Polaroid 420

(click on photo to enlarge)

The day that I met Angi Skaggs and Matt Lafary at Square Rootz Deli in Fountain Square, Matt had a little Polaroid 100 camera that uses pack film.  I guess I just don't keep up with current offerings from photo companies because I had no idea that Fuji made pack instant film that would work with these fabulous old cameras.

I have been in Polaroid depression since they quit making Type 55 which, for years, was my bread and butter film for my Speed Graphic.  So I was pretty stoked to find out about what I had been missing.

With help and advice from Angi and Matt I began looking for a Polaroid camera that would work with the Fuji pack instant film.  I figured I could run across something when out looking for materials for Satch's art.  I did find a few for decent prices but the condition was not to great and their shutters didn't seem to work well at all.

After another conference with Angi and Matt I was informed that these cameras have an unusual battery that makes the shutter perform correctly and that the batteries could be purchased online.  Aha!

So, again I began searching and came up with nothing even after visiting what seemed like hundreds of places looking for Satch stuff.

One morning while, at the behest of Satch, we were cruising the rural countryside for yard sales, on the fringes of being in the "sticks," I found it - a Polaroid 420, brand new in its case - there were even some flash cubes!  After procuring the required battery it was time for a test to see if the 420 could do its thing.  Having a couple of original packs of Polaroid film was also a bonus, so we loaded one pack and made a test photograph in our little garden.  Voila!  Success! - with big thanks to Angi and Matt.

Afterwords as I looked at the test photograph it occurred to me that the test photo looked exactly like an old Polaroid photograph that my Grandmother may have taken of my Grandparent's (Ralph and Edith Kern) garden.

I look forward to seeing where this new camera takes my photography.