Comprehensive Guide to Polaroid 600 Cameras and Film Usage

hey guys what's up I know what this is analog resurgence and today I'm taking a look at the Polaroid 600 polaron had

released the sx-70 in the 1970s and that was followed by the cheaper more accessible Polaroid one-step which also

took the sx-70 film but in the 1980s Polaroid introduced a brand new film type and camera the Polaroid 600 series

now these cameras are a little bit more in line with the Polaroid 1 steps they're plastic as opposed to the

premium build quality of the original sx-70 model but they're just a little bit more versatile than the sx-70 s were

now this is a Polaroid 600 image with the classic white frame and kind of square picture it's just iconic and

everybody knows it and this is the polar at sx-70 with this classic kind of white frame and more square type image it's

just iconic and just everybody knows it okay so sx-70 film and 600 film are pretty much identical now the big

difference between the two though is that the 600 film has an ISO of closer to 600 and the sx-70 film has an ISO of

about 100 so 600 iso is a much higher iso which means it's better suited for darker situations and this also means

that if you put sx-70 100 iso film into your 600 camera you will get an underexposed image so that's really

important to remember when you're buying film so these are the different types of polite 600 cameras the Polaroids son 660

which is this classic box-like design the poor and impulse which looks more like a classic one-step design instead

of the box like folding ones this Polaroid one-step express which is also a bit like the box like designed the

Polaroid one which is also more in line with the impulse in the one-step designs and a polite one-step autofocus so those

are just a few types of Polaroid cameras that I personally own but again like the sx-70 1 steps there are literally dozens

of different designs on these from over the years so the 600 cameras are all basically the

same camera and they just share the same basic features amongst them a lot of them are these more boxy looking cameras

and these are kind of the class SiC ones with a V vendor at the back and this pop-up section at the front now one

of the significant parts about the 600 cameras is that almost every version of these cameras have a built-in flash as

opposed to the sx-70 models which all had a slot on the top of them to take an external flash there is one model called

the one-step 600 that needed 600 flash bars for its flash but these flashes are difficult to get now and with so many

other 600 cameras with flashes built-in they're actually best to avoid now these cameras unlike the sx-70 folding models

are non reflex so you look through a viewfinder here and you see out this window here beside the lens and that

gives you an approximation of what the lens is seeing most of them don't have too many focus options but some of them

actually do have the sonar unit on the side for autofocus like the sx-70 models and the spectrum models I talk more

about the sonar autofocus in the sx-70 video but as a brief explanation it emits a signal that bounces off of the

closest thing and back to the lens and then the lens focus is on that subject now when these units work it's actually

not a bad system some cameras though do have a little slider on the front and this allows you to slide a piece of

plastic in front of the lens to get a little bit closer to your subject now the quality of this isn't always the

best so usually you don't want to get too much closer than four feet with most of these cameras now the standout

versions of these cameras in the 600 series are the SLR 6 80s in the SLR 6 90s these are the most premium versions

of these cameras and they're styled off of the folding sx-70 model design they are reflex cameras so you can actually

see through the lens they have manual and sonar focus and a built-in flash so if you really want something special

when you're shooting that 600 film try and seek out one of those SLR 6 80s or 6 90s but because they are such a premium

camera they are also some of the most expensive pollard cameras out there and they're also not easy to find so all 600

cameras have a shutter button and some of these box-like ones have the shutter button on the side and they actually

have two now if you press the front shutter button this will fire the camera using the flash you can also press down

this button behind it and this will fire the camera without the flash now I would like to say that Polaroid cameras can be

a little bit strange sometimes so they don't always work the way that you would think they should so for example this

camera that I have does have these two buttons on the side for the shutter options but it

doesn't work the way that it should so if I press the button at the front of the camera it will fire with the flash

and if I press the button behind that one it will also fire with the flash even

though it shouldn't so sometimes Polaroid cameras can just be a little weird so just like sx-70

inspect your cameras all the 600 cameras have the film slot at the front here and this opens with a little slider on the

side now inside you have all the standard components you have the metal rollers at the front which you should

clean often with some rubbing alcohol and paper towel this can help to eliminate chemical buildup from shooting

Polaroids over time and can help to eliminate any problems you might be having with your pictures at the very

back you also have the pic arm and the pic arm is the component which helps to push the film out through the rollers of

your camera when it's ejected and if you're ever getting a Polaroid camera that isn't ejecting the film properly

you can get something long and Bend that arm back down a little bit just to make sure that it's catching the film the way

that it should be there's also usually a label at the front of the camera inside the film door which will tell you

exactly what kind of film these types of cameras take that way you can open it up and make sure that you're either buying

600 or sx-70 respect your film for the camera that you own so for sx-70 spectra and 600 cameras all Polaroid cartridges

are basically the same they're plastic and they contain this dark slide at the top so you that you're not exposing your

first image when you take it out of the box and at the bottom of the pack is the battery which powers your camera and

these have two slots on the bottom to make contact when you put them into the camera so all these vintage Polaroid

cameras don't require any sort of special battery or double A's or triple A's or anything they just use the

battery in the bottom of the pack but currently Polaroid originals also makes I type film which doesn't have this

battery and it's used for newer types of cameras which have a built-in rechargeable battery so just make sure

to be careful when you're buying film for your vintage cameras that you're not buying I type films so with our film

door open we can insert our new pack of film close the door and it will spit out the dark slide

now as something's ejecting out of these 600 cameras it does have a folding frog tongue which is a foil-like material

that unravels to protect your image for the first few seconds that it's ejecting from the camera from the light Polaroids

are still a little bit sensitive during the first few seconds of their lifespan when they're ejecting from the camera so

it's important to either put them facedown on something or in a pocket or just somewhere a little bit dark so that

you can protect it and it doesn't get messed up when it's developing but after the first minute or so it's safe to flip

up and look at and even watch develop it's also really important to note that Polaroid cameras also contain film

counters on the back now all film counters on these cameras start at 10:00 and work their way down to zero as you

shoot through a pack of film old-school Polaroid packs all contain ten images in each pack but the newer impossible

project and polar at originals film only contain eight shots in a pack so anytime you look at the film counter for

reference just subtract two from whatever it says so that you can keep track of how many you still have left in

a pack in your camera most of these 600 cameras also do have an exposure compensation slider on the front which

means that you can either over expose or under expose your image just a little bit but that's about it in terms of

manual control that you have over exposure so Polaroid originals is currently making 600 film for all those

old-school cameras and they're doing it in both black and white in colors as well as with some options for some

different colored frames and even duochrome for some more fun experimental results they also make their one step to

camera which takes both the 600 film as well as the new I type film which doesn't have the battery in it in my

experience Polaroid 600 cameras are usually the easiest and the cheapest to find at thrift stores so if you're

looking to try and get into Polaroid film for the very first time you should start with the 600 cameras because

they're cheap they're easy to find and if one breaks or doesn't work then you shouldn't be out too much if you have to

try and find another one they're also great for parties and they have built-in flashes and they're really just classic

looking cameras and they're just fun to have around and they're really what I would recommend if you're trying to get

into poor it's for the very first time thank you guys so much for checking this out and I really hope that you enjoyed

and learned a little more about what to expect when you're picking up a 600 camera for the very

first time and subscribe if you haven't done so alright is I continue to post all sorts of analog content every week

about different formats cameras and histories motion picture still photography and instant film like this

thanks so much and I'll see you guys soon