Today is a very special day for various reasons: not only has my Polaroid 600 Extreme camera arrived (the one I bought for £2.50 off eBay). Also, both me and my wife are off together – it rarely happens these days. That alone was reason to celebrate.
But more importantly: The Impossible Project have today released their brand new PX600 Silver Shade Instant Film which is made for just these cameras! I put an order for 12 packs in immediately and can’t wait to give it a try.
In the meantime however, I pondered over the question “does the PX100 work in Polaroid 600 cameras” or rather “does an SX-70 film work in a Polaroid 600 camera” as discussed in my previous post.
I’m happy to say that YES IT DOES – with a minor modofication to the camera.
Let me show you the results and talk you through my experiences with this exciting new material.
The Polaroid 600 Extreme
As I said, £2.50 for my very first Polaroid camera was a bit of a bargain. It even came in its original box and looked brand new to me – even though the rollers inside gave reason to believe it’s seen some use in its time. According to the box it was built in February 1998 in the UK (Vale de Leven, Dumbarton in Scotland to be exact) under license by the Polaroid Corporation in Cambridge, MA (USA).
It’s much bigger than I remember my parents’ Polaroid and I can’t help but feel reminded of my Holga cameras: we’re dealing with a pretty ugly hunk of black plastic here, cheap plastic lens, ridiculous “close-up” slider and a lighter/darker feature which obscures the light meter with a piece of striped plastic (or doesn’t – depending on where you slide it).
I think the seller told me it was £29.99 when it came out so that’s pretty much the price of a Holga too. Great – I love it already, and it’ll feel right at home in my collection!
PX100 Silver Shade First Flush Edition
Trouble is that the Impossible film pack I’ve bought the other day is not made for this camera, but for Polaroid SX-70 models. From what I’ve learnt however the only difference is the film speed: PX100 has 100 ISO and my camera is expecting a 640 ISO film.
Easy solution: tape a piece of ND filter over the light meter and be done with it. I’ve used one that darkens incoming light by 2 stops. That should do the trick.
All that’s left is to pop the film in and see if it fits. Listen carefully:
YES IT DOES!
The limited edition darkslide pops out just as expected, so the camera works too. That’s another load off my mind. Just one more thing perhaps: I’m shooting on First Flush batch no. 43 here 😉
Next thing to do of course is hand the camera over to my wife and have her take a picture of me (see below).
Let’s see some pictures
Be my guest! I only had one single pack of PX100 because I didn’t know if anything would come out, so 8 exposures were all we had to test this puppy. On a fairly sunny day with spots of overcast-ness (if that is a word) we took a stroll in the afternoon through the hood and here’s what we shot:
Hi, I have a Polaroid land camera, and couple of months ago I bought some PX70 films from the Impossible project. Yesterday I bought another polaroid camera, One600 and I was thinking, should the films that I have work with the new camera? I took one shot and it didn’t quite work, but do should it?
Regards from Iceland.
No, wow I’m sorry, I just saw your previous post! Thanks alot!
Excellent, glad you found it.
Happy Polaroiding, Júlíanna 😉
Hi
I have a Polaroid One600 camera and loads of Polaroid Fade2Black film.
I want to use this film, not sell it as it cost loads. Please can you tell me how
Thanks
Hi Lewis,
as far as I know the Fate2Black is a Polaroid 100 film. That’s a peel-apart format and won’t fit into your One 600 camera I’m afraid. The 600 series – all all other Polaroids that eject an image – use what’s known as Integral Film Packs which don’t peel apart.
The 100 peel-apart format is still around though, you can get a back for your Holga for example. But it won’t work in any 600 camera. Sorry 🙁
Hi again
Fade2Black is an sx70 integral film so how do i use this in my 600 camera?
I’ve never seen Fade2black for SX 70 before – sounds very cool.
Technically the cartridge should fit into your 600 camera then, all you need to do to correct the exposure is put a 2 stop ND filter over your light meter. SX 70 film is 100 ISO so it needs more light. Your 600 camera wants to expose the film at 600 ISO, that’s two and a half stops less light.
Have fun, and post a link to the results please!
Hi Jay,
Great article! I was thinking of buying some of this film for my polaroid because I’m in China and it’s a little cheaper out here. I have a polaroid one step 600. Where can you buy neutral density paper? Looking online I can only see the proper camera filters, not the tape/paper. Thanks!
Jess
Hi Jessica,
you can get ND Gels in professional photographic shops. They’re usually sold in large sheets to they can cover up big lights. But since you only need less than a square inch, see if you can get a flter swatch from them (that’s a small sample of all gels a manufacturer does – Lee Filters is one here in the UK). You can just cut a bit out of that. You could probably ask the manufacturer if there are stockists of their products (and swatches) near you.
Alternatively, a Quality Street wrapper may suffice since you’re only covering up the photo cell of the camera those creases won’t matter. However you won’t achieve accurate results – but it’ll be fin trying which colour will be closest to one stop of light (purple may be too dark, yellow may be too light).
Have fun 😉
Hi Jay,
I found a great deal on SX-70 film on ebay and I am glad to see it will work with my 600 one step camera. I was wondering what Nd filter is and where I can get it and how much it will cost. It looks just like a piece of scotch tape in the picture but I guess thats not what it is.
Thanks
Hi Caitlin,
the Scotch Tape is indeed just there to hold the ND filter in place. ND stands for Neutral Density, it’s a thin sheet of grey plastic that has the same effect as a pair of sunglasses. You’re dimming the lights if that makes sense. By using it on a Polaroid 600 camera’s electric eye, you fool it into thinking that your scene is darker than it is so it has to expose it more. We do this because the SX-70 film needs more light.
You can’t really buy small ND filters, but a Quality Street wrapper or any type of tinted transparent plastic sheet will to. A piece of unexposed (but developed) black and white negative will probably do the trick. Good luck 😉
Hi Jay.
I’ve received your helpful comment on 360 spinning camera last time and I need you again. I’ve purchased sx 70. And wondering if 600 film will work for sx 70.
So the proper question would be:
“Does a Polaroid 600 film work in a SX-70 camera?”
If the answer is yes, that’s great! if no.. oh.. I only have one choice of film.
I want to shoot in Black and White as well..
Hi Kate,
congratulations on your SX-70 purchase 🙂 You’ll love the results this magical camera can give you.
Yes 600 film will work – but you’ll have to keep the following in mind: The difference between (original) Polaroid 600 and (original) SX-70 film was only the sensitivity: 600 film has 600 ISO, SX 70 film has 100 ISO. Hence an SX-70 camera will be expecting to expose a 100 ISO film. If you’re using 600 film then you’ll have to either turn down the lighten/darken slider all the way to dark, or alternatively use an ND filter over your lens to take off one and a half stops of light. Only cover the lens, not the electric eye. There is a circular filter available that you can use for about £10 (from A-Power I believe.
On the original cartidges there was another difference, namely some extra nubs on the cartridge which would prevent the frilm from sliding into SX-70 cameras. You can cover those with a darkslide and insert it though. On the Impossible cartridges they’ve removed them so you can use either film in either camera physically – which is very nice.
If you’re looking into Impossible film, then the PX 100 and PX 70 are your choices for SX-70 type cameras. The PX 600 and PX 680 are ISO 600 and hence will work in 600 cameras, however you can use them in your SX-70 with the filter I mentioned as well.
Hope this helps – and happy instant shooting 😉
PS: I’ve been to the Impossible Factory in Enschede a couple of days ago – we did a tour and spoke with Andre Bossmann – it was such a blast!
Thank you again for detailed and professional reply.
Thank you so much. I live in Australia and currently in New York.
It is time for me to buy Impossible films here. I need to. It’s too expensive in Australia. I was about to get PX 70 originally but I also want to shoot black and white and Impossible do not have black and white films in sx 70.
Of course, you solved the problem! Yay~ I will purchase the filter when I get home.
Thank you again!!!
p.s 600 films are cheaper than sx70.
Yes I’ve noticed that – it’s probably because there’s more demand for 600 film than SX 70 film. The Impossible Website has some good offers on triple packs at the moment – but if you’re in New York tright now you HAVE to check the NY Project Space on 425 Broadway. They may have even better offers there like inor rejects. I bought a 4 pack of PX 680 rejects which – considering the arty quality of the material – only adds to the weirdness 😉
Hey I’ve just found another filter so you can use your 600 films in your SX 70 camera: instead of putting it over the lens, this one can go over the actual film pack, hence your viewfiner won’t get darker when you’re framing. Have a look at this: http://shop.the-impossible-project.com/shop/accessories/ac_nd_filter_twin
I’ve not used it yet because I’ve only just discovered it – but it’ll certainly go on my shopping list right now!
Jay! You are actually saving me.. some cash here.
Thank you so much!
That NY project space is same building as Impossible.
Is that one below or what level is it. I try to find it in internet seems like it doesn’t exist. I am going to go buy some Impossible and try to find the store that you’ve mentioned.
Thank you so much! definitely that filter is also in my list.
Thank you
I think they’re the same – Project Space and Impossible New York. Here’s the full address:
425 Broadway, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10013
USA
And here’s a link to them: http://shop.the-impossible-project.com/stores/spaces/ny
Hey Jay
This is super exciting. My boyfriend found a camera in a skip in Manchester, UK a while ago. He just dug it recently to show me simply because it looked pretty cool. He had little idea how it worked or whether there was film still available. Its an SX-70 and appears in very good nick. I thought it would be a fun project for me to do some research to see if it was viable and it would make a fabulous Xmas present if I could get it working. The wealth of information you have provided here and the simple, user friendly way in which it’s presented has given me the impetus I need to get started. I think Impossible should be providing you with a Xmas bonus!!!
Are you aware of a manual bring available for this model at all?
Best wishes and thank you so much. Jo
Hi Jo,
how exciting – what a find, and in a skip of all places 😉 Enjoy the SX-70, I take mine everywhere I go – and even the most mundane objects turn into fantastic Polaroid artworks.
Thank you for your kind words about my website! The closest thing to a Christmas present Impossible would get me is if you sign up with them and order something for yourself – it’s pricey but worth it. I’ll send you an email to sign up – if you do, you count as my “spirit” and they’ll improve my Pioneer status (which gives me discounts to their films and access to the beta testing programme). Your camera will like the PX 70 film they have on offer – it’s designed to work without modifications in your camera. The PX 600 and PX 680 films need a filter to work. All of them produce surreal results – treat yourself and take some breathtaking art with your “new” camera.
All the best from London 😉
Consider your pioneer spirit and status improved 🙂 I’m just about to have a rummage and place some orders. I’ll let you know how we get on with it.
Best wishes from foggy Cambridge
Super! My wife just found this link to a high-res scan of a vintage booklet called “How to take SX-70 Pictures” – you can download it at the bottom of the page.
Maybe it’ll help 😉
hi jay!
my name is sammy, i’m a photographer from switzerland and i’ve a question: i ordered some px films too, after that i found on the internet some ” Polaroid PoGo Media Papier” but they’re smaller than the px films, 2×3 inches, can i use them too in my polaroid 600 extreme? maybe a stupid question, but i don’t know anything about polaroid cameras 🙂
best wishes from switzerland
Hi Sammy,
there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers 😉
The PoGo paper will not work in your Extreme 600 camera. Even though PoGo is made by Polaroid it uses an ink-less printing process to create images, not a photographic process. It’s made for those small Bluetooth printers so you can print pictures from your mobile phone.
Hope this helps!
thank you very much for the answer, i’m glad i didnt throw that money out of the window!:)