How To Use A Polaroid Camera With Strobes

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Hey guys,
I wanted to do a follow up to my recent behind the scenes video showing you how I managed to hook up my polaroid camera to a studio strobe and expose it correctly(ish) :P
I hope you guys like it! Its not perfect, but film never is :P If you haven't already seen the BTS video then check out the link here • In The Studio With Tom...
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[@iczerone2000]

The SX-70 aperture is F8. And as for the MiNT flash bar 2. The flash can be off and will fire off the studio just with the 2.5mm jack connected to your strobe. No need to use black tape. Try it with a empty film cartridge! It will fire your strobe!

[@TommyReynolds89]

No way thats awesome to know. I'll give it a go. But how does the polaroid camera transmit a signal to the flash bar to fire the strobe if nothing is connected to the camera?

[@iczerone2000]

You need to connect the mint flash bar to the camera but just leave it off. It will send a signal through the 2.5mm jack to your strobe. try it with a empty film pack. This is the way I use it. But I connect the 2.5mm jack to a 3.5mm transmitter then it's wireless.. :D

[@ralphacosta3891]

yea, but it still shouldn't work because of the synchronicity between the camera and the strobe, because the camera triggers for bulb, so there will be a delay

[@iczerone2000]

+Ralph Acosta Actually, it does work and there is no delay. There are some DIY versions of off camera pc sync flash connectors for the SX-70 online. www.sx2pc.com/ Check that out.

[@Ullilaven]

Wow! Thank you Iczerone2000 and Tommy Reynolds for all of those good informations. Question: Does anyone of you guys know if there's any way to know the shutter speed the SX-70 is shooting while using flash? It is basically the last missing ingredient here....right? :-)

[@Ramblin_DMC]

70 isnt the ISO. It stands for Special Experiment Number 70, therefore SX-70. The iso is actually around 160.

[@TommyReynolds89]

Very interesting :) Thank you for that :)

[@bmfitz2647]

Absolutely. The iso from Polaroid currently is about 160. However the original film used was right around iso 100. My favorite Polaroid camera of all time. Cheers!

[@TravisLatam]

I used a work lamp reflector to redirect my Polaroid's flash to not spill on the subject and put my strobes in slave mode. Worked great.

[@harveytherobot]

You don’t have to guess the aperture when you attach a flash. It’s documented and based on the focus distance. f8 at infinity f11 at 2 meters f16 between 1 and 0.6 meters f22 between 0.6 and 0.4 meters f32 between 0.4 and 0.3 meter

[@gamerfinn3634]

Love the B&Ws. Bravo.

[@royayersrules]

That’s a lot of money on that table!!

[@dhirajshetty483]

Brilliant ! Lovely pics mate !

[@JoshLuciano]

Dude, this is great! 🙌

[@TommyReynolds89]

Thanks mate :)

[@nomadben]

Those photos at the end looked fantastic! Really really great results. If only you could find a way to connect a sync cable to the camera without the expensive flash bar...

[@vivbn_uk]

Great clicks

[@TommyReynolds89]

Thanks Vivek :)

[@IainHC1]

Loved it fella :-) Thanks for the tips

[@exz0r.ex3]

Pretty cool

[@delontsui8478]

Awesome video! Trying it out myself, Is there a link for the 2.5mm jack cable you used?

[@stapledtogether]

this is sweet, im wondering if you could give any advice how you removed the borders on the polaroids? looks like you have cut open the polaroid or something?

[@onekcrane]

Very cool, and timely! Just purchased my SX-70, and one of the reasons was for the ability to use off-camera strobe. I'm not brave enough to do the f/8 modification (to keep the aperture at f/8 when a flash bar/adapter is attached), but your video has given me a great starting point for trying it out. Cool results at the end! How did you get the Type 55-esque borders on your prints? I see that with my FP100C prints if I peel them a certain way (which I like), but not with the integral films.

[@TommyReynolds89]

Hey Jon! Thats awesome you want to give flash a try with the Sx-70. its really fun to experiment. Let me know how you get on when trying this yourself. To get that effect you mentioned, I peeled the white boarders away to give a more rustic feel :)

[@onekcrane]

Thanks, Tommy. I’ll give that a try. I just watched your “film camera collection” video, and I have those same models. Biggest problem is deciding which one to take with me! I have found that they each have their own unique characteristics that lend themselves to specifics types of photography. I’ve fallen in love with shooting the FP100C peel-apart instant film on the 4x5 view camera and recovering/digitizing the resulting negative. Doing some off-camera strobe work with that setup, and really loving the results.

[@josephgarcia3767]

Ever used pocket wizard or other remote? Good lesson!!

[@michaelvincent121]

The other thing you could do in the case of the polaroid 600 (without sync cable) is use an optical slave like we used pre wireless triggers. www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/62712-REG/Wein_940_030_HS_Hot_Shoe_Slave.html

[@TommyReynolds89]

good point michael :) Thats great for the 600 users (Y) :D

[@JCNY718]

Sick

[@analogbug16]

Did you peal the front off the Polaroids? The scans don’t look like I’d expect.

[@BERTTTification]

The model in the background is questioning why she agreed to be a part of this

[@Fie.Franciska]

Most beautiful polas I've ever seen ;)

[@TommyReynolds89]

Thanking you kindly again :)

[@FFz3_Photography]

Very helpful! Where did you get the sync cable?

[@TommyReynolds89]

Bought off Amazon :)

[@jalanim]

anyone got a 680 to work on a strobe

[@ConstantinSPurcea]

See, does the SX-70 light meter take the reading while it's taking the picture to decide how quick to close the shutter, or does it take it before? Cause if it would meter before then it means the strobe won't be on so it'll think it will need longer exposure. Is it like digital light meters on DSLRs which meter something before you take the shot and stick with that reading to take your shot? I'm curious, and I'm asking you since you're the one using it with a strobe.

[@nuckinfuts5481]

Later SX-70's (or perhaps all) sync with flash at apx 1/30th of a second due to the slow burn of ancient flashbars

[@springplus300]

@@nuckinfuts5481 I've used speedlights with my sx-70 quite a bit. I've simply guessed a fitting setting based on available ambient light and used the test button on the speedlight just after shooting the sx-70. If you copy this trick it will become obvious that the sx-70 does some kind of continual metering, as it will close the shutter the instant you fire the flash. Works just fine btw.

[@nuckinfuts5481]

@@springplus300 It does continual metering when it doesn't detect a flashbar, Polatronic #8400 flash, MiNT Flashbar (1 and 2) and or other aftermarket strobes designed for connected use with the SX-70. The camera goes to a different mode of exposure control when it detects a flashbar and that exposure setting is based on the distance at which the camera is focused. The shutter speed in flash mode is apx 1/30th~1/40th of a second. It's said that the SX-70 will shoot wide open (ƒ/8.0) when focused at 20' (6.1m); we can then calculate exposure data for any subsequent distance based on the inverse square law. 10' (3.05m) would be ƒ/16, 5' (1.52m) would be ƒ/32 , 4' (1.21m) would be ƒ/40, etc.

[@hwntwww]

You can take your hat off when indoors

[@adamchen279]

It's cool, fun, interesting, but what's the point? Can't use film simulation or photoshop or LR preset?

[@Alessandro-zh9wo]

because it's not a real polaroid. You want to have the polaroid feeling

[@TommyReynolds89]

Wheres the fun in that eh Adam ;)

[@analogbug16]

Because I can’t hold a film simulation or LR preset in my hand.