I've had a change of heart about the onestep 2 and polaroid's film. When I was using a vintage onestep and impossible's film the result were spectacularly bad. Maybe I got one acceptable, non-flawed image per pack. I blamed a lot of the issues on underexposure- a 70 iso film needs a lot of light to produce a decent result and I just didn't have it. I bought a flash unit but the camera's interface with the flash melted down several weeks later.
When impossible rebranded as polaroid and announced a new camera, with a built in flash, using a 600 iso film, I thought most of my problems would be over. Initially I was very happy with the improvements. Almost no streaks or banding ever. The blacks were blacker and the colours more vibrant. In comparison to what I was used to, this was almost a miraculous improvement. I've shot it a lot now, having gone through about 50 packs of film. Here are my sober second thoughts about the camera and the film.
The camera:
The viewfinder is terrible and is a major weakness in the design. Vertical composition is almost always off, despite trying to compensate. I have no idea why they didn't include "the tunnel" portion of the viewfinder. I would have easily paid more for a better viewfinder knowing what I know now. There is parallax error as well, but the original suffered from that so I will let them off the hook. It's not an SLR so it shouldn't be punished for what it isn't.
I've only experienced one jam but it cost me the entire pack of film. The lens, despite being plastic produces fairly sharp photos.
The film:
Colour-
It's not daylight balanced so everything has a yellow tinge. This reduces the perceived colour saturation. It does seem to be less noticeable when the shot is taken outdoors without flash in strong daylight. At first I didn't mind this yellow tinge to my photos, but i had to ask myself why i put up with it when my 35mm/110/120/4x5 film don't have this issue. I also find there are consistency issues with the film. Some packs produce brighter colours across the board. Others produce more muted tones across all 8 shots.
Black and white-
this is the onestep 2's/polaroid's saving grace. The camera meters well and the film produces deep blacks and fairly white whites. There is an overall sepia tone to the image, which is quite pleasing. It develops quickly and only needs to be shielded from light for one minute. It is a fairly contrasty film. There is some tonality but it's no Pan f+ 50 iso.
Overall impressions-
While Polaroid originals have pulled off a huge improvement over impossible's film, it's still not there yet. They need to daylight balance the film. I think it also needs to be more sensitive to light. I'm unconvinced that it's actually a 600 iso film. Colour saturation needs improvement as does the finder of the onestep 2. Black and white film is by far the better offering and once my current film is gone will be all I purchase for the camera.
Would I buy it again?-
No.
I'd be interested to hear others opinions and experiences. Do you agree with me or are you having an entirely different experience?
When impossible rebranded as polaroid and announced a new camera, with a built in flash, using a 600 iso film, I thought most of my problems would be over. Initially I was very happy with the improvements. Almost no streaks or banding ever. The blacks were blacker and the colours more vibrant. In comparison to what I was used to, this was almost a miraculous improvement. I've shot it a lot now, having gone through about 50 packs of film. Here are my sober second thoughts about the camera and the film.
The camera:
The viewfinder is terrible and is a major weakness in the design. Vertical composition is almost always off, despite trying to compensate. I have no idea why they didn't include "the tunnel" portion of the viewfinder. I would have easily paid more for a better viewfinder knowing what I know now. There is parallax error as well, but the original suffered from that so I will let them off the hook. It's not an SLR so it shouldn't be punished for what it isn't.
I've only experienced one jam but it cost me the entire pack of film. The lens, despite being plastic produces fairly sharp photos.
The film:
Colour-
It's not daylight balanced so everything has a yellow tinge. This reduces the perceived colour saturation. It does seem to be less noticeable when the shot is taken outdoors without flash in strong daylight. At first I didn't mind this yellow tinge to my photos, but i had to ask myself why i put up with it when my 35mm/110/120/4x5 film don't have this issue. I also find there are consistency issues with the film. Some packs produce brighter colours across the board. Others produce more muted tones across all 8 shots.
Black and white-
this is the onestep 2's/polaroid's saving grace. The camera meters well and the film produces deep blacks and fairly white whites. There is an overall sepia tone to the image, which is quite pleasing. It develops quickly and only needs to be shielded from light for one minute. It is a fairly contrasty film. There is some tonality but it's no Pan f+ 50 iso.
Overall impressions-
While Polaroid originals have pulled off a huge improvement over impossible's film, it's still not there yet. They need to daylight balance the film. I think it also needs to be more sensitive to light. I'm unconvinced that it's actually a 600 iso film. Colour saturation needs improvement as does the finder of the onestep 2. Black and white film is by far the better offering and once my current film is gone will be all I purchase for the camera.
Would I buy it again?-
No.
I'd be interested to hear others opinions and experiences. Do you agree with me or are you having an entirely different experience?
