Polaroid Backs

[markscholey]

I'm making a Polaroid pinhole camera, i purchased a used Polaroid

back, and have made the mkI version.

 

After spending a good 15 minutes trying to figure out how to load the

film (thank god for photo.net) i finally got to try it out.

 

I'm getting a wide strip of yellow across my image

http://www.markscholey.co.uk/images/posted/pinhole01.jpg

 

I cleaned the rollers after this image, because of the yellow/white

spots, these have gone.

 

To check it wasn't an issue with the pinhole or body construction, (ie

light leaks) i replaced the holders darkslide and pulled out some

unexposed film,

 

http://www.markscholey.co.uk/images/posted/pinhole02.jpg

and

http://www.markscholey.co.uk/images/posted/pinhole03.jpg

 

These last two were pulled out at different speeds, to me it looks

like it could be an issue with the rollers, or maybe I'm pulling the

film out too fast?

 

If anyone has any thoughts on what may be causing this, I'd really

appreciate it.

 

Many Thanks.

 

Mark.

[dennisprice]

Mark, it might help to download and read the following instruction guide, which also contains troubleshooting tips:

 

http://www.polaroid.com/service/userguides/photographic/packfilms_guide.pdf

 

(note: if the direct link does not work, you have to "right-click, save target as" to download the pdf file itself)

 

The following sounds like a description of your problem (quoted from the above pdf):

 

"Problem: rectangular area in print. ...this is caused by NOT pulling the white tab all the way out of the camera. The long, rectangular area is an impression made by the white tab on the developing picture. Always pull the white tab straight and all the way out of the camera or film holder before pulling the other film tab"

 

Hope that helps ;-)

[markscholey]

Dennis, thanks.

 

Re reading that pdf it could be that, someone else suggested it may be the white leader, though it was pulled out before exposing the image and then pulled straight out after exposure.

 

I've just finished the pack of 10 and found that the 10th leader was folded under the film pack, hopefully this was the cause...it may have been letting some light leak onto the film before it went through the rollers. we'll see i'll try another pack later.

[dennisprice]

Mark, if the problem re-occurs with another pack, I would suspect there might be something wrong with how you are loading or processing the film.

 

Here is another guide which may be helpful:

 

http://www.hartblei.com/products/operating_manuals/filmback-polaroid_manual.htm

 

Between this one and the previous one from Polaroid, you should have all the steps and potential pitfalls covered. It's really pretty straightforward once you have it figured out.

 

Good luck!

[markscholey]

Dennis, thanks agian! That's the guide I found from the photo.net forums showing me how to load the film. I think it may be the trapped leader that allowed light to leak onto the exposed film or be rubbing against it as it was moved from the container to the rollers. The yellow streaks are in the right place for the leader to be either leaving marks or causing leakage.

 

Time to try another fim and see!

[markscholey]

Another film shows that it wasn't a trapped leader, though i think i've probably loaded both films incorrectly....

 

When i pull the black card protector out through the rollers, no white tab is appearing, so i open the back and manually feed it through.. i feed it through the rollers... is this where i'm going wrong? should the white tabs go through somewhere else?

 

http://www.markscholey.co.uk/images/posted/pinhole_preshot.jpg

 

This is a picture of the tab out of the roller slot.

 

Any help would be appreciated

Mark.