Polaroid cameras used in shooting reference

Chantal Sulkow · 04-08-2002, 01:18 AM

I'm wondering if anyone has any feedback, experience or advice regarding Polaroid cameras. I'm interested in getting a good polaroid camera to aid in shooting photo reference for portraits. Recently I saw a camera belonging to a friend that is no longer being made. It enabled you to shoot black and white polaroids of your subject and helped both in judging the light and composition. Once you arrived at the proper F-stop and shutter speed on the polaroid, those same settings could be used on another camera. I have had many experiences with wasted rolls of film, so the "pre-visualization" the Polaroid offers seems like a great tool!

I am also aware of Polaroid backs that can be attached to a regular camera. I'm just starting to research this, so any info anyone might have about camera models, prices, good places to look and so on would be wonderful!

Lon Haverly · 04-12-2002, 11:58 PM

I used Polaroids years ago before digital cameras were even dreamed of. They seemed to be the obvoius solution for instant viewing of photos. But you do waste alot of film with polaroids, and it is more expensive than 35mm. I began to hate the results from Poloroids especially for color tones and close ups of portraits. It has been a long time since I have used it, but I am a total fan of digital, and would never recommend anyone using Polaroid in preference to digital. Talk about saving money on film - you can't beat digital.

Mike McCarty · 04-14-2002, 08:44 PM

Chantal, If you are talking about the inexpensive Polaroid instant cameras I would agree with Lon. Their quality leaves alot to be desired. I am aware of "Polaroid backs" for regular film cameras but these cameras, to my knowledge, are the very expensive medium and large negative cameras. Those brands would be like the Mamiya, Hasselblad, Rollie etc. I'm talking thousands of dollars. The digital cameras offer the prevue info you are looking for. If I were starting out, or just at the point of needing a new camera, I would strongly consider a digital. Good luck.

Karin Wells · 04-30-2002, 01:06 PM

I agree with Lon and Mike....go for the digital for instant feedback. Even a high end (expensive) digital camera is cheaper than the polaroid set up - not to mention the ongoing cost of both regular and black and white polaroid film (that is getting harder and harder to find anywhere).

I have an Olympus E-10 and I love it! I use all the same equipment and camera settings for a shoot that I used on my 35mm film camera.