Topic: Polaroid Big Shot

[mart]

I've long been an admirer/fan of Andy Warhol. As a matter of fact, I have a great print of him given to me by Mark Sink who was a member of The Factory. We traded; I gave Mark a copy of the ORIGINAL Toy Camera book, and he gave me a print of a shot that he had taken of Warhol. Although Sink worked with the original Diana, the shot I chose was not one done with it. Terrific non-toy shot.

Anyway, I've gotten back rather heavily into instant photography and decided to pick up Warhol's favorite Polaroid, the Big Shot with which he made his famous portraits. Fine. Cheap on ebay. Got one.

Problem needing advice. Naturally, I have to use Fuji pack film. OK. No shortage of that right now and inexpensive. However, I find that I'm having a difficult time pulling the tabs through. Had the same problem with a Colorpack and Fuji. Does anyone have any special techniques for dealing with what I'm explaining, or am I just a clod?

Any and all suggestions, tips, magic would be appreciated. 

[sapata]

Sorry I can´t help you but I´m so envious right now...

[astrobeck]

Hey Martin, long time no see!
I've had the same problem in the past, really aggravating too!
I found that if you slightly "fan" the tabs with your fingers before loading it helps a lot!

By fanning, I mean to just kind of run your finger across them kind of like you are shuffling a deck of cards...something like that to separate them a bit.
Hope this makes sense and helps you out!   

[Francois]

I was watching an FPP podcast on youtube and Mike Raso was explaining that some people have problems because of the leaf spring in the cover which puts too much pressure on the slightly thicker Fuji film packs. Bending them back a bit is said to help.

Also, I had a hard time pulling film through a Colorpack that has pressure plates instead of rollers...
That might be something worth looking at. (maybe they can be switched from one camera to the next...)

[mart]

Has anyone had experience removing the spreaders from the BS and replacing them with rollers from any of the Polaroid 100 series?

A fellow on flickr made this suggestion and hence my question to you.

[Francois]

You can always try it. The entire roller assembly simply comes off with a gentle pull from the inside-side. If two are the same size (which they should unless Polaroid really wanted to make things complicated), I would try the switch.

You can check the Colorpack 3, Colorpack 4, Colorpack M6, Colorpack 5, Minute Maker, Square Shooter 2, Square shooter 4, Super Shooter, Super Shooter Plus, The Clincher, The Colorpack.

These are all American models equipped with rollers which should make it easy to pull.

[mart]

Thanks to Becky and Francois for their suggestions. Both worked well-"fanning" the tabs and using rollers to replace the spreaders. The first portrait, naturally of my wife, is a winner.

[Zuan]

If you can get hold of an old Polaroid film pack (the metal type) just swapping out the covers of the Fuji with the metal Pola is a way of getting around the problem. 

Polaroid vs. Fuji