How to Fix Film Ejection Mechanism in Polaroid SX-70

At Home With Minimal Tools

11 min read by Dmitri.
Published on August 12, 2025.

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Polaroid SX-70 is the most capable instant film camera ever made. These units were built in the 1970s, yet their full feature set is still unmatched.

Today, you can still find SX-70s for less than $100. Unfortunately, repairs aren’t as cheap. Some top-of-the-line refurbished versions are selling for over $1,000, while a typical repair job would still be several hundred dollars and involve shipping, long waits, and taxes.

I got my SX-70 for less than $20 at a thrift store six years ago, and it’s been serving all my Polaroid film needs since. New Polaroid cameras came and went; I even bought and sold other SX-70 cameras, but the first one still remains my cheapest and favourite instant film camera.

The version I have is Model 1, the first wide production run after the Alphas, the one with the real leather. As such, it’s about 55 years old. SX-70 cameras are akin to film point-and-shoots, packed with electronics and brittle plastic components; despite being exceptionally well-made, issues occur.

One such common issue is a broken or “sticky” film ejection mechanism. You may experience it as the camera making the ejection noise but refusing to return the frame. This article shares relatively simple, illustrated instructions for diagnosis and two separate repair tips to fix the broken ejection mechanism at home.

If you’ve read the “Home Film Camera Maintenance and Basic Repair Guide,” you should have all the basic knowledge needed to attempt these repairs.

In this guide: Some repair experience may be required. Tools and materials. What can cause a film ejection failure on an SX-70? Dissassembly: removing the bottom plate. Dissassembly: detaching the film door & rollers. Fixing the cracked motor coupler. Lubricating the spring-loaded arm. Testing and reassembly. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

Some repair experience may be required.

If your SX-70 is as special to you as mine is, you may feel apprehensive poking around the guts of a complex vintage camera. That’s understandable.

The repairs I’m showing in this guide should be easy for anyone who has a steady hand, experience working with small repair tools or just LEGOs.

The most difficult step in this guide is stretching a spring and mounting it on a round metal peg with small pliers. If you break that spring, it may be difficult to replace. Leatherette removal can also be challenging, as it may have a layer of metal and a strong glue — you’ll need to be careful not to rip the leather.

If you aren’t comfortable making these repairs yet but are curious about attempting them in the future, I suggest purchasing a broken camera and the tools mentioned in this article to get the feel for assembling and disassembling (look for cameras with good repair guides online).

This article will help you get started with making your own repairs at home.

Tools and materials.

To diagnose and repair your SX-70’s film ejection mechanism, you will need:

- A well-lit surface,

- A self-healing mat,

- A set of microscrewdrivers (with Torx T4 screws-compatible heads),

- Tweezers and small pliers,

- A tube of point lubricant,

- A tube of E6000 glue or double-sided tape for re-attaching the leatherette,

- A bottle of rubbing alcohol 95-99%,

- Cotton swabs and other tools to clean up gunk,

- Gloves,

- An empty SX-70 or 600 film cartridge,

- A few frames of exposed or ruined film, you don’t mind testing the camera with,

- A replacement leatherette — if your SX-70 uses material that’s easily scratchable and looks like it’s flaking off, it will crumble during disassembly, so you might as well reskin your camera to look fresh and to your liking.

A view of Polaroid SX-70’s mechanical drive assembly.

What can cause a film ejection failure on an SX-70?

Polaroid SX-70 is a complex device with numerous components which are over fifty years old. Film ejection failures are a purely mechanical issue that can occur anywhere in the chain of motors and gears that drive the mirror, film ejection arm, and rollers.

When these cameras were new, their mechanical forces were distributed in a way that accounted for the materials in the components. For example, a metal shaft would experience greater force than a plastic gear.

Unfortunately, plastics deteriorate relatively quickly, which is why a small plastic component connected to a motor drive is the first suspect. If it’s cracked, your camera will not eject film.

Hardened lubrication and debris are a common issue in all vintage mechanical cameras. SX-70 is not an exception; thus, the second reason for failing film ejections is likely a friction in a spring-loaded switch.

Please note that your camera may have an issue preventing it from ejecting film that isn’t described in this article. But above two are fairly common and are relatively easy to fix.

Peeled leather reveals screw holes on the bottom plate of an SX-70 camera. If your camera looks like mine, you will likely have a metal foil sandwiched between the square piece of leather and the bottom plate. It keeps the leather’s shape, but it is easy to damage during the removal. I wasn’t able to save mine, although that is not a problem for my camera — the leather still fits perfectly. I’ve reattached my leather with double-sided tape for easy access, but you can use E6000 as a stronger, semi-permanent solution.

Dissassembly: removing the bottom plate.

Your first step to accessing the Polaroid SX-70 ejection mechanism is removing the bottom plate.

If your camera, like the ones in the photos here, has real leather, you will need to carefully pull it off while softening the underlying glue with rubbing alcohol. This job will take time: the glue is strong. Do not use pliers or sharp objects to pull on leather, as that will rip it.

I’m holding a Torx T4 screwdriver (pointing at the camera), used to remove the bottom plate of an SX-70 camera.

Underneath the leather, there’s a thick metal foil that holds the leather’s shape. If you can save it without ripping or clumbling — that would be helpful — however, don’t despair if it falls apart, as was the case for me (if the leather is in good condition, it will still hold shape and look natural when placed back).

Younger SX-70 cameras use synthetic leather material that would crumble once you start removing it. You will need to replace it with a new leatherette.

Whether your leatherette is made of real leather or not, there will be significant debris coming from glue and other bonding materials. I suggest you use gloves and patience. The cleaner the job, the better your camera will look after the repairs.

Underneath the leather and glue, there will be small star-shaped screws that you will need to carefully undo. Take care not to strip the crews, as that would make further repairs impossible.

Once you get the screws out, the cover may not budge — that’s because the roller assembly may be holding it down. Thankfully, that component is easy to remove

Detaching the film door & rollers is as easy as pushing onto a hinge and gently releasing the component.

Dissassembly: detaching the film door & rollers.

The film door and rollers are attached to the body of an SX-70 camera with hinges that you can push to detach.

With the camera open in shooting position, the film door dropped, and no film cartridge inside: gently but firmly push on one of the sides as shown in the photo above to free up the hinge.

Polaroid SX-70 with the roller assembly detached.

This should release the bottom cover and make working on the camera easier.

Polaroid SX-70 with the bottom cover removed and roller assembly detached.

Fixing the cracked motor coupler.

The first place to check is a plastic motor coupler that looks like a small translucent piece which connects a spring to a metal shaft in the circled area:

This is the side of the camera where you’ll normally see a film counter display. With the top of the camera facing up in this photo, the circled area is where you’ll find a translucent plastic component. This is a photo of a repaired camera, so you can’t see the translucent component, but the circled area is where you should look for it on your camera.

The translucent piece of plastic connects the electrical motor shaft to a spring. If you don’t find it, someone else may’ve done this repair, and the issue preventing film ejection is elsewhere.

After decades of twisting torque, the plastic piece may’ve cracked and is no longer serving its function. Unfortunately, it is not a piece that can be easily replaced.

So instead, we’ll stretch the spring that the coupler piece was attached to carefully with small tweezers and push it onto the motor shaft directly (after removing all the cracked plastic bits).

A close-up of the assembly with both ends of a connecting spring circled (after the repair, the spring connects the motor to the shaft on the right directly, without the cracked plastic component.

Stretching the string and mounting it onto the shafts is the most delicate part of the operation. There are a lot of obstructions in the way, which is why I removed the spring first, stretched it gently with my fingers and placed it back in with considerable effort not to damage it or the components around.

Stretching the spring can weaken it slightly; replacing the plastic component with a weakened metal connection is not an ideal solution, but it’s quick and fairly reliable. I made this repair on my camera over two years ago, and it still holds.

Circled: a spring-loaded arm, which moves whenever the film ejection mechanism is activated. Friction will prevent the arm from returning to its ready position.

Lubricating the spring-loaded arm.

A thin metal arm stretches the spring each time the film is ejected. However, debris, wear, and weakened spring material can leave it stuck, which breaks the ejection sequence.

To fix that, apply a drop of lubricant in the circled area and work it in by gently moving the arm back and forth as it does when the ejection sequence occurs:

The lubricant should be applied between the arm and the rail it slides on top of.

Testing and reassembly.

Visually inspecting the components isn’t enough. You should test the ejection mechanism to confirm the culprits and the fixes while the camera is still disassembled.

To test the ejection sequence, load a few Polaroid photos into an empty film cartridge (that still has a battery and a charge), re-attach the film door, load the cartridge, close the film door and verify that the camera ejects the first frame and then every consequent frame as you press the shutter button.

Activating the ejection mechanism will also make it easier to understand whether the spring-loaded arm is functioning normally.

An empty Polaroid film cartridge with a few exposed frames for testing purposes.

Once you’ve confirmed your camera’s operation, carefully mount the bottom plate. I recommend shooting at least one film pack in your camera as you would normally before reskinning your camera. This will help verify that your fixes are reliable. I’ve used double-sided tape to mount leather on my camera so that it would be easy to remove should I need access later.

E6000 is a semi-permanent glue that’s about as strong as the original bonding material. You can soften E6000 with alcohol, but it will take some effort to remove the leatherette. If you’re mounting a new kit leatherette, you don’t need to worry about glue.

One last thing you may like to do is condition your camera’s leather (if it’s the Model 1) with a small amount of coconut oil or leather conditioner.