While Milwaukee-based Retrospekt branches out beyond photography gear and delves into vintage VHS tapes, gaming, watches and even music, it’s best known for its analog cameras and film, especially its Polaroid gear.
While Retrospekt sells Polaroid film and new cameras, including some fun collaborations like Barbie, Peanuts, Sanrio and more, it also refurbishes, repairs and sells vintage instant cameras. This is where I crossed paths with Retrospect as the company was kind enough to send me a refurbished Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera with 600 film conversion.
Instant photography is instantly fun
It was an exciting experience for me for several reasons, not the least of which is that I don’t shoot film at all. I occasionally used a disposable 35mm film camera when I was a kid in the late 1990s, but it’s been more than a decade since I last shot analog.
I’ve also never shot with an instant film camera of any kind. The camera flash craze hadn’t arrived when I was a teenager, so I missed the boat on instant photo revival. Although film is alive and well today, my entry into photography was when it was dying. I almost completely missed the first movie party; I also missed his rebirth until now.
What it’s like to use a vintage camera in modern times
As for the SX-70 itself, it’s a legendary folding camera that’s roughly the size of a mass-market paperback when folded – albeit slightly heavier. He’s stylish, but the magic happens when he goes through a transformation that would make Optimus Prime green with envy.
With a few quick pulls of the folding viewfinder, the SX-70 springs to life and is ready for action. Once open, users can peer through the optical viewfinder and adjust focus and exposure compensation using a pair of dials.
Everything looks and feels so new that it would be easy to think the camera is actually new rather than built sometime between 1972 and 1981. It’s not until you load the film that you see the little Retrospect sticker inside. Of course, the Retrospekt name is on the camera’s sleek packaging, but the camera itself feels like it was transported by time machine from the Polaroid factory in the 1970s.
Although there is an alluring charm to using an old camera that is practically like new, the age of the camera shows a few things. The viewfinder isn’t great. It’s hard to frame and focus, and when it’s in focus it’s a bit blurry. There is also a lens, a four-element 116mm f/8 glass optic. His finebut the image will never be super sharp even if you focus the nails, which is not easy.
But that’s part of the fun too. I wish the viewfinder was better, but I’m not convinced that a better lens would make the SX-70 a better camera overall. There is something to be said for the relative blurring of the images. If I want something clinically sharp, I have other tools I can use. But when I want to take a photo, hear the hum of the engine, hold the image in my hand and watch it evolve from empty space into a photograph.
There is one downside to the SX-70 experience. While I think the price of $379 for a refurbished camera is reasonable, considering how much work it takes to get old cameras into tip-top shape — plus another $50 if you want a 600 film conversion — shooting instant film isn’t cheap. long term.
Polaroid 600 film costs around $20 per pack, and each pack contains eight images. I burned through a few packs and quickly realized, “Wow, I really need to think about how I use this camera.” For a camera that’s this fun to use and sure to attract a lot of attention among friends and family, it’s easy to imagine going through $60 or more of film in a very short amount of time. There’s a strange juxtaposition between a camera being so much fun to use and it being so expensive to shoot that I have to be careful.
How Retrospekt carefully revives old cameras
While the SX-70 is interesting in its own right and I had fun with it, I’m even more interested in the discussion of how Retrospect breathes new life into old cameras and gives them a second chance to make a first impression on photographers.
Taking old cameras with worn, broken parts and giving them a new coat of paint that is completely indistinguishable from if I went to a camera store in the 1970s and bought a brand new SX-70 is something really special. It is a labor of love and expertise.
Retrospect’s technicians, some of whom have been there since the very beginning, have perfected their craft with the help of some of the original Polaroid team members and old manuals they’ve discovered over the years. In some cases, the team developed new methods to solve common—and less common—problems, and even designed and manufactured entirely new parts.
This is easy to overlook because “refurbishing” an old camera, whether it’s an SX-70, a Model 230 Packfilm Land Camera, a Polaroid 600, or something else, is a lot more than just cleaning it up, oiling up some metal, and throwing the camera in a new box . Cameras must be disassembled and inspected, and parts that are either completely broken or well on their way to failure must be repaired and replaced. Retrospekt says it takes about a year to train new technicians to refurbish the cameras it sells.
Keeping the past alive
While I love the SX-70 and find this experience a fun addition to my typical digital photography workflow, I also appreciate that I’m not the first owner of this camera.
While I will never know exactly where this camera came from, who used it, and what photos they captured, I still feel like I am holding onto a thread of the past. Someone used this camera to capture the moments that mattered to them, and now I have to too.
Disclosure: Retrospekt offered me a refurbished SX-70 camera to use indefinitely plus two packs of Polaroid 600 film. The company did not send the camera in exchange for an article or other coverage, nor did Retrospekt have any editorial input.
Image credits: Behind-the-scenes photos provided by Retrospekt. All other images by me.