Polaroid EE 100 shutter broken?

samhuwyler · Jan 29, 2016

Hello

I got a Polaroid EE 100. I put in some new batteries, a Pack of FB-100c and set the ISO accordingly . But the pictures all turned out completely black.
I opened the back and tested the shutter with the backdoor open. It looked like it was working. It fired and when I pointed it at a dark area it stayed up longer then when pointing at a bright light. So I guess the light meter is working too.
One developer roll (those metal rolls where the film passes through) spins smoothly the other is a bit sluggish.
I changed the battery twice.

Do you guys know if there is a way to fix it or should I just bury it?

Thanks and Cheers from Switzerland
Sam

samhuwyler · Feb 1, 2016

shamless selfbump

vdonovan · Feb 1, 2016

From your description it seems that the camera is working properly. Another good test is to put your finger over the light sensor on the front and then trip the shutter. You should hear the shutter open. Then take your finger away from the light sensor and you'll hear the shutter close. If it does that then the shutter and light sensor are working fine. Your description of the rollers sounds normal too.

From your description, I would guess user error. Have you shot successfully with this camera before? If not, check the peeled-off part of one of the photos that you took. Did the developer pods break, or are they intact with developer inside them? If they did not break, then you are loading the camera wrong, or pulling the film wrong. There are several Youtube videos showing how to load a Polaroid pack film camera (it loads exactly the same as an Automatic 100, 450, 250, Reporter, etc). It's also easy to find instruction books for these cameras, again they are all the same when it comes to loading film.

When loading, the black tab does NOT go through the rollers or through the door, but just out the side of the camera. Make sure the black tab comes completely out when you pull it, and you should see a white numbered tab in the same place. Now take your picture and pull the white tab, which pulls the actual photo tab into the rollers. Now pull the photo tab, wait two minutes and look at your picture.

If you are debugging your camera, you can open the back without ruining the pack of film. You can actually take the whole pack out, even if you haven't finished it, it will only ruin one shot. When you put the pack back in, make sure the white tab is going out the side of the door, not through the rollers.

Anyway, I really think your camera is working fine, and that you are having some problem loading it or pulling the film. Good luck!

samhuwyler · Feb 1, 2016

vdonovan said:
From your description it seems that the camera is working properly. Another good test is to put your finger over the light sensor on the front and then trip the shutter. You should hear the shutter open. Then take your finger away from the light sensor and you'll hear the shutter close. If it does that then the shutter and light sensor are working fine. Your description of the rollers sounds normal too.

From your description, I would guess user error. Have you shot successfully with this camera before? If not, check the peeled-off part of one of the photos that you took. Did the developer pods break, or are they intact with developer inside them? If they did not break, then you are loading the camera wrong, or pulling the film wrong. There are several Youtube videos showing how to load a Polaroid pack film camera (it loads exactly the same as an Automatic 100, 450, 250, Reporter, etc). It's also easy to find instruction books for these cameras, again they are all the same when it comes to loading film.

When loading, the black tab does NOT go through the rollers or through the door, but just out the side of the camera. Make sure the black tab comes completely out when you pull it, and you should see a white numbered tab in the same place. Now take your picture and pull the white tab, which pulls the actual photo tab into the rollers. Now pull the photo tab, wait two minutes and look at your picture.

If you are debugging your camera, you can open the back without ruining the pack of film. You can actually take the whole pack out, even if you haven't finished it, it will only ruin one shot. When you put the pack back in, make sure the white tab is going out the side of the door, not through the rollers.

Anyway, I really think your camera is working fine, and that you are having some problem loading it or pulling the film. Good luck!

Thanks for your time.

I double checked if the camera is loaded correctly and tested the lightmeter like you said. Everything seems to work just fine but my shots still remain black.
I put took an unfinished pack out and exposed it to light. After I put it back in and pulled the ruined shot out, it developed and turned white. So the developer rolls are working too.
The shutter sounds like it works.

No I haven't shot on this camera befor.

I can't explain why my shots always turn black. The camera seems to work fine.

1L6E6VHF · Feb 2, 2016

Strange. If the lens does open, and the film cover is, in fact, off, the film certainly be exposed.

If the film were accidentally packed without the negative layer going through the emulsion coater, that would truly be an unusual QC failure.

Are you sure the film speed switch is set to 75 (and not to 3000)? Check the shutter again. If outdoors during the day, there should be a distinct "double" click. A single "pop" would result if the lens were wide open in the 3000 ER setting. Indoors, the 75 setting will have the shutter open for at least a second, more often several.
If the lens opening appears as a small dot, it's in 3000 mode, switch to 75.

vdonovan · Feb 2, 2016

I'm sure you are already doing this, but make sure when you are releasing the shutter to push the shutter button down and HOLD it until you hear the shutter open and close. In low light you will hear two distinct clicks. In daylight, you will probably only hear one click.

I've worked on hundreds of Polaroid pack film cameras and I've never seen one with this problem, where the shutter appears to be working, but pictures come out black. In fact I've never seen a camera where pictures come out consistently black, unless the user had the ISO set to 3000 using Fuji FP-100c film. The tests that you've done seem exhaustive, but not conclusive! Again, best of luck!

samhuwyler · Feb 3, 2016

I managed to get a picture that wasn't completely black. I set the ISO to 75 and pointed the lens towards a light bulb. During the whole exposure I covered the lightmeter. The picture was still pretty dark but not completely black anymore. I guess the lightmeter is faux (?)

Cheers
Sam

vdonovan · Feb 3, 2016

samhuwyler said:
I managed to get a picture that wasn't completely black. I set the ISO to 75 and pointed the lens towards a light bulb. During the whole exposure I covered the lightmeter. The picture was still pretty dark but not completely black anymore. I guess the lightmeter is faux (?)

Cheers
Sam

That's a great test! It is true that the light sensor can fade over time (or it has a bad connection with the shutter circuit board). I've fixed this in some cameras by taping a piece of thin paper napkin over the light sensor to act as a neutral density filter I've also heard of people taping real neutral density filters over their light sensor.

Other things to try: make sure that the exposure adjustment dial (which is around the light sensor) is turned all the way up, to the solid-colored dot. Make sure also that the plastic flash cube diffuser isn't somehow getting in the way of the light sensor.

And also make sure that you are holding the shutter button down FOR THE FULL DURATION OF THE EXPOSURE. Shooting FP-100c indoors, you will get exposures of 1/4 second or longer, so indoors its a good idea to hold the button down for at least one second. Outdoors it's less critical.

So if I were you at this point, I would: turn the sensor dial up to the solid-colored dot, tape a bit of thin paper over it, and outside into full daylight and try a shot.

Polaroid EE 100 shutter broken?

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