Adding tripod socket to Polaroid 220?

Cybertrash · Mar 16, 2013

I've had a Polaroid 220 pack film camera for a while now and I recently managed to solder in a new, modern, battery. When doing this however I noticed that the camera lacks a tripod socket (being one of the cheaper Polaroids). I recently came upon a video where someone was attaching a flash bracket to a Polaroid 450, and they mentioned that they had added tripod sockets to other Polaroids, but didn't mention how this was done. So I was wondering have you guys ever added a tripod socket onto a Polaroid camera, and how did you do it?

AgX · Mar 16, 2013

One way of doing might be employing a "casing-screw". This is a screw with both male and female 1/4" threads used to fix a camera in its leather casing, the same time yielding a thread to mount the whole thing on a tripod. Cut off the male thread and glue the rest it with epoxy cement to the underside of the body. (I do not have a 220 camera at hand so I'm not sure from memory about the type of plastic used for its body.)

Alternatively one could use a bracket with a 1/4" female thread and use the bar to somehow fix a body to.

In case one is more DIY inclined, buying an apt tap drill would yield a lot of opportunities for custom constructions.

Trask · Mar 16, 2013

I actually installed a 1/4 inch t-nut into a piece of wood I'd drilled a hole in, then trimmed the wood to the size of the bottom of the Polaroid camera, varnished it, and expoxied it on. That was 20 years ago, and it's still working fine. Oh, yes, the head of the t-nut with the teeth was on the inside surface of the wood so all that you saw on the bottom was the hole with the threads of the t-nut a bit inside -- the wood being thicker than the size of the t-nut.

AgX · Mar 16, 2013

1/4" T-nut...

I forgot that "our" 1/4" thread is a common industry size in the USA. Over here one only finds those 1/4 and 3/8 inch threads in photographic supplies. That is why one has to improvise with converted accessories unless one has got the appropriate drill/die or a supply for those screws and nuts.

xya · Mar 16, 2013

be cautious when drilling holes into these plastic bodies which are 40 - 50 years old. if you know what you do, no problem. but unexperienced diy people, please think twice.

there was an adapter in the old days, a kaiser 1213 tripod adapter http://www.ebay.de/itm/Kaiser-1213-...=DE_Photographica_Zubehör&hash=item3a76d7b380

Matthew Rusbarsky · Mar 16, 2013

I've added a socket to a 220. It was a cheap camera and the electronics were dead so I converted it to a pinhole in a down and dirty manner. I drilled a hole larger than 1/4", then used JB weld to epoxy an appropriate sized nut over the hole. The nut was positioned inside the body directly under the bellows.

AgX · Mar 16, 2013

Yes Fixing the nut inside would provide a larger contact area. Those casing screws in their proper use may lead to some wobbly fit with such a large camera and a cushioned tripod head.

Adding tripod socket to Polaroid 220?

Cybertrash

AgX

Trask

AgX

xya

Matthew Rusbarsky

AgX

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