Friday, June 24, 2011

Polaroid 600 SE



For whatever reason, I'm really into Polaroids right now.  I just love the imperfect nature of instant film.  You get-what-you-get and you can see the picture within a few seconds.  No Photoshop magic.  No tricks.

The photos typically have flaws from the chemical developer and marks from the rollers, especially if they're not clean.  I love that!  It's freedom from the perfect photograph and that's what's so appealing.

I have been using a Polaroid 420 land camera, but I recently purchased this 600 SE from ebay.  The 600 SE dates back to the early 1970's.  It has interchangeable leaf shutter Mamiya lenses and interchangeable film backs.  The lens options are a 75mm wide angle, a 127mm normal and a 150mm portrait lens.  I have the 127mm.  The camera does not have a built-in light meter nor does it take batteries.  It's a fully manual system with aperture and shutter speed adjustments on the lens.  You have to use a light meter to determine the exposure.  By the way, the free light meter app for iPhone works great!

1 comment:

  1. You did an awesome post on the Polaroid 600SE which I really consider buying now. I do have a few questions...

    -On the night shot, did you handhold the camera or was it mounted on a tripod?

    -What is the minimum shutter speed you can use without the image getting blurry?

    Thanks in advance and I hope to hear from you.

    ReplyDelete