Repairing a Polaroid 250

E76 · Nov 15, 2008

I have recently acquired a Polaroid 250 and am having problems with exposure. All three shots I have taken with it so far have been underexposed, although setting the light/dark dial two notches to lighten has helped somewhat. I'm using Fuji FP-3000B film, and have put in a brand new battery (which tested fine).

From what I've read the photocells in these cameras deteriorate over time, necessitating the need for some form of exposure compensation. I have found a link to a repair procedure (which I am assuming would allow me to use the light/dark dial normally and get good exposures), but it is dead.

Does anybody have a repair procedure for these cameras? The original page was located here: http://home.comcast.net/~jrpalma/pack_repair_exposure.html.

Alex Hawley · Nov 15, 2008

Do you have the lighting selector knob on the correct position? Its the little knob next to the film speed selector. It controls the "yellow tab" display on top of the lens standard.

I ran one pack of Fuji 3000 through my 250 and it seemed to work OK as long as the lighting selector is set right.

E76 · Nov 16, 2008

Yes, I've checked and it's set correctly. Any other ideas?

Alex Hawley · Nov 16, 2008

Nope. Probably the photocell then.

JBrunner · Nov 16, 2008

The first thing I noticed about mine is that the photocell seems easily overwhelmed by bright backgrounds, lights, etc. I know know to keep my compositions within about a two stop range, and keep things all sun or all shade. If it is the photocell, and it is consistently underexposing, and you have the speed and selector knob set correctly, try covering half of the photocell and see what happens.

mabman · Nov 16, 2008

What kind of battery are you using? (The battery/batteries need to total 4.5 V, if the voltage is under that, you will have exposure problems.)

E76 · Nov 16, 2008

JBrunner said:
The first thing I noticed about mine is that the photocell seems easily overwhelmed by bright backgrounds, lights, etc. I know know to keep my compositions within about a two stop range, and keep things all sun or all shade. If it is the photocell, and it is consistently underexposing, and you have the speed and selector knob set correctly, try covering half of the photocell and see what happens.

Thanks for the suggestion; I'll try it and see what happens.

mabman said:
What kind of battery are you using? (The battery/batteries need to total 4.5 V, if the voltage is under that, you will have exposure problems.)

I'm using an Exell 531 battery, which tested at 4.71 volts.

mabman · Nov 17, 2008

Well, the good news is the 250 and some other automatic-only models sell cheaply these days, so picking up another one shouldn't set you back too much. I got mine late last year for ~US$30, and it looks like it had only been used a few times. Good luck!

Repairing a Polaroid 250

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