Polaroid Adventures

Polaroid P600 - Exakta VXIIa - CZJ T* 50mm ƒ/2.8 -
ADOX CHS 20 @ ASA20 - Diafine 3+3 @24°C

Recently I picked up a Polaroid camera.  A Polaroid 600P, which is a folding (sort of) instant camera, which gives some very nice results.  It has two settings, which are 8' to INF. and 4-8 feet (close up).  The lens is a very basic single element Meniscus lens, but produces some nice results.  I believe it's a 1/60s shutter speed, supposedly it has a automatic shutter that is micro controlled, but I seriously doubt that.  The lens, I believe, is ƒ/11.  The flash is pretty decent, and works rather nicely, over all, in daylight works as a "FILL" while inside it is actually not as harsh as I was expecting.
This is my very first Polaroid camera, but not my last.  I put a bid, and won, a Polaroid Auto 420, which is a PACK FILM camera that FUJI still makes film for, which is a PEEL APART type of film.  This way you get a wonderful print, and a negative that you can actually use to create more prints later on.

The frame for the photos is actually "SQUARE" format, which is really simple to compose, as I'm used to shooting 6x6 frames.  I like the square format, because it has a whole different challenge to composition.

Polaroid 600P - Impossible PX600 Silver-shade

There's only one problem with the 600P, and that is the availability of film.  There is ONLY Impossible Project film available for it, which is a really nice film, but is not similar to Polaroid or Fuji films, where you cannot watch the film develop.  The film is ejected from the camera still sensitive to light, which must be shielded from light immediately, or it'll wash out, and you can even lose the exposure.
Over time the image will also fade, and there are suggestions to take said photos and place them in a box with Silica Gel packs to help them dry, or get a IMPOSSIBLE DRY AGE kit to put on them to help keep the photo from fading.  I will definitely be getting this kit to try it out on the photos I truly intend to keep, not to mention I'll also put those photos in a binder.
The wonderful thing about this film is that it really is an "INSTANT" print film.  You get the print right there within 5 minutes, and can have an actual print, not just a negative or a digital film.  I found Polaroid film, ages ago, to be rather expensive, but after using this Impossible Film for the first time, I understand.  It gives you a print that you can hold, and don't have to send the film in for developing and printing.
It's still a bit pricier over-all, but it's a decent print, and looks good.
I have definitely caught the Polaroid Bug, thanks to our friends at the Film Photography Project.  Through their constant banter about Polaroid, and the fact that my friend John G. Meadows picked one up, and has been running amok with his Polaroid Pack Film camera, whether shooting for fun, or shooting his portraits with it, I just had to pick one up.  Sure enough, I have fallen in love with my Polaroid 600P and with a Polaroid AUTO 420 on its way, I think I'm going to enjoy this format even more...

Until next time, cheers!

Polaroid Land 95a - Taken on Polaroid Land 600P - Impossible PX600 Silver Shade Cool