Polaroid 1000 camera and photo of Pula Airport, Croatia.

These little plastic “toy” cameras, are great fun the one to the left, I picked up from a jumble sale for a quid. You can also find them in charity shops, car boot sales and of course on eBay.

There’s normally a few things to keep an eye out for that can cause problems like light leaks and whether the film ejection mechanism still works. Some with flash units might need checking that the bulb is ok. Though you don’t have to worry about batteries as these are contained in each film cassette.

Sunset over Suffolk and The North Sea at Southwold

Most of them are simple point and shoot too, which makes them nice and easy to play with. They give some interesting results and colours with each print, often depending on what sort of film stock you are using, as you can adapt most cassettes to work in most cameras. Or buy expired stock where the chemicals may have run and cause interesting shapes on images.

If you want one that’s a little more tech then keep your eye out for a SX-70 camera these are folding SLR (You look through the lens, rather than a hole just to the left) and the also allow you to manually focus. Because they fold down they can be carried in your pocket more easily. Ones in almost brand new condition can be found on eBay for around £50-£60.

Drop in at Wymondham skatepark and City Traffic

Check out these for information, images, film and cameras for sale:-
www.polanoid.net
www.unsaleable.com

Note:-
This article appeared in the first issue of City and Sticks and since then Polaroid have announced that they are discontinuing production of 600 film.

Further update:-
Pleased to say that Polaroid film may be dead, however the Impossible Project are going to produce a new integral film from 2010, read more here.

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