I buy Polaroid film without having to sell a kidney to pay for it? The packs of 10 are going for 28 Euro on the 'Bay!

Do I have to buy the actual Polaroid brand film or will other brands work?

I've been looking at these but I'm not sure if they would be compatible with the camera.

Mycroft H

Search is a great function

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055755497

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055724415


Otherwise Fajitias is the man to talk to

Ronan101

Fair enough, well perhaps we could just focus on the latter half of my post then. There has to be an alternative to the extortionately priced Polaroid brand film....

ThenComesDudley

fugi instax cameras are more or less the same thing... you can get a new one in gunns for 25... and film is around 10 for 20 shots.... i think its cheaper on 7dayshop.com.. the format is smaller with the instax camera.

Mycroft H

Im fairly sure Fujifilm make instant b&w film, however im not sure if its 600

spinandscribble

Sadly, there's nothing available as film for a polaroid 600 other then the increasingly expensive polaroid film.
If you had a polaroid camera that took 100 type film you could get the cheaper (but still a hit to the pocket) Fuji film. Only problem with that is, if you like transferring the image during the exposure to another surface, you need to do it in a very dark room (not exactly a reason not to get it but kinda annoying if you're trying this process and only realise it on the last shot grrr)


http://polapremium.com/ heres a website that i've found handy for bits.

DaireQuinlan

yeah spinandscribble has it in a nutshell there. The reason why its so expensive and hard to come by is that polaroid discontinued everything last year, so people and resellers (polapremium/lomographic probably being the main culprits) started hoarding it.
However there is an effort to recreate 600 instant film ongoing at the moment, named the "impossible project" which could come up trumps so i'd hang onto the camera for the time being. Although there's no telling what price point they're going to sell the stuff at, I have a sinking suspicion it's going to be pretty high.
No fuji film is compatible with 600.

coolmoose

Two packs of film going with this if it's any good to ya?

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=174830&cat=51

Ronan101

Thanks for the advice folks,

Looks like I might just have to just bite the bullet on this one. The name of this "impossible project" doesn't exactly make me want to hold my breath. Curse those scurvy polaroid swines.....!

Much obliged

sylvesterallein

If you have a Polaroid packfilm camera, such as 100 Automatic, 250, 350, 360, Colorpack 11, EE100, The Reporter etc. etc., you can put Fujifilm FP100C (Colour) or Fujifilm FP100B (b & w) in it. This is the film you pull out and then peel off, unlike the integral Instax film, or the Polaroid 600, which pops out and develops under your eyes. I believe FP100C, which used to be for sale at an extortionate price in Dublin but available much cheaper in the 7dayshop or at Mathers of Lancashire, is now very reasonably priced in the stores in Dublin - apparently after a pricing error came to light. Good news for people like me with packfilm cameras, definitely. The Polaroid group on Flickr gives details of a minor modification to Polaroid packfilm cameras which is sometimes, not always, necessary to use Fujifilm packfilm in the older cameras, i.e. not necessary for the EE100, EE66 etc..