My little family of cameras just got a new member - my Polaroid SX-70 arrived last Thursday. I only ordered it the Saturday before, from the US, and I impatently checked the tracking service about every five minutes. Of course I was secretly hoping that it would arrive before the weekend, but never really thought it possible, especially as Friday was a public holiday here. I thought I'd have to wait til Monday, and so I was especially thrilled when it did actually arrive on Thursday. And what a beauty it is.
Of course it isn't new at all. None of these original Polaroid cameras are. But while it is not the oldest one in my little collection of cameras, it's certainly among the older ones, and probably the oldest of the ones I actually use. The Polaroid SX-70 was the first instant SLR camera on the market, and the first model, with a metal body, was manufactured in the early to mid 1970. Now I don't know when my model was made exactly, but I like the thought that this camera and me might well be exactly the same age.
The design of these cameras is just so beautiful and clever. They fold flat and to use them, you pull it up into position. This proofed to be a bit tricky with mine. At first, I actually didn't manage to open it at all. I was pulling quite hard, and I was getting afraid of rippint the whole thing apart. But eventually, it folded open, and I'm slowly learning to get the hang of it, although I still have a bit of a problem with it at times. Because of this, and because it looks so clean and unscratched, and smells almost new, I believe that it might not have been used a lot.
Of course I had to try it out immediately, even though I knew it was probably too dark. The SX-70 films are a much lower ISO than the 600 and so need plenty of light. Thursday was a grey and dull evening, and on Friday, it was raining all day and looked more like a late November afternoon than a spring day. I would have loved to take my camera out to the forest, but intead I had to try it out inside. But I was still pleased with the first results. You can see how, with the manual focus, you can get much more DOF than with my autofocus one (even if it's a bit out of focus here).
With the one taken the next day, on rainy Friday, I managed to get a slightly better focus.
And when it stopped raining for a few minutes, I quickly popped out for a photo of the lovely dogwood bush outside the house. I can't wait to take it out for a walk in better light!
I'm thinking about doing a little project with this camera. Not a 365 though, although that would no doubt an interesting project and a great way to get to know and learn how to use this camera. But it feels a bit too much, and it would be expensive too. But I've got some other ideas, I just haven't quite decided which one.
Of course it isn't new at all. None of these original Polaroid cameras are. But while it is not the oldest one in my little collection of cameras, it's certainly among the older ones, and probably the oldest of the ones I actually use. The Polaroid SX-70 was the first instant SLR camera on the market, and the first model, with a metal body, was manufactured in the early to mid 1970. Now I don't know when my model was made exactly, but I like the thought that this camera and me might well be exactly the same age.
The design of these cameras is just so beautiful and clever. They fold flat and to use them, you pull it up into position. This proofed to be a bit tricky with mine. At first, I actually didn't manage to open it at all. I was pulling quite hard, and I was getting afraid of rippint the whole thing apart. But eventually, it folded open, and I'm slowly learning to get the hang of it, although I still have a bit of a problem with it at times. Because of this, and because it looks so clean and unscratched, and smells almost new, I believe that it might not have been used a lot.
Of course I had to try it out immediately, even though I knew it was probably too dark. The SX-70 films are a much lower ISO than the 600 and so need plenty of light. Thursday was a grey and dull evening, and on Friday, it was raining all day and looked more like a late November afternoon than a spring day. I would have loved to take my camera out to the forest, but intead I had to try it out inside. But I was still pleased with the first results. You can see how, with the manual focus, you can get much more DOF than with my autofocus one (even if it's a bit out of focus here).
With the one taken the next day, on rainy Friday, I managed to get a slightly better focus.
And when it stopped raining for a few minutes, I quickly popped out for a photo of the lovely dogwood bush outside the house. I can't wait to take it out for a walk in better light!
I'm thinking about doing a little project with this camera. Not a 365 though, although that would no doubt an interesting project and a great way to get to know and learn how to use this camera. But it feels a bit too much, and it would be expensive too. But I've got some other ideas, I just haven't quite decided which one.
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