Mr Franz wrote: βSat May 04, 2024 1:15 am
Kind of wish I did still have one. Sold my last Polaroid in the flea market about 30 years ago. It was just like the one in the top pic. Really wasn't that bad a camera. Built-in flash and the batteries were part of the film cartridge, so you got fresh batteries every time you changed film.
Yeah, I remember someone in my family having one just like in the top pic, too. I was only a small child in the '80s, and I can't remember if it was my dad or an uncle who had it, but I remember the camera clearly, as well as loving the photo being ejected and developed right there on the spot.
The new models have an internal rechargeable battery, so that makes the newer, battery-less i-type film cartridges a bit cheaper.
toddjy wrote: βSat May 04, 2024 6:30 am
With today's technology, a phone with a camera in every pocket, and filters that can make photos look like anything, I don't see the point of buying a camera like that, and paying for film. Particularly if you take bad pictures. But if take a bad picture with a digital, you just delete it. You're not out anything. Unless your doll falls over and breaks right after you take the picture.
Well, just like any hobby, the point is to have fun with it. Taking bad pictures is part of the learning curve, and it makes the experience of getting a good shot so much more rewarding. For instance, when I was experimenting with taking Polaroids of my car, I found that the square shape of the photos forced me to reconsider how to frame my shots. With a regular camera I have no problem getting a close-up shot of the car to while still having some of the background landscape in the shot, since the format is rectangular. But when I tried getting the same type of shot with the Polaroid, I could only get the car by itself, or part of the landscape with part of the car, but not both of them together:
Not the best shot. So that made me get creative and figure that, if I can't get the whole car into the frame, maybe I can focus on a just a portion of it and frame it in a way that accentuates the character of that part of the car. So then I shot this photo that focuses on just the right half of the front end, and I love how it turned out:
Seeing this photo after it developed felt great, and I was glad to have been given the impetus by the camera to think more creatively about taking photos. This would never have happened with a phone camera, or even a DSLR.
As far as phone filters, well their very existence shows that there's a certain aesthetic value that real Polaroids have. And they can imitate that aesthetic, but it's just not the same. In a Polaroid, the developing chemicals interact with the film and sometimes create little imperfections that are unique to that photo, almost like the striations and swirls in a piece of marble.
I also like having tangible, physical photos of my doll girls. I take most of my photos of them with my DLSR, so if I want to see them, I need to hop on to my PC and pull them up on an image viewer. I'll do that from time to time, but I really like having these little polaroids on my nightstand so I can admire them when I'm in my bedroom, away from my desktop PC in the living room. They're just nice to have.
The only drawback is the cost of the film, which is definitely not cheap. But, if I never spent money on fun things, I wouldn't have my dolls
Martinson Joe wrote: βSat May 04, 2024 7:01 am
I wish I had one, there are something special about those old Polaroids. Claire's shots in particulr are far from perfect, but beautiful images.
Thanks! Yes, these types of photos have a certain charm to them that I just love.