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During the 1990s and much of last decade I took instant photos with the polaroid 600.I had a ten pack of polaroid 600 film had ONE picture signifficantly LIGHTER than normal (brightness) or exposure but what puzzles me is the rest of them turned out great. Is that unusual or NOT? That is to have one OR two pictures be VERY much too bright but the others turn out how they should be. You,d think if one is lousy the rest would be. So question is in the history of polaroid 600 instant film would you say AT LEAST one out every thousand PACKAGES of ten 600 instant film had JUST one or two or three "far to bright" pictures but however the others turn out good. Remember I,m only talking about being too light or bright is it maybe the flash trying to recharge if you try to rush by taking one photo right after another?? But I would like the NUMBERS part of the question answered (The ratio of number of packages had ONLY 1,2, or 3 be too bright.
It's probably more an issue of how/where that one image was taken in relation to the others than it is an issue of the physical condition of that one photo.
Different lighting conditions can fool the in-camera light meter and cause a photo that is either too light or too dark, and this is probably that happened. Or, sometimes someone doesn't notice and their hand/finger is over the electric eye. Generally if an image is "bad", it'll be dark or non-existant on Polaroid cameras, because of the process they use.
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The battery is built into the photo pack, so when you
load a fresh photo pack from The Impossible Project, you get a fresh
battery. Photo packs are and always have been expensive, so this
guarantees you don't end up with a flat battery halfway through a photo
pack. Note that all original Polaroid manufactured photo packs are now so long out of date that they all have flat (or very nearly so) batteries; you should only use them in specially modified cameras using an external 4.5v dc power supply, but even then you may find that the photo chemicals are so old that they do not perform as expected (if at all).
On the only photo packs now available you get 8 shots per pack. The battery is built into the photo pack and is replaced every time you replace the photo pack, so you only get eight shots from it.
Original photo packs are all now long out of date and are mostly useless as the batteries have all gone so flat that they won't last an entire photo pack. The chemicals inside the photos are also usually stale and so produce odd results if you use the photo packs on a camera modified to take an external power supply.
Photo packs are being newly manufactured by The Impossible Project, although they are currently in monochrome only. Current pricing is similar to the last retail prices when Polaroid 600 film was in production; it has always been a very expensive way to take photos but the prices now charged for remaining unguaranteed and largely unusable photo packs can be truly extortionate.
Old
expired Polaroid 600 photo packs are best avoided. The batteries are
usually totally dead now (or nearly so) and the photo chemicals will be
stale and produce unpredictable results. The only exception is if the
photo packs have been stored refrigerated from new, but cold kills
batteries so although the chemistry may be fine, the photo pack can only
be used on a camera which has been DIY modified to use an external 4.5v
battery pack. The other problem with refrigerated packs is that you
have no guarantee as to when it was stored that way or even whether it
was stored that way at all.
Photo packs by The Impossible Project
are made in the same factory as the original material using the same
machines, but the product itself had to be re-invented to use currently
available chemical and dye supplies. If you read the information on
their website you'll learn all about the consequential limitations and advantages of the material.
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The battery is built into the photo pack, so in theory you get a fresh battery with each photo pack.
In practice, all photo packs are now significantly out of date as they're no longer made. This means that the batteries are usually dead or on their last gasp, and as the photo packs are expensive they're also a waste of money when the battery dies straight after ejecting the protection sheet.
Some packs are advertised as having been kept refrigerated: this is fine for keeping the instant photo chemicals fresh, but cold kills batteries even more quickly so these packs are only suitable if you have modified your Polaroid 600 camera to take an external 6v battery pack (original battery is actually 4.5 v, but 6v is easier to find and does no harm at all). Modifying the camera is a bit fiddly though as it was never designed to be dismantled and often breaks, but there are millions of them lying unused and freely available so although getting photo packs is difficult and expensive, the cameras usually cost nothing.
The battery is incorporated into the photo pack: you get a new battery when you change photo packs.
The problem is that all photo packs are now long out of date.(the last photo packs were manufactured nearly three years ago) and that batteries are likely to either be dead or to have insufficient power to finish a photo pack. Photo packs which have been kept refrigerated will have fresh photo chemistry, but cold kills batteries, so the only way that they're guaranteed to work is by modifying the camera to accept an external 6v power supply.
The expense of photo packs, their scarcity and the fact that most are now useless means that Polaroid Instant cameras are now worthless and virtually unusable. Last summer, a French company acquired the rights to remanufacture photo packs but has yet to announce a production date, but if they do go into production you can expect to pay at least £30 for just ten photos.
All photo formats eventually die: unfortunately Polaroid Instant has effectively done so along with some 35mm negative and transparency films.
The battery is incorporated into the photo pack itself, so you get a new
battery when you replace the film pack.
Unfortunately it's an
obsolete system as production of photo packs ended about two and a half
years ago, and all remaining packs are now at least six months out of
date.
This means that the overwhelming majority of Polaroid 600
photo packs now have flat batteries, stale photo chemistry, or both.
Refrigerated photo packs may have good chemicals, but the batteries will
definitely be flat as cold kills them.
There is only one fix
for this, but it means that you need to modify the camera to take an
external 6v dc power supply such as from an externally mounted battery
or an AC mains adapter. It's not easy though as the camera is all clip
together and the joints were never designed to come apart again. Please search my other answers for more details if
you want as I've answered this question regularly, but given that the
remaining photo packs are mostly useless and cost a fortune for just ten
photos it's really not worth bothering. Note that suppliers of the
remaining photo packs will almost never offer any kind of guarantee on
them: those who do charge even more to cover the high likelihood of
having to refund or replace.
Sorry if this news is disappointing,
but it's just one of many old cameras which are now practically useless
and won't be the last. I hope that you've found my answer to be
informative and ask only that you return the favour by rating my answer.
Easy. The same problem faced by almost all Polaroid 600 users these days: the photo pack has a flat battery.
All photo packs are at least two and a half years old now, and all are out of date. The in-built battery will usually be a dead as a dodo or only have barely enough power to eject the protective cover sheet and maybe take a few photos. Photo packs advertised as "refrigerated" will ALWAYS have a flat battery (cold kills batteries) others may occasionally have a battery which will last all ten shots, but the photo chemistry will usually be stale producing harsh contrast, poor colours and possibly too thick for the ejection rollers to squeeze the bag of developer right across the photo.
There is no cure for this, other than to modify the camera to take an external 6v battery or a plug-in adapter, but it's not easy as the camera was never designed to be taken apart. If you search my other answers you'll see that I've given instructions on how to do this many times before.
Sorry, but it's an obsolete camera which is no longer supported and for which the supply of new photo packs has ceased.
I hope that you have still found my reply to be of use and ask only that you return the favour by rating my answer.
The batteries are part of the photo pack, when you change photo packs the battery changes at the same time.
Unfortunately almost all unused photo packs will now have flat batteries as they've been out of production for two and a half years now. Photo packs advertised as having been stored in a fridge will definitely have dead batteries as cold kills batteries. Photo packs kept out of a fridge may have some residual battery power, but not enough to last the full ten photos, and the chemicals may have gone stale resulting in poor quality photos.
The only solution is to modify the camera to take an external 6v power supply, such as a battery or a socket to accept a plug in DC adapter. It involves opening the camera (not easy: it's all clip together and was never designed to be dismantled) and then soldering wires to the camera's battery contacts and feeding them out through a hole drilled into the bottom of the camera. A flat Polaroid battery may have enough residual power for you to determine the contact polarity using a test meter. Get it wrong and the camera is dead, but Polaroid 600's are ten a penny at charity/thrift shops and free on FreeCycle/Freegle. Modifying the camera without dismantling it is possible, but very fiddly and you need to be careful not to let the hot soldering iron melt any of the plastic camera. It's like trying to perform keyhole surgery!
I've done this modification myself a few years ago, but last year gave the camera to an eager photography student.
Change the photo pack. That's where the battery is located, you get a fresh battery with every pack.
Note that all remaining photo packs are now beyond their expiry dates as production ceased last year so many will have flat batteries or batteries with insufficient charge to last for the full ten shots. There's no fix for this: all that can be done is to rig up an external battery pack but there is no standard kit for this so it's very much a DIY project. the camera draws 4.5v and the standard battery was 6v when freshly manufactured.
Polaroid film has long been discontinued and as of this week every remaining unused pack has passed its expiry date. You will not find any retailers in Sutton-in-Ashfield or anywhere near which sells it any more. There is a company which has just bought the machinery and rights to re-manufacture the film, but if production goes ahead it will not recommence until 2011 at the earliest and it will be an expensive specialist product.
You can still find it on auction websites and also at camera jumbles, but be careful. Old film can have unpredictable colours and contrast, and the camera rollers often fail to squeeze the developing emulsion across the entire photo. To prevent this some retailers will claim to have kept the film refrigerated. Unfortunately Polaroid film has the camera battery built in to it and refrigeration considerably reduces the battery life. This is not a problem if you modify your camera to take an external battery but without the modification your film pack may be useless.
The last few "fresh" 600 film packs I saw were going for around £30 per pack and each pack only gives ten photos.
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