Urgent Help wanted (polaroid camera selection)

bluesmoke

Hello Guys,

It is a hell of a site. Wish I found this out few years ago before spending tons of cash on junk analog/digital cameras.

I am looking for a suggestion. My Father in Law stays in India. He visits villages & takes instant photos of kids/families & gives them the photos. He uses a older Polaroid camera that takes 3x5 (or 2.5x4?) inch cartridges. Believe me there are villages where the poor kids have not seen a camera or a instant photo. This is his love & this is how he is spending his time. But he would be happier with a larger photo that shows more details.

I want to buy this setup for him in next visit. But I don't have any idea what film or what camera to buy (so many varieties). I need to buy about 200~300 color photos (20/30 cartridges), so price may be a factor. The camera should be easy to operate as well.

I understand that the Polaroid series is discontinued and I have to look around. But I believe I can spend this money for a good cause.

What camera & what rolls should I buy?


I promise I will get some photos of those smiling faces.

thanks for all the help...
bluesmoke.

claudermilk

I hav heard that Fuji has some kind of instant film similar to the discontinued Polaroid. Perhaps look into that & see what cameras are out there that use it. At least that way there is an ongoing supply of film--I'd be very relucant to touch the now-orphaned Polaroid cameras.

cmason

Ok so the issue is polaroid film is getting very hard to get. So here is a suggested alternative:

I am a huge fan of Canon Selphy printers. These are tiny dye-sub printers, that print 4x6 prints in about 30 seconds for about $0.24 each if you buy in bulk. More importantly, you can add a battery, which I read will allow you to print 36 prints.

I own the Selphy 510 and love it, perfect for handing snapshots to Grandma when I am over at her house with the kids. I do not have the battery, so not sure about that.


Here is a good review:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/cp510.html

ziggy53

BlueSmoke, welcome to the Digital Grin.

Please do extend to your Father-in-Law my admiration for what he does.

Polaroid appears to be down to production of two film formats:

600 Film

Format: 3.5 x 4.2 in. (8.8 x 10.7 cm)
Image Area: 3.1 x 3.1 in. (7.9 x 7.9 cm)

=======================

"Pack" Film

Format: 3 ¼ x 4 ¼ in. (8.5 x 10.8 cm) pack film
Image Area: 2.88 x 3.75 in. (7.3 x 9.5 cm)

The 600 film is probably what your FIL is using. Note that there is not too much difference in actual image area. The pack film is only a little larger.

Pack film is mostly designed for specialized polariod film backs except for (as far as I know) the ProPack camera. While you might be able to get a ProPack camera on E-Bay or such, I'm not sure that I can recommend it. They are getting really old at this point and for flash you would need to purchase the external flash built for the camera, also hard to find.

Unfortunately, that leaves the 600 format film cameras, probably what he uses. They are still available, possibly some of them new.

Polaroid has announced that its film production will cease so buying any of these cameras now doesn't buy very much practicality I'm afraid.

If your FIL only wants to "show" images to people, perhaps a better idea would be a digital P&S with a large LCD. If you decide to go Canon you can also get a small printer to attach to the camera which allows larger 4" x 6" prints.

The Canon Selphy ES2 is one such printer and, while initial purchase price is higher, cost per print is much less than the Polaroid cameras over time.

For instance, an entry level digital P&S camera can be had for between $100-$200 and the Selphy ES2 is about $140. A pack to print 100 pictures costs around $27.

I do recommend a camera that can use AA batteries as those might be more common to India.

Battery power for the printer is also available.

I don't own this printer so I can only suggest and not recommend.

Miguel Delinquento

Ask your father-in-law
Instead of casting around, I would simply ask your father-in-law what camera he uses. Does he have access to email or mobile phone services?
Since the market for new Polaroid film is diminishing, you may have to evaluate the supply in the used (unopened or expired film) marketplace as well. I would perform a simple search on eBay and see what is available, and then see if this synchs with your FIL's camera.
My 2-second search showed that there is a lot of product still out there.
If he desires a larger picture format, you will still have to evaluate whether enough film is available. I'm sure the cameras are being tossed off of closet shelves by the minute. Craigslist is a good place to see what's easily available.
Polaroids are a lot more magical and less bulky and complicated than the previously cited digital setups, so I can see staying with that tool.

M

darkdragon

i have to vote with the other two responses and say that rather than another Polaroid he might be better off with digital P&S and an on-site printer.

I disagree with the printer though. Personally, I recommend
Canon Pixma mini320 Compact Photo Inkjet Printer as this is the only compact printer that can handle 4x6 & 5x7 prints. The Selphy printers are ok but they only print low resolution, from my investigation.

I have the Pixma and I think it is great. There is No Paper Tray, all the parts are built in and it folds up into a nice square. It has a handle and can run off the optional battery pack. I highly recommend you look into this printer if you go the digital route.

ziggy53

darkdragon wrote:

...

I disagree with the printer though. Personally, I recommend
Canon Pixma mini320 Compact Photo Inkjet Printer as this is the only compact printer that can handle 4x6 & 5x7 prints. The Selphy printers are ok but they only print low resolution, from my investigation.

I have the Pixma and I think it is great. There is No Paper Tray, all the parts are built in and it folds up into a nice square. It has a handle and can run off the optional battery pack. I highly recommend you look into this printer if you go the digital route.

The Selphy printers are dye sublimation process which is continuous tone. Compared to inkjet, which is a dithered process, they don't need as much resolution for the same visual quality. The Selphy will produce images very similar in quality to optically processed prints from a lab.

An advantage to the Selphy photos is the addition of a clear overcoat. This protects the images from moisture and abrasion. The Selphy images are rated to last around 100 years.

cmason

The selphy prints are indistinguishable from prints done at Walgreens or even 4x6 done by Smugmug.

darkdragon

ziggy53 wrote:

The Selphy printers are dye sublimation process which is continuous tone. Compared to inkjet, which is a dithered process, they don't need as much resolution for the same visual quality. The Selphy will produce images very similar in quality to optically processed prints from a lab.

An advantage to the Selphy photos is the addition of a clear overcoat. This protects the images from moisture and abrasion. The Selphy images are rated to last around 100 years.

I understand and agree. The one thing I couldn't find in the Selphy line was something that would do 5x7, but maybe I just missed it. I haven't used a dye-sub (what i was originally looking for, but wanted 5x7 and i hate the trays), but the reports i read on the Selphy was that the images were not as nice as prints from a photo printer (like a small Epson Stylus).

There is a great dye-sub available in Europe but not here, though I can't recall the brand or model. It has all the features I was looking for and the reason I went with the Pixma, but it is a dye-sub - I'll repost here when I find the info on that one.

Osprey

Fuji instant film
The Fuji instant film can be found here

http://www.adorama.com/