Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Low Tech Wonders - Converted Polaroid 103 Images

 
I wrote a little about my Polaroid 103 camera, rescued from a dusty shelf in an antique shop, some time back. (Click Here) to read about how I got it going again.
 
Since then, I've also tweaked the "electronic eye," adding a handmade paper diaphragm (a hole punched in a piece of paper) to reduce the light coming in. I found that it was underexposing, even with the exposure adjustment all the way toward the bright side. The paper aperture fixed it, and it shoots just about right with no exposure offset.
 
So, I bribed the kid - sure, you can have a piece of cake after dinner, if you come outside and let me shoot pictures of you as you eat. Here are the results, scanned on my Epson V750:
Oops, a little motion blur. Here's my favorite from this series:
 
She said "It looks like I'm summoning lightning." I agree.
 
And here's the most artistic shot I've made with the 103 so far:
 
It's actually a very capable camera.
 
One thing that's interesting - there are two types of Fuji pack film that are available and work in the camera (see links below). One is iso 100 color, which you see used in all the images above. The other is iso 3000 (!) black and white. Here's the funny thing. Since the camera is fully automatic, you can't change the exposure. Apparently, it uses a much smaller aperture for the black and white, making it shoot at approximiately the same shutter speed as the iso 100 film. I thought I should be able to make great low light images with iso 3000 black and white film. Not so. Indoors, because the aperture is small, the shutter speed is quite long, even with iso 3000.
 
Anyway, I'm glad my Mom sent me the Polaroid. It is a nice diversion.
 
DMC-365.blogspot.com
 
 

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