Repackage slides into old cartridge

[sixeyes]

Hi!

Recently inherited moms old 600-film polaroid "impulse portrait", and shot a few cartridges. Now i want to do stupid things.

I now have two cameras and i'd like to "share" a cartridge between them - my plan is to get into a dark room, open a new pack and remove the "darkslide", then steal one or four slides from it and put it into an old emptied cartridge, then replace a darkslide each on both, and effectively come out of this with two "unopened" cartridges with four exposures each.

Some theoretical issues:

• it's kind of finnicky, but i've practiced with already exposed pictures in the dark and i think i can manage.
• i suspect these might be sensitive to touch? i will probably be pretty rude with them. (this is my greatest worry.)
• i don't know if i can seal either cartridge back up enough, not to ruin them immediately
• not sure if the old card has enough battery juice to support a bunch of additional exposures.

Anyway! I'm very new to instant film, so this is probably old news, or in the very least something that those "in the know" can discourage immediately.

So! Can it be done? Is it done, if so, is there a term for it? (If it works, is the i-Type film close enough to 600 that i can put i-Type slides in a 600 cartridge and use it with a 600 camera?)

 

[AgX]

Welcome!


"Sensitive to touch"
Likely less than you think. One might think of the effect of fingerprints, but as the image will not be enlarged and has low resolution from the start, that should not be an issue. Also the pods, the only issue is not to rupture them or press them with such force that they open prematurely towards the layers. You hardly would do so. What you should not do is kinking the sheets.

 

[Truzi]

I believe the only difference with iType film is the cartridge does not have a battery. I think it only comes in the one speed, but you'd have to check.

It sounds like it could be done, though you'll have to be careful sliding the film into the slot of an empty cartridge - I've done this when trouble-shooting, but only with a darkslide. You could also open the end in the dark, and when done seal it back up with electrical or gaffers tape. Find an old used cartridge to experiment with first.

Also be careful not to do anything to the cartridge that would cause a light leak.


Edited to Add:
You will need the traditional style film cartridges that come with a battery to work in a vintage Polaroid. The iType cartridge will only work in an iType camera because the iType camera itself has the battery.

If you had two cartridges with good batteries, the iType film could probably be put in them.

Alternately, you could come up with a creative solution to power the vintage camera with an external battery, but now we're going down a more complex road.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Reloading prints into the cartridge is at the heart of an old "magic" trick (so old I first saw it on the Kreskin show back in the '70s). It's been done with developed or pre-exposed prints to let a camera spit out a picture of the magician's choice rather than what's in front of the lens.

It's also fairly routinely done with Instax, to allow exposing the sheet in, for instance, a 2x3 sheet film holder, then developing it through the original camera.

Main concerns are the condition of the battery in the receptor cartridge, and getting the dark slide back in (a little trickier than reloading the prints, in my very limited experience). As noted above, iType film comes only in 600 speed, and that cartridge has no battery, so won't operate older cameras that depend on a battery in the cartridge. The actual prints in the iType is indeed identical to those in a 600 cartridge, and the original batteries have a lifespan significantly longer than the 8 exposures (even with charging a flash from the cartridge battery) in the cartridge, so there's a good chance this will work.

 

[sixeyes]

Thanks so much everyone for your answers!
It seems like this might be possible after all - i always hoped but never really believed.

Great that i can probably be a little rough, since i need to do this by touch, and some parts (of the container) need a little pressure that i'll probably have to apply through the film. What happens if i kink the sheets? I recently did so by accident (or at least thats what i think happened) and now there's a spot where the image is much lighter (yellow?) and on the backside you can see how there's a bubble at that spot, like it doesnt stick together right. (which is what made me wonder about pressure.)

By a usually useless instinct, i kept all empty cartridges "for some future use". I guess this was it! It intrigues me somewhat that there's a lot more power in the batteries than there has to be.. seems like a waste? Of both money and environment. (We've recently had a bunch of battery recycling scandals here where it turns out they just dug them into the ground.)

It's also nice to know that i could put i-Type slides into a 600 cartridge, since they seem to have more "fun" varieties. Anyway! I'll try it out somewhen and report back, i guess. This should be interesting!



Unrelated question --- there's only one local shop that carries instant film, and they all turn out like this, with the ghostly stripes in the middle:

Spoiler: photo in the spoiler

Anyone recognize this? Is it due to the film being one year past expiry, or is it some fault of mine that i falsely correlate with the shop?



PS. that magic trick is dope

 

[Truzi]

Reloading prints into the cartridge is at the heart of an old "magic" trick (so old I first saw it on the Kreskin show back in the '70s). It's been done with developed or pre-exposed prints to let a camera spit out a picture of the magician's choice rather than what's in front of the lens.

Sshhh - don't give away our tricks, lol. I used to be into magic years ago, and mentalism is a sub-genre. I had the opportunity to see Kreskin's tour circa 2012. Great show, and great to see one of the people I'd read about since childhood.

I found an old camera of my fathers that had been in a closet since the 1990s. The cartridge was empty, but the battery still charged the flash!


@sixeyes
The "reborn" Polaroid film does not keep as long as the original, so some of those artifacts are consistent with age. Some of the brighter marks may be physical damage. I've also had issues with the new Polaroid film that causes it to hang as it ejects, and this is often only the first one or two shots. So there are issues with the film cartridges that were not present with the original. Also, there originally were 10 shots per cartridge. The Impossible Project (which became Polaroid Originals) can only fit 8 in that space now.

Older cameras may have some problems as well. Make sure the camera rollers are clean.

It's best to get fresh film, see if you can find it online. It is pricey, though, so you might want to experiment with your idea using pictures you've already taken. Do that just to see if you can reload cartridges and to make sure they eject without issue. The top one will always be automatically ejected when you load the cartridge in the camera, so that should always be the darkslide, or an old photo that was already developed.

 

[sixeyes]

The "reborn" Polaroid film does not keep as long as the original, so some of those artifacts are consistent with age. Some of the brighter marks may be physical damage. I've also had issues with the new Polaroid film that causes it to hang as it ejects, and this is often only the first one or two shots. So there are issues with the film cartridges that were not present with the original. Also, there originally were 10 shots per cartridge. The Impossible Project (which became Polaroid Originals) can only fit 8 in that space now.

Older cameras may have some problems as well. Make sure the camera rollers are clean.

It's best to get fresh film, see if you can find it online. It is pricey, though, so you might want to experiment with your idea using pictures you've already taken. Do that just to see if you can reload cartridges and to make sure they eject without issue. The top one will always be automatically ejected when you load the cartridge in the camera, so that should always be the darkslide, or an old photo that was already developed.

Aha! I didn't know there used to be 10 shots. I read long ago that people didn't like impossibles forumla, but i hoped they had improved since. It's hard to get a feeling i think, a lot of my pictures are pretty washed out, but i feel it varies so much with individual cartride, light, and especially temperature (its like -10 C here these days). But some come out great! And what people post are usually the nice ones, so i thought it might be down to selection bias.

I've bought film from polaroid dot com, but my main gripe with that is the delivery time. Instant film ... in two weeks! Hehe. The local joint have "local joint prices", so it's about as expensive. I might look around for some cheaper online reseller...

I tried now a few times (don't want to drain the battery too much) with already developed film... there's a little plastic florp which can get stuck folded inwards, but otherwise i seem to have it down. To be continued!

 

[Truzi]

It sounds like you are making good progress.

Counters in the old cameras are made for 10 shots, so that confuses some people. It resets when you put a cartridge in.

The latest incarnation of the (Impossible) Polaroid films is better than the first two - they've come a long way. It's still a good idea to cover them the moment they emerge from the camera to protect them from light while they develop.

Another thing to watch for is whether the camera is still metering exposure well, sometimes an old camera needs service. The current film is also a bit different from the original, so you may need to play with that little exposure dial a bit. It's basically just a little dial that lets you go darker or lighter - no real measurements for that, so you'll have to get used to your particular camera.

 

[sixeyes]

Hi all!

Took some time but now i finally tried it out. Turned all lights off in the apartment and hid in a wardrobe, the darkest "room" i could procure. It was by no means perfect, and after a while i could make out the dark of the actual film against the white border. At one point i turned around and there was a glow in the dark image my sister must've put there (we have a game of hiding this one in each others apartments, going for several years now).

I carried on anyway, because any damage would've already been done.

What i do is i hold the cartridge in a way where i can push down on the front of the metal spring, and the picture like i'm pointing to the upper corner. Then with my index finger i can feel the cartridge and guide the picture into the slit. You will need to push down the flat spring inside, or the picture will go underneath. When it's correctly inserted in the hole you can then slide it in by pressing lightly on the sides. When it feels like it's securely in place, be careful that it hasn't in fact stopped like 4-5 mm short of the back wall (you can still feel it a little through the slit). This is due to the flat spring again. You will need to somehow arc it upwards in the middle (by pressing inward from the sides), or at least keep it very flat, then slide it back and forth a little. Eventually it should go in there. This usually happens with the first slide, shouldn't be a problem with forthcoming pictures. Also, after every picture inserted, check that the black flap hasn't been jammed in there as well (it wants to go in with the pictures but it should stay outside). If this happens i usually try to get hold of a corner and pull outward. I'm pretty rough with it though, and it feels like it can be torn off easily, but so far it hasn't.

Also be careful if you like me do this in the dark (well, "dark") not to put the pictures in upside down. I believe you can feel in the pod area which way is down, but still, keep this in mind.

Here's some shitty mspaint diagrams:

Then advance with thumbs at side of picture (light pressure):

I took three pictures with "transferred" slides and they worked fine! As far as i can tell, anyhow. I only moved four slides anyway, so one left. The donor cartridge had its fifth slide bared, but it never left the cardridge. I've used that one as well, with good results.

All in all i can say that the experiment was a success! Thanks everyone for advice and encouragement! Next stop is trying with i-Type film, or maybe even making mixed cartridges... huhu.

 

[sixeyes]

Counters in the old cameras are made for 10 shots, so that confuses some people. It resets when you put a cartridge in.

Hah! I had wondered about this, thought the wheel had become misaligned in the past. But it was easier than that, it seems.

The latest incarnation of the (Impossible) Polaroid films is better than the first two - they've come a long way. It's still a good idea to cover them the moment they emerge from the camera to protect them from light while they develop.

Thanks for the tip, i'll try to remember this. It's a very alluring process to watch....

 

[Truzi]

It sounds like you are making good progress. I'm happy the re-loading is working for you without issue.