Polaroid exposure, flashes, film speed...

[robbinbaker]

I am just getting interested in polaroid and have a 350. I can't get the flash to work. It seems to be charging, but won't flash. Any advice?

I can't figure out what film speed to set the camera to in order to get usable prints on 669 or 690. I eventually want to use the portrait adapter thingy to do close ups and then transfer or emulsion transfer them onto other pieces of art... but right now I'm at the point of having just a bunch of black snapshots... and of course the original manual for the camera doesn't help me because they just say "some day we may manufacture film in speeds other than 75 or 3000, but not now".
Help?

Thanks!
Robbin

 

[DBP]

I believe 669 is ISO 80, which is so close to 75 it should work fine. 690 is 125 and so, according to the Land List (Dead Link Removed, you should "set the speed selector to 75/Color, and adjust the Lighten/Darken control between one and two small notches towards Darken."

If you are getting dark pictures and the flash is not firing, my first bet would be a dead battery in the camera.

 

[sionnac]

Is it the 268 Polaroid flash? Both of mine are notoriously finicky.

 

[robbinbaker]

Thanks!
I know the camera batteries aren't dead because I bought new ones for it when I got it. (Those sure aren't easy to find or cheap!!!)
I'm sure there is something going on with the flash, but I can't figure it out. It's the rechargable flash that came with the 350 originally. I have the charger, it says it's charging, and I even got a light on the camera and that little noise one time. But it simply won't flash.
My husband saw the one photo where you can actually make out a person and was really not impressed - knowing how much time, money and effort and money I've put into starting this new obsession. His only comment was " And that was outside in the day???"
(I justified by saying the sun was setting...) I know it's that I just don't know what I'm doing...

 

[Will S]

I think there is an article on the landlist (cited above) where he talks about adapting a conventional flash to older land cameras. You may want to investigate that option. There are always bulbs too. In general, though, if you want to use polaroid materials for transfers I think a lot of people use slide transfer machines and then shoot 35mm slides and transfer them to polaroids using that. It makes the transfer process easier since you can do it at a different time from the image capture.

Good luck,

Will

 

[DBP]

Have you tried shorting the flash to see if it will fire independent of the camera? You may also want to try firing the shutter in various lighting conditions with the back open to observe whether the shutter responds differently (as it should). Keep in mind that the shutter will close when you take your finger off the shutter release, so if the exposure needs to be long you need to hold it down.

 

[robbinbaker]

THANK YOU ALL!

Thank you! I finally managed to get the flash to work and the film speed advice was exactly what I needed. I've managed to get three useable, one great print off the camera so I'm off and running! Man, I LOVE Polaroid. I got my 4 year old daughter a 600 for Christmas so she can have fun too and not just be the subject of photos.
Having been taking digital for 4 years now I forgot how totally beautiful vintage polaroid can be. The SHADOWS!!! Wow! So much depth.
Thank you!
Robbin