Topic: polaroid 450: success and a question

[formica]

so i finally got around to testing out my polaroid 450 today and i'm happy to report it works. below should be three shots. well, three of the same image. the polaroid(yeah, the subject matter isn't that great), the goop(which i'm rather disappointed in), and the negative(which i find much more interesting than the goop shot). as you can see the camera has a lightleak. to you experts out there, does it look like a bellows leak? also, how do you go about shooting a polaroid in the field? what do you do with   the polaroids when they are still drying?

    wiliam

[Sorry, image deleted during forum software upgrade. Please re-upload if so inclined.]

[moominsean]

yeah that's a bellows leak. i've been fixing them with liquid electrical tape on my 195.

i just carry my polaroids around. the prints dry pretty quick and i usually use an empty polaroid box to store them if i'm walking. if i'm driving, i put them on the back seat. i always save my goops, too, which is a bit more difficult. i scrape off the excess globs of goop on the end, then just carry them around by the tabs as carefully as possible. it's so dry here that they dry fairly quickly, usually in 5 minutes or so, but when i was in cali, it took like hours for them to dry.

[formica]

thanks for the info. once this roll is finished i'll see if i can locate the leaks and try to fix them. hopefully i can find some liquid electrical tape around here somewhere.

 when you say you carry them in an empty polaroid box, do you mean the cardboard box or an empty film pack?

                              william

[moominsean]

i mean the box the packs come in. i usually carry around a backpack/bookbag when i shoot to store everything in, too.

oh and like ace hardware and such will have the liquid tape. it's really foul smelling and toxic so do it outside or open a window. just blob it on the leaky point and let it dry for at least a week. from experience i've learned that just because it feels dry, it will probably still stick to itself when you close the bellows if you don't leave it open to dry for a long time.

[formica]

thanks for the warnings about liquid tape. can it be dried quicker using a hairdryer or something?

i took the camera out today planning to try doing a transfer in the field.  but my battery came unattached and so i did a transfer of nothing with no decent paper aside from that one piece opted just to shoot  a regular shot once i re-attached the battery.  i guess a transfer in the field will have to wait to be tested out later.

                    william

[moominsean]

even with a hairdryer, i wouldn't close the camera for awhile. you can still take it out and use it, just don't close the bellows.

[formica]

thanks. my concern was less use than dust since i live in a rather dusty area. i'll just have to make sure to clean the dust off.

                william

[moominsean]

yeah i live in a very dusty area, too (desert). just something i've learned to live with.
i got a new scanner last weekend, and as i was setting it up, i could see the dust and cat hair sticking to the glass before i even had a chance to use it.