Ice cream to an Eskimo

I am perhaps the worst used car salesman, as I believe in complete honesty. Paradoxically, this honesty sold my car through Craigslist in less than a day!
Now someone else has my unfinished DIY project.

Polaroid Packfilm Bellows transplant-one may die so that another may live

This is a very easy swap that I have performed many times. Over times the bellows(accordion-like leather or leatherette) can sag or get damaged. Sometimes the bellows can form pinhole light leaks, sometimes get caved in by a careless hand.

The Polaroid Automatic Land Cameras, despite being built very well, were susceptible to damage. One saving grace was a strong, light leak resistant, double layer bellows made of leatherette and fabric. Though I love the look of a leather bellows, the leatherette allows these bellows to survive the test of time. Mold is easily wiped off with these bellows, where leather bellows can be eaten and stained by mold and fungus. In fact, if you can mod them to fit, I suggest replacing any worn out mid format camera with these bellows(I may do that to my 2x3 Speed Graphic- the bellows is crusty leather with lots of light leaks).

These bellows, whether on the metal packfilm cameras or the plastic packfilm cameras, are easy to remove.

When I am doing this, I am always sacrificing the bellows from a plastic packfilm camera for a metal packfilm camera. If for some reason you are doing metal to plastic, there may be some extra steps involved in reattaching the bellows to the front standard.

The first thing to do is decide whether you want to preserve the tabs that hold the shutter cable and the automatic exposure wire. The camera will survive without these, but it is a good idea to rescue them as they help the camera fold up easily without kinks in the line or cable. There are two ways of rescuing them. One is to carefully pry them free of the old bellows, leaving them threaded on the cable and line. When you put the new bellows on, just glue them back on to the bellows. The second way is more involved. Unhook the cable from the front standard by LOOSENING the three screws. Unhook the line by clipping it in the battery compartment and remove a little staple holding the line in. Upon installing the new bellows, thread the cable and line back through. This method is waaaay more involved- I suggest you just glue the old ones.

Next remove the screws that hold the bellows on to the front standard. If you are sacrificing a plastic packfilm camera, there will be plastic posts with friction washers instead of screws. Just grip the friction washer holding the front standard and snap it off.

These next steps could scratch the black paint on the inside of your metal camera's enclosure. I will assume that you will take measures to avoid this(or don't care, as it is cosmetic). Any area you pry can be protected by masking tape or a well positioned piece of cloth.

Pry the tabs connecting the bellows to the camera. Use a small screwdriver or knife for this. Be careful not to puncture the bellows at this stage. Pry the tabs straight up, not prying them back any more than necessary. Pry only three out of four sides, and leave the 4^th side untouched. Remove the bellows. If you are re-using this bellows, see to it that you save the little foam gasket that is under the bellows. If it is too far gone, you can use thin felt, black silicone, or just about anything black to help avoid light leaks there. Or you can go without. I have not had an issue with leaving this part out.

The replacement is pretty much the reverse of the removal. Slip the new bellows in with the tabs that are not pried back. Bend the tabs back in place starting with the ones opposite the ones that were not bent. Pinch the tabs down tight using needle-nose pliers. Make sure you are just pinching the metal flange and not the cloth of the bellows.

Now screw the front standard connection back on. Thread or glue the tabs back in place. It is that easy!

Remove these screws to detach from the front standard.

Pry back these tabs with a thin screwdriver or knife.

Notice the tab connecting the bellows to the shutter release cable.

If you choose to disconnect the shutter cable, just back out the three screws(do not remove them as they are very difficult to put back).

Camera with bellows removed.

Hook the new bellows on by bending the tabs back on.

Put some cloth or tape on the areas that are at risk of being scratched.

Use needle-nose pliers to tighten down firmly.

Here tabs are bent back in place tightly.

My Polaroid Obsession Part Eleven, Polaroid in Name Only.

After a Polaroid bankruptcy in the early part of the 20^th century, Polaroid changed- and not for the better. They went from a company of innovators to a company of lawyers and shareholders. Looking down the aisles of a Walmart, you will still see Polaroid on a lot of products. That is because all they do currently is sell their brand name to various products with no connection to creating the products. They do not have a manufacturing arm.

The cameras I am presenting here are Polaroid in Name Only. First on that list is the silver Mio from 2001. This was a slightly redesigned Fuji Mini Checki that used Polaroid 300 film which was Fuji Instax Mini film re-branded. Around 2009, they started generating a lot of fuss over a revolutionary new instant camera, showing prototypes paired with ideas. Instead, they just branded Fuji Instax Mini cameras in all colors and called them Polaroid!

The five other cameras, however, have a closer tie to Polaroid. Though it is believed that the digital camera killed Polaroid instant( I happen to believe it is shortsightedness and mismanagement ), Their powerful research arm(the legacy of Dr. Land) were pioneers in digital and digital imaging. Zink (zero ink) imaging material was born in Polaroid labs and perfected by Polaroid ex- employees. Using a very sophisticated color crystal layering system, they created a paper that when heated certain ways, produces much of the visible spectrum. The Zink based cameras print using a thermal head that functions similar to what old fax machines and receipt printers use. This allows the image to be collected digitally and printed digitally.

I have experimented with flame and with soldering irons, and some have even managed a crude form of emulsion lift with this paper. Though it is not an analog photography based paper, there are a lot of creative possibilities with it. Some have even had success printing on the old thermal receipts with it( I can't wait to try this!).

As you can see by my collection, they have come in all shapes and sizes. One of these is a Zink printer- you take a picture with your phone and push it via Bluetooth to the device. The two Z2300 cameras are camera and printer in one. You take pictures and choose which ones you want to print. They print on tiny 2x3 sticker Zink paper. The big, flat, square one is the Socialmatic. It is designed to look like the Instamatic logo( which interestingly enough was designed to look like a Polaroid camera). It is automatically tethered to the web, and can not only print out 2x3 images, but upload directly to your social network of choice.

This particular camera has been plagued with software and hardware problems. It remains one of my few “for display only” cameras, as it has an integral battery that failed( I got it really cheap!). It has a touch screen back with an OS that looks like Android and the front shows emoticons based on your mood. As the current trend on everything seems to be, these cameras get terrible customer support. People drop about 3-400 dollars on these Socialmatics and their complaints fall on deaf ears.

Despite all of this negativity, however- I do have a favorite! The Z340, a 2010 model, fits in your hand like a spectra, has a flip up LED, 14 mp, lots of fun capture options, creative filters, and most importantly- prints 3x4(much closer to original Polaroids). You can choose to print with the iconic white borders, but I have yet to do this successfully. The full bleed mode works best for me. This camera still feels like a camera in your hands. The only real improvement I can imagine, is they could pair it with a better lens/ sensor to go with it's great size and looks. It is quite clear that they just grafted on a cell phone camera, so the same limitations apply.

My collection of these is not comprehensive- there were some grey line stand alone printers that printed 3x4, and there are two new Polaroid Snap cameras out now, available in Walmart right next to the re-branded Fuji cameras.

Cigar Box Guitars- The most fun you can have with a few bucks!

Cigar box guitars are a tradition that stretches back to the 1830 when cigars first became available in small wooden boxes. Inspired by the African Bajar, the combination of a box, a stick of wood, and strings made a very affordable instrument for people who had little means at their disposal, such as African Americans, Appalachians, and various American rural populations. They were carried by civil war soldiers, and saw resurgence in popularity during the great depression. Many famous players, from Jimi Hendrix to Bo Diddley played cigar box guitars, and some, like BB King, cut their teeth on cbgs! Their most recent popular revival is going on right now, as a part of the DIY culture, and there are clubs, websites, products, and kits dedicated to the instruments.

I am a big fan of the DIY movement. I make these guitars in an effort to keep the tradition alive, as well as provide new generations access to this instrument. I have taught classes in making these, and have distilled the basic traits down to my own recipe based on sound and simplicity.

There are some great tutorials online on how to make these, so I will just go over the basics: The first and probably most difficult part is to shape the neck. I use a piece of 1x2 red oak(3/4 x1 ½ actual). The reason I use a hardwood is there will be a great deal of tension on the neck when it is strung. I cut away 1/8^th inch depth for the head-stock, and ¼ inch for the body. I get my fret pattern from free online fret calculators. I use the standard 24.75 scale length (like a Gibson guitar). For my fretless version, I trace out frets with a wood burner, and add markers with a screw put into the end of the wood burner. It is up to you how round you want the back of the neck, but I leave the fretboard nice and flat so it is easy to play with a slide.

When it comes to the box, just about any box will sound pretty good- even the cardboard ones. The best sound seems to come from the all wooden ones, and they look great! Measure out the end dimension of the neck and cut out the space with a small saw and a utility knife. Any paper on the inside where the neck will be glued has to be removed. Cut the body end of the neck to length, clamp, and glue it. I make my tailpiece from 75lb picture hangers, but I have also used old hinges. Since the neck doubles as a brace on the soundboard, mount the tailpiece to it for strength. Use spade bits or hole saws to cut a few sound holes. Hot glue in grommet rings or drain screens for the classic look.

The rest is very simple. . I use threaded rod cut to length as the bridge and the nut of my guitars. Add tuners (any will do) or make your own from a screw eye with a hole cut through. I choose to string mine with 3,4, and 5 of guitar string and tune it to open g. 
Playing an instrument is such a joy. Making a workable and great sounding instrument is fun and easy. Caution: After you make one of these, you may try to tackle other musical instrument DIYs. I highly recommend it!  

This one is electric/acoustic.

This is a matching amp.

This is one of my typical design.

I prefer to have all of my boxes still able to open.

Here are some wonderful guitars that my students in Circle Round the Square made.

My Polaroid Obsession Part Ten, Instant roll film cameras- where it all began.

It began with an innocent inquiry by a 3 year old girl in 1943. While Doctor Land was snapping pictures on the beach in Santa Fe, his daughter asked “Daddy, why can't I see the picture now?” He pondered that question the rest of the day, and had a workable answer that would drive his company for the next half century.

Though instant Polaroid roll film is one of the few types of instant film you cannot get anymore, the cameras form an essential part of my collection. The 95 was the first fully instant camera they rolled out in 1947. The first pictures came out in sepia tone and were prone to fading. This was solved by immediately painting on a sticky stop goo called the print coater. One would have to wave it back and forth to dry the coater. This is where the famous “shake it like a Polaroid” came from.

Originally the intention was to have other companies manufacture the cameras, but the cameras of the time were fairly inaccurate ( due to easy corrections that could be made in the darkroom). Obviously with instant film no lab based corrections could be made to the image. The cameras had to have very specific shutter times, so Polaroid started to manufacture their own cameras.

Polaroid got a reputation as a consumer point and shoot instant camera company in the eighties, but they were not always regarded that way. From the very beginning, Polaroid had the attention of professional photographers everywhere. Ansel Adams was a lifetime consultant to Dr. Land and a huge fan of Polaroid.

The earliest instant roll film cameras were very heavy- weighing in just above 5lbs! This was due to a tax break on “professional” cameras- the professional determination was based solely on weight! The 95 was a consumer designed product, but it was followed quickly by a string of professional grade products including great fully manual lenses and shutters, the 110,110a, 110b, and 120. These cameras are still highly sought after by Polaroid fans. Today there is a small cottage industry that creates packfilm conversions of these cameras which then sell for around 700 to 1500 dollars.

There were several other versions with this general shape- each refining the product. The last one, the 850 and 900, included the “electric eye” which allowed for the first automation of exposure. One version, the 80 “Highlander” was the first portable Polaroid camera. The J33 and J66 were roll film cameras that started to hint at the design of the later pack film bellows cameras, the Automatics.

My absolute favorite of this line of cameras is my 120. It is a fully manual camera manufactured by Yashica for Polaroid for international markets, and it has an aperture range from f4.7-90. It needed a tiny aperture like 90 to compensate for incredibly fast film speeds(3000). With such high film speeds in black and white, one could take indoor pictures with no need for a flash.

When I think of instant cameras, I am always reminded of Arthur C. Clarke's three laws:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

This followed by the famous quote of Dr. Land himself: Don't undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.

 

My Polaroid Obsession Part Nine, Geeking out on special use cameras.

Dr Land and Polaroid came up with a million ways to use instant photography, much of it in professional fields. From dentistry and forensics to passport photos, the ubiquity of instant photography ideas were endless. Not only were cameras constructed for very specific applications, but films were made with built in grids, heightened uv sensitivity, and never before achieved film speeds (iso 20,000).

My collection mostly falls into three categories: dental macro cameras, oscilloscope cameras, and passport cameras. I also have a couple stand alone oddballs like the microscope camera. The film ranges from traditional pack-film to specialized Spectra film. Two are full slr cameras. Others have preview windows built into the hood, and some use two lasers that form a cross on the subject when you are in focal distance!

I am sure there are millions of these special use cameras out there. If you get the chance- snag one. They are quite fun to shoot, and the looks you get are worth the low dollars they typically command! 

Armoire amore – Re-purposing outdated furniture

Somewhere along the line the transition occurred- maybe the early nineties. Entertainment centers were out, and a reinvented version of your grandmother’s armoire was in. Designed to hold a tube T.V. of great size and weight, the backs of these entertainment armoires had holes cut in them so the tube could stick out without making the furniture too large. A convenient shelf was included to slide your vcr, dvd, or laser disc player in. Below those shelves were often either drawers or shelves to hold your media.

Soon after there were entertainment armoires, there were computer armoires. Intended as a stand alone home office, they included slots for media, shelves for printers, a compartment for the tower, a keyboard tray, file drawers, a desk top, and more.

And just like that- they were obsolete. Tube TVs were replaced by wide flat screens that no longer fit in the space provided. These tvs can be mounted to the wall, and no longer needed a piece of furniture that hid their ugliness. Vcrs went the way of the dodo, and dvds are fast on their way out the door as well. Most computers no longer have towers, and many are made so portable that they don’t need a dedicated storage space. Printers are often wireless, so they don’t need to be physically tethered to a computer. I wonder if there has ever been a piece of substantial furniture with a shorter usable life.

Craigslist was full of them- armoires that once fetched 1500 to 3000 dollars were being sold for next to nothing. Many were good pieces of furniture made with quality woods. Since they were being dumped en mass, that hurt their value even more than the perceived obsolescence! Not only were the average homeowners looking to get rid of their dated furniture, but the hotels and motels nationwide were purging themselves of these pieces. Some of these contained recessed lighting and built in power strips. The hardware alone was often worth more than they were asking for the entire unit!

There was a downside for an interested buyer. Armoires have always been fairly large and heavy- and these were no exceptions. Built in conveniences like lazy-susans, hide away doors, shelves galore, and many other accoutrements , added to the weight substantially. The buyer would not only have to find transport, but also to find a way to carry this weight into the house to the appropriate floor. I found this to be a challenge, as I broke my ankle moving one into the house!

Armoires can be re-purposed for a lot of things, from simple to sophisticated. With very little effort and some creativity- the sky is the limit! I chose to pack one room of my house with armoires like prior generations did with bookshelves to create a library. Some basic purposes for my armoires: A closet for guitar storage, a place for my Yamaha keyboards, a place for musical miscellany, a home studio for recording music, painting storage, a place for Ann’s collections, a craft armoire full of craft supplies, and a home office.

I have found that just about any hobby or interest can fit in these nicely- especially the computer armoires, as they have a nice desk top that pulls out. You can easily build shelves in them, as well as store all sizes of plastic totes. Aside from great storage, a benefit is how easily you can close the door to your chaos when the guests arrive.

If you really want to blow some minds, store clothes in them!

The DIY Aesthetic- How we can still reach out to each other through art.

We have entered a new era of creation. Scrapbooking tools like Crikut and Silhouette replace jobs normally done by commercial vinyl cutters, and 3-d printing has made one off production not only possible, but commonplace. Photoshop has been manipulating images in ways only dreamed of in the days of layout paste-up and darkroom processing. WYSIWYG(what you see is what you get) website programs have made it easier than ever to look the part of a professional operation. New printing processes make archival color printing affordable and commonplace. A hd camera can be paired up with a small drone and grab sweeping images of scenes that used to cost major movie houses thousands of dollars. The average individual is being given the production capabilities of a major corporation, albeit without the benefits of economies of scale. Availability often equals democratization, and that is good.
Though all of these processes are quite miraculous, I find a great deal of it as lifeless as the made-for-commercial-consumption products it immitates. In this post-digital era, I find myself more than ever enamored with the tactile and the evidence of process.
Don't get me wrong- I like a good gadget/toy. I just happen to find evidence of the human hand in craft ever more satisfying. There was a time when a craftsperson desired perfection in the honing of their craft. I feel that pulling back on perfection is pulling back on that temptation to be more like a machine. Show a pencil mark, show the track of the saw blade, the groove of a carving tool.
This is the new DIY aesthetic. Ironically, the internet allows creative types the world over to teach each other how to carve, how to paint, how to create the dirty old-fashioned way.  There have always been makers like these, but somehow they have become more important of late, my cult heroes.

An incredible find on a very hot day.

Two of my favorite musical instruments carry the clear mark of the craftsperson. One is a Puerto Rican Cuatro that Ann and I found in a junk shop on the market square in Santurce, San Juan. It is a 60s home made instrument that would make a luthier cry, but makes me beam with pride! The front, back, and neck are made of a porus island wood, and the sides are crudely stacked with castellations of wood with a veneer stretched over to indicate the ribs of the instrument. Inside can be seen streaks of sloppy glue, and a black and white photo of some palm trees. Instead of inlays of semiprecious gems, it has glued on decorations including a diamond shaped slice of veneer stained and mounted to the back.
I coaxed this beauty to life by removing, steaming, and flattening the bridge, carving a new cow bone nut and saddle. I love the way it looks and sounds. I wonder about the well worn neck and all of the alley sessions it may have had. I think about the amateur craftsperson who made this instrument that looks so crude yet sounds so sweet.
The second instrument is a guitarron made by the Familia Timaure of Carora, Venezuela. I never traveled to Venezuela, but by the time I received my guitarron I felt like I had! The internet was my passport.
I enjoy playing my upright bass, but at times the size can be a burden. I tried an accoustic bass guitar, but it greatly lacked in volume. I saw guitarrons and wanted to dig deeper and find out all I could. All hail Google. Guitarrons are the giant guitars that the bass player uses in mexican mariachi bands.  Since they play in octaves and have very short necks, there would be a steep learning curve. I don't claim to be brilliant, or even the master of my choices, so I set about getting one.
At the time of my search for this instrument, ebay only had two versions. The made- in- China Lucida instrument seemed to be a decent enough starter instrument, but the other listing- this choppy, barely intelligible description paired with photos of the instrument leaning against a couch felt somehow more right.

Guillerno Timaure y Nieto Adalberto Timaure.

After a challenging spanish back and forth with the seller ,Augusto, I found out that a father and sons outfit in Carora would be making my instrument. He gave me the name " El Torrense" Timaure and Sons.  I Googled it, and I came across a Flickr album where a photographer visited the family of instrument makers.  The craftspeople were working away under a shed roof with the most basic of tools making some wonderful instruments.  Though this was Venezuela, I could see a family in Appalachia doing the same thing. These images somehow made me feel the beginnings of kinship to the makers I would never meet. Augusto warned that it would take more than a month and a half to ship, but I was already sold on it. Over that month and a half I had several phone conversations with him.  He would call as a courtesy to tell me when the item cleared customs, got past government screenings, etc.  The first month was spent getting the guitarron out of Venezuela. Once free of the border, the package moved with incredible efficiency to my door.  Upon my receipt of the package, I wrote Augusto and thanked him. I felt like someone who just got back from a vacation and decides to thank the kind host.
The guitarron is very well made, but there is evidence of the hand of a human being everywhere. The bindings are wrapped with bands of wood, each chip a little different from the last. You can almost make out the brush strokes of the finish on the wood, and if you look inside, you can see a ghost of a streak of glue here and there. Somehow that just makes it more special.
The next time you buy something hand crafted, try to remind yourself how lucky you are to share that experience with the artist. They likely could have just printed it off for you , but they made it with their own hands.

Polaroid Conversion- My Messy Manual Polaroid.

I, like many Polaroid nuts, love the style of the Automatic Land Camera pack cameras from the sixties, but need more control. Though the Automatics offered many more options than the current point and shoot cameras(5 apertures, flash or no flash, variable focus), I desire a fully manual camera on occasion. My 195 is wonderful but a bit rare and expensive, so I wanted one that I didn't feel quite so attached to that I could be more rough and experimental with.

I come from a maker family. My mother made it a point to expose us to art shows and art museums. We grew up watching her paint, draw, and enter shows. My older sister was also creative. When my sister and I wanted a toy, we figured out how to make it. Her efforts were always much more refined than mine. I can still remember those sloppy, loping stitches on that terrible looking doll I made, with eyes of smeary marker. A lifetime later, I still do that same thing. When I want something and it is financially out of reach, I try to make it!

There is a tradition of converting the lower priced packfilm cameras to manual, so I wasn't a pioneer. For my inspiration I turned to a wonderful Flickr collection of images by Option 8(a handle known to many a Polaroid geek). There are tons of great ideas for Polaroid conversions, but I have to warn you- it is an addiction. https://www.flickr.com/groups/polaroidconversions/?ytcheck=1 If this link is dead, just google Polaroid conversions and you will find the image thread rather quickly. Though there are some gorgeous ones done with wood veneers, color leathers, and bright paint, the ones that appeal to me are the cameras that look very mechanical and a bit steam-punk.

This is my proof of concept for something that has been done hundreds of times- I was just proving it to myself. My Polaroid conversion is quite basic. I took a Polaroid Automatic 100 packfilm bellows camera that was inoperable as the donor body. I removed the shutter button and cable, the lens and all of the stuff built into the front standard, as well as from the battery compartment. I gave it a new bellows from a broken 104. I mounted a 127mm lens and Prontor shutter I got from a piece of Polaroid medical equipment on the front of the standard quite easily by widening the lens mounting hole with a Dremel tool. Then I filled the exterior holes on the front standard with scissor cut black metal off of an old packfilm pack. The inside of the standard was filled with black craft foam ( the kind you can buy by the sheet)to eliminate the possibility of light leaks. Felt would work just as well.

The final touches were to drill a hole in the back of the battery carrier to mount my development timer, and shape a lid to cover the now larger lens. Shaping the lid was pretty easy. I chose a lid that was shaped for the pack cameras that have the viewfinder permanently out, as the viewfinder would never fold back down with the new lens. I then propped the lid up between two bricks and stretched out the front to accommodate the lid by pressing the cold clip against the plastic while applying heat with a heat gun to the front of the lid. Take your time at this so you don't accidentally warp the whole lid, but just stretch the front.

That is pretty much it! Easy, right? If you looked at the images from Option 8's conversions you would see that the process can be done with a lot more grace and style than I applied!

Since my camera is intended to give me far more creative options, I carry a brief case full of goodies to go with it. I use short and long shutter releases, a manual timer, an exposure timer, ground glass, close up and portrait lenses with viewfinder diopters, lots of funky lenses, filters, and flash filters. I also made a very simple flash mount from a cold shoe and a 268 flash base so I can use an electronic flash. When the camera is weighed down with all of these gadgets it is so ugly it is beautiful!

Voila, fully manual camera!

So far I have done purposely messy pulls, dumped salt in the pack (it gives a star like effect), ran tape through it, as well as questionable expired film! It performs like a champ, and since I can attach all manner of stuff to it, the possibilities are endless. I can't wait to try wet plate collodion with it!

My Polaroid Obsession, Part Eight: You win some, you lose some. 500 series cameras.

This rather small collection within a collection is of the 500 series film cameras. The flagship of the line is the Captiva or Vision camera. If it was intended to go toe to toe with the billion 80s and 90s point and shoot cameras, then it succeeded. And like those cameras, it is totally uninspiring and boring- and from a collector's standpoint, nearly worthless now. It had a simple automatic two phase focus, all exposure automatic with a built in flash and self timer. It ejected the pictures into an internal chamber for storage, so you could get the pictures later. I have no idea why that would be important as most people want to see the images instantly (kind of the point of instant photography). The pictures were small- just a bit bigger than Fuji Instax mini. 

The sole redeeming characteristic was that it was a folding SLR. Folding SLRs are amazing- the SX-70 was revolutionary. It is kind of sad that they put that much engineering into such a boring camera.  Why not a Spectra SLR? Perhaps it was used for ID badging, as it was also branded as Badge Cam.

The Joycam was the cheaper version, and by far the worst camera Polaroid ever made. It was intended for re-use, but built like a disposable. The film door was held on by a sticker. The film was ejected manually by a rip cord type apparatus. I personally thought manual eject was a great idea to reduce cost and weight. They should have had more cameras that used manual ejection, like the Kodak Handle.

The final one was a disposable instant camera called Pop Shots. You could send it in to Polaroid once you were done with it, or just pitch it. The problem with this idea was that there was no significant incentive to mail it in. I believe you got a coupon. With the typical disposable camera, you had to send it in to get the images. This camera was actually a bit better than the Joycam! 

As a camera maker of more than 50 years, Polaroid is getting a pass from me for building such pigs as the 500 series. Based on the size and depth of my collection of Polaroid cameras, you have to assume I am all in- a couple of duds don’t wreck it for me. I am, however, trying to think of the next great hack to turn these pigs into something more interesting…