If I Could Only Keep One Camera
Without a doubt it’d be this~
This is an ivory Polaroid SX-70 Model 2. More specifically, it is my personal SX-70 that I bring almost everywhere with me since the last few months. She’s got some battle scars, but she’s perfect.
Ever since I got into instant photography and Polaroids (thanks to my buddy Polaroid Jay), I became crazed with finding one of these ivory Model 2s. Slightly less produced than the silver ones, and better looking.
I set filters on all the auction websites that I could; would wake up early to check for any hits, and at least once per hour for several, several… months… check for more. It was a frustrating process because I kept getting outbid at the last second. But FINALLY after about 9 months of searching, I finally found one!
Your Package has Arrived
These Model 2 SX-70s were manufactured around the mid-to-late 1970s. Considering that they are about 50 years old now, my camera came to me in actually pretty okay condition cosmetically. The lens was fairly clean except for some dust and fingerprints. The brown vinyl (“Porvair”) covering was expectedly cracked and dirty. The body in general was clean, except for a small crack on the back left. Since this would be my personal camera, I didn’t have any issues with that. The focus and L/D wheels were a bit stiff, but otherwise could turn through their whole rotations. Overall, visually it was pretty well kept.
Ok but what’s the catch?
Well, good question.
Sadly, the motor was struggling. And I mean REALLY struggling. The way I describe it - it sounded like a sub-miniature lawnmowner was running inside the camera. When working properly, these motors should sound smooth and crisp.
Not to worry though~~
Metamorphosis
My background is in electrical engineering. And ever since I was little, I’ve loved to dissect all my toys and things to see what’s inside. Trust me, I’ve broken A LOT over my years. But that’s how you learn — through failing and understanding why you failed.
I knew immediately that I wanted to open up this camera to see how it worked, clean it up, and put it back together. But I also wanted to upgrade it (more on that later).
First I had to strip off the vinyl cover. And let me tell you - this took a painstaking amount of elbow grease and patience.
Next, I gave this camera the spa treatment:
disassembled it all the way down to the chassis
refreshed the motor
reglued the taking mirror
cleaned all mirror surfaces
disassembled the shutter unit, cleaned and dry lubed the shutter blades (not pictured)
wiped away debris, dust, and any buildup on all surfaces, including the bellows
cleaned the rollers
At this point, one would normally start putting the camera back together.
But I wanted to do one more thing. I have a soft-spot for nostalgia and preserving history. And I also wanted to make sure this camera could stay relevant and working in the modern age.
A genius by the name of Yongmin (aka Carlisle) developed a replacement PCB for SX70s that not only keeps the camera working like new, but also opens up its abilities to much more than a traditional Polaroid point-and-shoot. He titles his creation the SX70R, “R” for revolution. It allows the user to control the SX-70 via bluetooth, and also adjust exposure settings.
I had to get my hands on one of these and install it. For this time, I opted to order the board from PolaStudio since I was already getting a couple other things from there. The only difference (that I’m aware of) is that the PolaStudio board is just branded with “PolaStudio” on it. For most other cases though, I order direct from Yongmin.
Finally, after soldering everything in place and giving everything one last dusting, I put the camera back together.
Then, the moment of truth… Will it work???
It worked! The video above shows the first test of the freshly installed SX70R PCB, controlled via bluetooth through SX70R mobile app.
After checking that everything was functioning correctly, I recalibrated the shutter speeds. Then took many tests photos in multiple conditions (slow shutter speeds, high shutter speeds, with flash, etc.). Below is a collection of a few of those test photos, comparing manual shutter speeds vs. auto mode. Can you tell which is which?
Side note, these were scanned in via the Polaroid mobile app. While it’s great for quick scanning, the quality and color rendering are a bit weird. Will definitely be scanning using my normal camera scan method next time.
Anyway, with the shutter calibration complete, it was time to apply the new green skin (supplied by Polastudio).
Ain’t. She. A. Beaut.
I love looking at this camera so much I’m going to show it again here at the end of the post. It’s been my go-to and has been performing incredibly well. Many photos with it to come! Stay tuned~
