Blast from the Past: My new Polaroid SX-70

For the past few months, I have been searching high and low for a Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera, which was made in 1972.  That search ended this past weekend after I finally found one in terrific condition.  Now I know what you might be thinking.  “You dumb@!$, they don’t make film for those anymore!”  For those of you who aren’t familiar with The IMPOSSIBLE Project, they have brought the Polaroid craze back to life making film for various Polaroid cameras, including the SX-70. 

So why the SX-70?  Well, look at it.  It’s an incredible looking piece of machinery.  While folded, it looks like, well, nothing you’ve seen before.  When walking around with it, people will ask, “What is that?”  When you open in it, their response is usually something like, “No way!”  I also have an old camera collection that is slowly growing, and I felt that it was not complete without an SX-70 being added to it.

Although the SX-70 was the first SLR to use Polaroid’s instant film, I find that it brings new life to my photography.  With shooting entirely digital for the past six years, the SX-70 brings a lot more thought to my picture taking process.  Without the endless amount of photos I can take digitally, I am now limited to ten photos per film cartridge.  That means I have to really love what I see through the viewfinder and exhaust all framing options before snapping the photo.  I am hoping to use this experience as a way to improve my thought process when taking a photograph and the overall quality of my work.

The other reason for getting an SX-70 is on a more personal level.  When I’m on a trip or somewhere with Shannon, my family, or friends, a digital point and shoot camera (or even a smartphone) is a good option to use.  After returning from the trip, I get home and upload the photos to my computer where they stay with 99% of them never being printed.  It is the complete opposite with the SX-70.  All you get are prints, unless you scan them of course.  Shannon and I decided that we want to create more photo albums, and I figured this would be a fun and creative way of doing just that.  If I use one pack of film per trip, I get ten new prints to put in our album of journeys together.

Original Polaroid SX-70 TV advertisement: