Which adapter for portrait?

SMD · Oct 9, 2024

Want to shot some portraits with the last packs of FP-100c I have remaining.
I see two adaptors:

- the Kaligar set comprised of a wide lens, a tele lens and a viewfinder (that attaches above the original view-/rf). I know the lenses from other cameras, but dont understand how exactly the finder works with the type 100 Polaroids. (What markings does it have, do I need to refocus, etc.) The tele adapter could be usable for portraits.

LENTAR TELE AND WIDE LENS KIT

This page is the presentation of the tele and wide lens kit Lentar.

www.instantphoto.eu

- the Polaroid Potrait Kit 581. This has a a lens that attaches to the front of the finder of the camera.

KITS PORTRAIT/CLOSE-UP

This page describes the KITS PORTRAIT/CLOSE-UP

www.instantphoto.eu

- the Polaroid Close Up Kit 543. Somehow seems to me it is the same as the above one.

So from own experience what would you recommend to use with my Polaroid Land cameras (I have several, but they are more or less the same) with pack film? I mean distorsions, vignetting, angles of view, etc.

Donald Qualls · Oct 9, 2024

Both of the Polaroid portrait kits were designed specifically for Polaroid branded pack film cameras. As I recall, they include rangefinder compensation as well as the viewfinder add-on that corrects parallax and field of view. What you get on the print will be what you see in the viewfinder, to about the level of accuracy you'd expect without the adapter kit. I'm not at all familiar with the Kaligar kit, but given it has two lens adapters it's likely to have been intended more for consumer use than professional quality.

SMD · Oct 9, 2024

Donald Qualls said:
Both of the Polaroid portrait kits were designed specifically for Polaroid branded pack film cameras. As I recall, they include rangefinder compensation as well as the viewfinder add-on that corrects parallax and field of view. What you get on the print will be what you see in the viewfinder, to about the level of accuracy you'd expect without the adapter kit.

How do these two alterate image quality?
I guess for portrait (close enough for upper body, maybe sometimes head+shoulder) I need the 581, but on the net some use the 543 for this purpose. Finding the manuals for the two sure would help me.

xya · Oct 9, 2024

SMD said:
Want to shot some portraits with the last packs of FP-100c I have remaining.
I see two adaptors:

- the Kaligar set comprised of a wide lens, a tele lens and a viewfinder (that attaches above the original view-/rf). I know the lenses from other cameras, but dont understand how exactly the finder works with the type 100 Polaroids. (What markings does it have, do I need to refocus, etc.) The tele adapter could be usable for portraits.

LENTAR TELE AND WIDE LENS KIT

This page is the presentation of the tele and wide lens kit Lentar.

www.instantphoto.eu

- the Polaroid Potrait Kit 581. This has a a lens that attaches to the front of the finder of the camera.

KITS PORTRAIT/CLOSE-UP

This page describes the KITS PORTRAIT/CLOSE-UP

www.instantphoto.eu

- the Polaroid Close Up Kit 543. Somehow seems to me it is the same as the above one.

So from own experience what would you recommend to use with my Polaroid Land cameras (I have several, but they are more or less the same) with pack film? I mean distorsions, vignetting, angles of view, etc.

Congrats that you still have 100 film, I'm out of it. I hoped for the different projects, but none has really taken off. I'm the owner of instantphoto.eu. The polaroid kits are ways better because they take account of the parallax correction. As there are lenses in front of the viewfinder, the rangefinder works as well. If you need information or stuff, I just sort out my boxes and I'm geving away a lot of things for free...

Donald Qualls · Oct 10, 2024

SMD said:
How do these two alterate image quality?
I guess for portrait (close enough for upper body, maybe sometimes head+shoulder) I need the 581, but on the net some use the 543 for this purpose. Finding the manuals for the two sure would help me.

I have one of them (forgotten which) but I've never used either one. Given they were sold for the same market that would have bought SLRs over simple cameras, I'd expect that image quality wouldn't degrade at a level that's obvious in the 3x4 print, but that's a guess.

Which one you'd use depends on whether you want a head shot or a torso portrait, I'd guess.

xya · Oct 10, 2024

Seen the resolution of Polaroid film, no problem of image quality at all.

SMD · Oct 10, 2024

xya said:
Congrats that you still have 100 film, I'm out of it. I hoped for the different projects, but none has really taken off. I'm the owner of instantphoto.eu. The polaroid kits are ways better because they take account of the parallax correction. As there are lenses in front of the viewfinder, the rangefinder works as well. If you need information or stuff, I just sort out my boxes and I'm geving away a lot of things for free...

It is nice to have a face/person associated to that site. I used if often when in need for information about different Polaroid related items. Danke dafür!

I have some packs of Fuji FP-100c bought expired from 1000 Töpfe in 2006. They worked back then and live in the fridge since then, hope they still produce an image. At the prices they fetch today one is afraid to shot it.

As for information and stuff, I need all the time the one or other bit and piece. E.g. I need the lenses that increase the working distance of the Studio Portrait cameras. I hope to make some stereo photographs. I have the cameras with 4 lenses, looking also for the ones with 2 lenses. Coupled with that, as information, how come those are way less frequent (at least in Europe) than the ones with 4 lenses? The 2 lens versions appear sometimes on sale but the prices are all over the place, sometimes extremly cheap (two times I hesitated too long) and other times priced the weight in Gold.

Donald Qualls · Oct 11, 2024

SMD said:
At the prices they fetch today one is afraid to shot it.

But wouldn't it be worse to leave it in the fridge so long it really won't work?

xya · Oct 11, 2024

SMD said:
It is nice to have a face/person associated to that site. I used if often when in need for information about different Polaroid related items. Danke dafür!

I have some packs of Fuji FP-100c bought expired from 1000 Töpfe in 2006. They worked back then and live in the fridge since then, hope they still produce an image. At the prices they fetch today one is afraid to shot it.

As for information and stuff, I need all the time the one or other bit and piece. E.g. I need the lenses that increase the working distance of the Studio Portrait cameras. I hope to make some stereo photographs. I have the cameras with 4 lenses, looking also for the ones with 2 lenses. Coupled with that, as information, how come those are way less frequent (at least in Europe) than the ones with 4 lenses? The 2 lens versions appear sometimes on sale but the prices are all over the place, sometimes extremly cheap (two times I hesitated too long) and other times priced the weight in Gold.

Thanks for your appreciation and for the info.

Regarding the 2 and 4 lens versions, it's just a question of picture format. the 4 lens version gives 4 standard European passport photos, whereas in the US the bigger format from the 2 lenses is also a common legal format. Somewhere in my cases I also have the image splitters for the Mamiya Univeral 127mm lens in both Polaroid versions, 2 and 4 photos per sheet. If I come across those things, I will remember you...

xya · Oct 11, 2024

Donald Qualls said:
But wouldn't it be worse to leave it in the fridge so long it really won't work?

You are absolutely right. That's why I handed my remaining stock of 40 boxes or so last year to an artist who only works with this stuff. And I did not charge more than I had payed for it. It would certainly have become useless in my fridge.

SMD · Oct 11, 2024

xya said:
Regarding the 2 and 4 lens versions, it's just a question of picture format. the 4 lens version gives 4 standard European passport photos, whereas in the US the bigger format from the 2 lenses is also a common legal format. Somewhere in my cases I also have the image splitters for the Mamiya Univeral 127mm lens in both Polaroid versions, 2 and 4 photos per sheet. If I come across those things, I will remember you...

Never thought about the different legal size (mostly as for not knowing about the US legalities), but that could be indeed the key. Interestingly this is nowhere mentioned on the interwebs.
I am looking for the half image splitter, also with the purpose of stereo photography. These are unfortunately often awaible from Japan and rare in Europe. I have the Super 23. I think it will be a better solution, the Studio Polaroids have the lenses not far enough for a proper stereo base. (But I still want to try that too, especially with the additional lenses. Until now I did it without and the result was not really satisfactory.)

xya · Oct 12, 2024

Yes, stereo was my idea when I bought it. I have quite some stereo cameras. As far as I know you can't attach a Polaroid back to a 23, it has to be a Universal.

You give me an idea: As I have an Instax back for my Universal, I should try that next month. We will see...

SMD · Oct 12, 2024

xya said:
Yes, stereo was my idea when I bought it. I have quite some stereo cameras. As far as I know you can't attach a Polaroid back to a 23, it has to be a Universal.

I don't insist on instant. I want to use the 23 with type 120 film. The passport/stereo adapter attaches to the lens no matter the back. But I am afraid the stereo basis is too short for normal stereogramms (3m up to 10 m).

Which adapter for portrait?

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