I made a short video that demonstrates how to fold and unfold/open a Polaroid SX-70 camera. It also shows how the film “magically” develops in 15 minutes (sped up, obviously).
I’m not an expert on moving picture film but as far as I know, there are three ways of doing this:
1) Shoot and develop a positive. For colour, you can use Ektachrome E100 — which is an excellent film that’s been recently revived and is produced new. I have a review of it here: analog.cafe/r/kodak-ektach…
You will need to develop your Ektachrome in E-6 chemistry. You can also develop some black and white films as a positive (a different process) — but that depends on the lab and whether that film has a clear enough base.
2) Shoot negative, scan, then transfer to positive film. This may be expensive. Essentially, you’ll shoot, develop, scan, edit, and then use a machine that can transfer your digital images onto positive film and then develop that. This method also gives you a lot of flexibility when it comes to image quality, effects, etc. Some modern Hollywood films are made this way.
3) Shoot negative and then directly transfer to positive. Essentially, it’ll be your developed negatives that will be projected on suitable emulsion using a machine. I know the least about this method other than it’s common in the industry.
Oh, but! I want to say something about this camera too. It’s about the plastic Polaroid I-2 lens.
Modern plastic lenses can be incredibly sharp. The flagship $1,000+ smartphones use them. Polaroid’s new I-2 lens is sold as the sharpest Polaroid lens ever made — sharper than the one in my SX-70 camera (which has been considered to be the sharpest lens up until now on this type of a camera since the 1970s when it was released: analog.cafe/r/polaroid-sx-…)
One video even showed a comparison between the two cameras (youtube.com/watch?v=kBJzE6…) Of course, those were not scientific measurements and Polaroid hasn’t shared any of their technical data.
I am sure that the new lens is sharper, but that is not what makes a camera lens good (unless you’re just starting with photography and that’s all you know, which is unsarcastically great!) But the character of bokeh, vignetting, contrast, and other distortions are a huge part of the experience — and no review put out thus far has mentioned any of these. And of course, I’m curious about durability.
I’ll keep an eye out for more feedback and deeper dives into this camera. Polaroid didn’t send me mine so that’s all I have for now, unless the blog does really well this fall/winter and I end up purchasing one to test and maybe keep for a very long time.
This is obviously a huge milestone for Polaroid, formerly Impossible Project. 🎉
A ton of content emerged about Polaroid I-2 this week.
Lucky YouTubers, social media personalities, reporters, and bloggers put out reviews and opinions about the camera and the company. And even those who didn’t get to play with an advance copy still posted their thoughts about it (like me, right now).
I want to highlight two of the best pieces of content about the camera from the people who actually used it:
youtube.com/watch?v=3sooI3… (The Verge). Of all the videos I’ve seen, this is the only one that accurately points out the camera’s flaws and talks about its advantages. It’s neither overly critical nor nauseatingly fanboy-ish.
youtube.com/watch?v=3nTs5i… (Polaroid). If you’re in the process of justifying spending $600 on a plastic instant film camera, this video lays out the effort, the technology, and the history behind making this product. It’s well-produced, accurate, and not pushy.
There is so much content about this camera that I can’t possibly review it all. But if you go out searching for more, watch out for the people who have never held this camera (or maybe any film camera) in their hands, dunking on Polaroid for the price tag, small maximum aperture, film quality, and anything they aren’t used to seeing on a digital camera. Others state positive things about this camera that aren’t accurate.
It’s overwhelming. But the camera indeed seems very interesting and I can’t blame anyone for wanting to talk about it.
Today, I unboxed the new RETO Project, the KODAK EKTAR H35N half-frame film camera.
I got my review copy very quickly. Naturally, I’m very excited to test it out. As mentioned above, it has glass and aspherical lens elements, which I don’t think any plastic toy/reusable camera design has.
The review is coming soon. I’ve decided to load CineStill 50D (even though I had Ektar and was very tempted to use it). I decided to go with CineStill to see if I could exaggerate the star effect that the optional lens filter produces on this camera. That’s to be determined, of course.
Last week, I bought a few extra rolls from a very kind photographer who gave me a generous deal. The package came in a neat paper envelope; it felt surreal, fondling with so much film that’s nearly extinct.
Here’s a sample frame from the press kit. It looks pretty sharp (to be fair, the sharpest out of the bunch). I’m certainly curious about the potential of this camera as it seems to fit the current environment of increasing film prices (analog.cafe/r/film-prices-…).
Seasoned film photographers may be able to find used film cameras with better build quality, lens, and shutter specs at a comparable price on eBay (i.e., Canon Demi analog.cafe/r/canon-demi-2… or Welta Penti analog.cafe/r/welta-penti-…). However, finding a working vintage camera is not an easy leap to make for a first-time film photographer.
I requested a review copy from the company, very curious how the lens will work out for me. Autoreply said everyone is out of the office until Sept 4 “as Super Typhoon Saola edges closer.” 😬🤞
A new half-frame 35mm film camera by RETO Project, KODAK EKTAR H35N, is now available for pre-order at retopro.co/
This new “reusable” film camera can make 72+ exposures on a single standard roll of 36exp. 35mm film. It comes with a flash, a built-in optional Star Filter lens, and a coated glass lens with an aspherical acrylic lens design that “helps to improve the sharpness of the images” according to the press release.
A “reusable” a.k.a. “toy” camera is a simple plastic body design typically with a fixed ~1/100s shutter and a fixed or limited aperture. Lomography is perhaps the best-known manufacturer of toy cameras, i.e., Diana Mini (analog.cafe/r/diana-mini-7…). These cameras are fully functional and are sometimes used as creative and/or everyday tools by skilled photographers.
The presumably sharper lens on EKTAR H35N is a welcome upgrade as distortions and imperfections become more apparent on smaller formats such as this camera’s half-frame exposure area. Other improvements include redesigned viewfinder/flash switch/rewind knob, tripod hole, a Bulb shutter mode, and the Star lens filter.
EKTAR H35N has a fixed aperture of 𝒇8 and a fixed shutter speed of 1/100s. You can use the Sunny 16 Calculator to find the optimal film ISO for your scene (analog.cafe/app/sunny-16-c…).
There’s an earlier video that interviewed a bunch of NYC street photographers, many of whom stopped shooting film: “Are photographers abandoning film?? Asking NYC Photographers if they still shoot film 2023.”
Ribsy is one of my all-time favourite film photographers on YouTube. His approach to home darkroom printing and street portraiture is what got me sucked in.
YouTube Video