As a friend commented to me, buying Spectra seemed liking flushing $50 notes down the toilet. Given that, I am not actually sure why I ventured to purchase a fresh pack of Spectra Film. The only images I managed to create were abstract cream and brown mountain ranges. It appeared that in most of the film sheets the chemicals had dried out or expired too far. Although the dark slides ejected properly, and about half the film sheets in each pack ejected without issue too, nothing of any substance developed. I had faintly hoped the Impossible Project film would work, but the Spectra Film packs I had received were just too old. It seems that the new Spectra Film frequently doesn’t eject properly or jams (the Impossible Project/Polaroid Originals sheets are apparently thicker than the original Polaroid Spectra), and since it isn’t possible to re-engineer the cameras or film, this fault was an extinction level event. There is a statement from Polaroid originals on why it was discontinuing the manufacture of Spectra Film.
The camera stock is ageing, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to fix or revive Spectra Cameras, unlike Polaroid 600 or SX70s. The film door opens with a button on the side, which also allows the film to load from the front under the lens, again similar to other Polaroid cameras. The camera is chunky, but similar to the SX70, it is collapsed until use, where it then opens to expose the lens. My Spectra camera is essentially automatic in function, though there are a number of options via switches at the back, including opting for infinity focus rather than autofocus, choosing whether the flash is on or off, selecting an exposure compensation setting, and turning on and off the sounds.
Like 600 and SX70 film, the film packs contain the battery that powers the camera. Spectra Film is the same as Polaroid 600 integral film, though the dimensions are different (Spectra is larger). Of course, given this is 2020, this gift coincided with the announcement of the end of Polaroid Original’s manufacturing of Spectra Film…! It came with four boxes of unopened Impossible Project branded film, two black and white packs and two colour, expired years ago. It was a little dusty, the rubberised bottom cushion was dry and crumbly, and the name sounded like a fictional worldwide criminal organisation. Despite the out of control freight train that was 2020, I was well on my way to building my experience with instant film.Įarly in 2020 also saw me receive from one of my sisters a gift of her remaining film camera, a Polaroid Spectra. At Xmas I was generously gifted a Mint Camera Instantkon RF70, perhaps the current King of the Instax, which I subjected to night time long exposures.įinally I completed the Instax trifecta with the Lomography Diana Instant Square, with its advantage of having the ability to control the aperture and having a true B exposure mode, balanced against it’s limitations of heavy vignetting and toy camera build (top tip: it is particularly good in pinhole aperture). I ventured to purchase an Instax Mini 90 Neo Classic and happily made photos with double exposures and diptychs. I had decided in late 2019 that one of my 2020 projects would be to try instant photography. It was not, in fact, until the end of 2019 that I photographed my first instant photo on Instax.Īnd then I shot my first pack of Spectra. Even when I started shooting a Holga in 2010 I managed to miss the resurrection of Polaroid in the form of the Impossible Project. I never photographed with Polaroid when instant photography was in its prime, even though I photographed on film through the 1980’s through to the early 2000’s.
If you are an instant photography veteran my revelations may not be for you, but I confess that I am a late comer to instant photography.
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