I liked it, but i could tell that the shutter was open for a little too long. There was plenty of light, and there was noticeable camera-shake on the print. (Also, I had already forgotten that this wasn't SX-70 film and tried to manipulate it. It worked to some degree (black lines))
This worried me, and, in my mind, a well-exposed image outside would do my nerves good. In the backyard, I took a photo of Patch (my dog) in the shade with exposure wheel set at normal.
As you can tell, it's ridiculously overexposed. At this point I was pretty annoyed/confused. Shade+normal exposure+ND filter SHOULD turn out a well-exposed photograph. In another attempt, solely for the sake of experimentation, I took a photo of a flower in direct sunlight with the exposure wheel at its darkest setting.
This came out reasonably well with only slight overexposure. regardless, it was 100x better than the photo of patch. Colors were good, clear image, black blacks and white whites. Good stuff for the most part. So keeping the wheel at the darkest setting was the answer......
Later...
Tiffany was off work today, so we went to lake Martin and hiked some trails. I took my less-than trusty SX-70 along for the ride in hopes that, under pressure, I can find a way to make it work. We're walking and talking and having some fun, when we come to a scenic point where the trail runs alongside the lake-shore. Still in my ever experimental mood, I try to take the photo and capture some of the colors and leaves underneath the water. Exposure wheel at its darkest setting.
Ok, not COMPLETELY overexposed, but you can't see the colors very well and there is little definition. I shook it off and trekked on. Along the trail there were more photo-ops, which I took.
All of them were slightly overexposed, which was a little disappointing. I wanted to be able to catch the rich colors that I was seeing.
Another photo-op. The trail had led to a point where it met the lake-shore. You could see the water reflecting on the golden rocks underneath the beautiful teal water. I stepped out, got in position, framed and...jam. Not good. This time I had no idea what could have started it. I tried to take another picture, but to no avail. I could hear the gears turning inside, but no photo. With hair standing on the back of my neck, I sat down and tried to fix the problem without having to expose the rest of the pack.
Finally, after not being able to take out the print myself, I sacrificed a polaroid and took out the pack. I put it back in in hopes that the camera would spit out the jammed photo after being closed. Nothing. Retried. Nothing. Finally I was able to pull the twice-exposed photo out of the camera.
Unfortunately that meant that another photo as wasted, but at this point I just wanted to make sure that nothing was wrong with the camera itself. I put the pack back in the camera. Still no photo. After some more finagling...
I thought about the ND filter. Could that be keep the film from coming through? Again I took out the pack, sacrificing another polaroid, and removed the filter. After putting it back in, out comes a photo.
Already mad that I had wasted 3 shots, I took another photo of Tiffany looking at my troubles
No ND filter. Overexposed, but looking good. The last of the pack. Nearly a whole 10 images wasted.
I have come to the realization that trying to fix this bloody camera will require a lot of sacrifice. But, however, 600 film is still being produced in Mexico (I think) so there is still the possibility of acquiring more.
Anyway, I hike the rest of the trail with the thought of wasted Polaroids weighing heavy on my conscience. Fortunately, that means thinking of ways to overcome the situation at hand. While hiking, I decided that I would replace the ND filter in front of the electric eye with a clear piece of plastic. This would allow the electric eye to see more light and adjust shutter speed accordingly, hopefully giving me a correctly exposed Polaroid (for once)....So I did.
http://photojojo.com/content/photojojo-original/discontinued-polaroid-projects/
Compare that with the photo I took the other day.
I REALLY have high hopes for this mod. I put the same ND filter on another pack of 600 film, but made sure that everything was secure and that it wasn't preventing any of the camera's operations. The ND filter, along with the piece of plastic in front of the photocell amounts to a -3 exposure stop. I think that's the right terminology.
Usually all it takes is two stops, but...I don't know.
-1 Pack of 600 film
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