Top 4 Best Vintage Polaroid Instant Cameras

Instant film cameras have come a long way since they debuted back in 1947. Although the cameras these days are easy to use and have better functions, most of them lack the vintage Polaroid look. Here is the list of the best vintage polaroid instant cameras: Polaroid SX-70,Polaroid SX-70 SONAR, Polaroid 600 and Polaroid Spectrum SE.

POLAROID SX-70

The Polaroid SX-70 camera was unveiled in the 1972 by Edward Land. He took it out from his pocket and took 5 photos in 10 seconds. This was a remarkable innovation over the previous instant cameras that used complex photographic procedures and often left chemicals in the hand. Since then, instant photography technologies have changed.

POLAROID SX-70 REVIEW

The polaroid SX-70 is a foldable camera which makes it easy to carry around in the pocket.  The   camera has no flash light meaning that indoor photos have to suffer unless you can provide the lights on your own. The power required to operate the camera comes from the battery stored in the film pack and not in the camera which makes it easy to fold. Further, the camera will remain folded after the use to save the battery from being unnecessarily drained. If the battery is drained, the film pack will not be able to use and that’s going to cost you money.

The camera has the manual focus wheel above the red shutter button and has an exposure meter with only two options: White for the over exposure photos and Black for the under exposure photos.

There is a yellow button on the right side of the camera which can be seen after the camera is unfolded. When you press that button, the lower jaw of the camera will fall down showing you the space where you can put the film with black side up.

While holding the camera, just make sure that you don’t hold on the bottom with fingers blocking the access to the photo while printing. It will damage the motors and since this is a vintage product, you won’t get chance to repair.

Being the mother of the modern instant camera, it’s an antique which is a privilege to have for every photographer.

POLAROID SX-70 FILM

The polaroid SX-70 uses the SX-70 film which comes in two formats: B&W and COLOR.

Here ‘s the brief comparison of both the films for SX-70:

POLAROID SX-70 SONAR.

POLAROID SX-70 SONAR is the upgraded version of POLAROID SX-70. Both the cameras are similar in every aspect but POLAROID SX-70 SONAR outsmarts POLAROID SX-70 with the feature of auto focus by using the SONAR technology and provides better photos than the POLAROID SX-70. In both the cameras, we can find the slot to insert the flash as accessories. MiNT Cameras has manufactured some good flash and lens adapter which can be found in various colors like Yellow, Blue etc. and can be used as accessories with these two vintage models.

POLAROID 600

The polaroid 600 is another most important vintage instant camera which was released in 1981 with built-in and light management electronics. The 600 series came up in different kinds of models: some with flash, some without flash. Some with square corners, some with curved corners or round head. Some with autofocus and some without autofocus. The most common one being with autofocus, flash and curved corners.

POLAROID 600 REVIEW

The 600 series are also foldable but more robust than SX-70 series which were slim. The ISO rating is 600 and aperture is 8mm. The camera has a close-up lens that allows two focus mode. One is the focus distance of 1.2 meter to infinity and the other is the focus distance of 0.6 meter to 1.2 meter.

The camera has 2 shutters at side. The front shutter is to recharge the flash and the shutter at the back is the take the photo. The exposure control has two options: Bright option for bright photos and dark option for the dark photos.

At the back is the small window like in SX-70 to show the number of remaining frames.

POLAROID 600 FILM

The Polaroid 600 uses the 600 format film which comes in two formats: B&W and COLOR.

Here‘s the brief comparison of both the films for Polaroid 600 :

POLAROID SPECTRA SE

Polaroid Spectra camera was introduced in 1986 and has the following benefits over the Polaroid 600.

1. The wide film allows capture of more details.
2. Better lens system than Polaroid 600. It Uses the Quintic lens system which consists of 3 patented, computer-designed lens elements combined to form an extremely compact yet powerful 125mm lens which allows virtually no optical distortion and improves the picture quality.
3. Rapid Flash recharge system which allows flash to use the energy as per the requirement only and hence save the energy resulting in faster recharge time.
4. With various system controls like Auto focus, self-timer, flash and exposure control easily adjustable.

POLAROID SPECTRA FILM