Chosen Solution
I picked up a pack of the new Polaroid 600 film for my Sun600 LMS since I do not know how long he has left, but I know my time is limited. While I’ll live with the spread issue as it only one bad photo (plus you know, the flaw is unique) the others are fine. This camera has been around for like 2-3 generations so it’s not new, but it’s proven itself since it’s survived under my use and my grampa. If anything it’s a testament to how long lived the old 600 land cameras are, even if the film is more expensive because it can’t use i-type like Polaroid Now. Could this have been due to the fact the camera hasn’t been used since they stopped making the original film and I didn’t use it at all during the original Impossible Project era due to cost and batch improvements? It seems like now that I put a Polaroid Originals pack in there with the current Impossible Project formula, the camera just needed to be exercised again.
Yes, I did consider grabbing a few “expired” packs of the original formula from the old Polaroid but it’s way too expensive and risky.
Plastic parts have a finite life as normal everyday atmospheric exposure and plastics have a curing period right after they were made. New car smells were finally revealed from the chemical industry descriptions as outgassing, the continual curing of injection molded hot plastic. Great when new but years of uv exposure hastens curing until they become brittle and eventually breaking at unannounced moments. The chemical outgassing are the vapors given off new plastics in our cars, trucks and suvs. Not conducive to human health but was always sold as the new car smell. A very old Polaroid instant camera has many plastic parts that has a finite life but beware of these plastics drying out over decades then breaking. Even when stored in attics, heat from unventilated attics accelerates plastic drying and becoming brittle. I noticed snapshots of the Polaroids, presuming you’re using either a digital camera or cellphone. Can you print those snapshots with a color printer as another way to create the equivalent of film prints but on paper. Photo quality paper is better too for longer lasting photographs. Even Polaroids fade over time. Digital electronics can duplicate photos with photo quality inks and papers, no different from outdated Polaroid instant film.
