Polaroid SX-70

The SX-70 is an instant camera that Polaroid introduced on April 25, 1972, at its annual meeting in Needham, Massachusetts. Folded, it is 4.4 cm (1¾ in) deep, according to the Cooper Hewitt design museum. Opened, it is a single-lens reflex. The Science Museum Group in London calls it the first folding SLR. Edwin Land led the project. The name is older than the camera itself. Harvard Business School's Polaroid archive records SX-70 as the code name of a research project set up in 1944. SX stood for Special Experiment. Henry Dreyfuss and James M. Conner designed the body, in plated plastic with applied leather. The bigger change was in the film. The print leaves the camera and develops in front of you, in daylight. A memorial tribute to Land from the National Academy of Engineering explains how. Opacifying dyes form a chemical darkroom inside the print itself. One detail shapes ownership today. The camera has no battery of its own. Polaroid's manual explains that each film pack carries a battery to power the camera. Without a pack, the electronics have no power. Polaroid made several versions. The Science Museum Group dates the Model 2 to 1974–1977. Toronto Metropolitan University's archive holds an Alpha 1, a folding camera covered in brown leather. The George Eastman Museum dates its SX-70 Sonar to about 1978. The Sonar added focusing by ultrasound, where the first model focused by hand.

Close, deliberate pictures. The SX-70 is a true SLR, so the viewfinder shows what the lens sees. It focuses down to 10.4 in (26.4 cm), according to Toronto Metropolitan University's archive record. Portraits and still lifes are easy to frame. Carrying. Folded, it was meant to fit inside a suit coat pocket, according to the Ingenium museum's record in Canada. Bright daylight. Polaroid's own guide gives SX-70 film a speed of ISO 160 and says it needs a lot of light. Sun and open shade suit it. A single print of a single moment, with nothing to send away for developing. Where it falls short: Low light. Polaroid says handheld indoor photography without a tripod is usually not possible. SX-70 film is roughly a quarter as sensitive as 600 film. Film choice. Polaroid makes SX-70 film in color and black and white editions only. 600 film works only behind a neutral density filter. Power. There is no battery in the camera, so everything depends on the film pack. Age. These cameras were made more than fifty years ago. Repairers such as MiNT describe electronic faults that need a workshop.

The battery sits in the film pack, not the camera, according to Polaroid's manual. Load a fresh pack before judging the camera. Brooklyn Film Camera, which supports SX-70 owners, says an unresponsive camera usually means power is not reaching it from the pack. If a fresh pack changes nothing, MiNT, a company that refurbishes SX-70s, reports oxidized contacts as a common cause. That is workshop work.

MiNT traces a black finder to a mirror stuck halfway up. Its suggested reset is to insert an empty film cartridge so the camera runs a cycle. MiNT adds that this does not make the camera reliable over time.

Brooklyn Film Camera calls this one of the most common SX-70 complaints. The cause is usually a mirror stuck in the exposure cycle. Close the camera the way Polaroid describes: push the support bar, let the camera fold down, then press the viewfinder cap until it locks. Do not force it.

Open the film door and look at the rollers. Polaroid says dirty or uneven rollers stop the developer from spreading evenly, leaving dots, patches or stripes. Clean them with a soft cloth, slightly damp with clean water. Polaroid suggests looking at them with every pack and cleaning them every two or three packs.

Start with the Lighten/Darken wheel. Polaroid's manual says to leave it at the normal mark for most pictures. Move it one mark for a small change and two marks for a larger one. Keep your fingers off the electric eye and the lens, as Polaroid advises. If every print is off in the same direction, Brooklyn Film Camera says the light meter may need servicing.

In dim light the shutter stays open for longer. Toronto Metropolitan University's archive record gives speeds from 1/175 second to about 10 seconds. MiNT treats a slow ejection in low light as normal and suggests more light or a flash bar.

MiNT notes that faint gray lines in the finder come from the viewing mirror and do not show on the picture. A visible gap at the film door is also normal on a folding body, according to MiNT.

The motor runs but the print stays inside. A repair guide on Analog.cafe, written by a long-time SX-70 owner, names two causes. One is a cracked plastic coupler on the motor drive. The other is a spring-loaded switch made sticky by hardened lubricant and dirt. MiNT reports prints sticking during ejection as common on aging cameras and points to the electronics. Reaching these parts means peeling back leather and removing the base. For most owners it is workshop work.

A black viewfinder, or a camera that will not fold, means the mirror has stopped mid-cycle, according to MiNT and Brooklyn Film Camera. An empty film pack can cycle it free. Polaroid warns that touching the bellows can block the mirror's movement, so hold the camera by its body. MiNT says the reset does not make the camera reliable over time. A lasting fix needs a technician.

MiNT describes a shutter stuck open as an electronic failure. Electronic parts have to be replaced, and MiNT recommends sending the camera for repair.

Fogging or stray light on the prints points to the bellows, according to Brooklyn Film Camera. The bellows fold every time the camera closes. Patching or replacing them is a job for someone with experience.

Rollers that do not turn freely spread the developer badly. MiNT suggests feeding a dark slide through them several times, or swapping in another film door. Dirty rollers are a cleaning job, covered under Troubleshooting.

MiNT usually traces this to a previous owner forcing the door open. It needs repair by a technician.

Brooklyn Film Camera says the contacts in the flash port sometimes stop communicating with the flash unit. Polaroid's manual gives a first check. If the camera does not operate with an unused side of a Flashbar facing the subject, reverse the Flashbar or insert a new one. Dirty or worn port contacts are a job for a repairer.