Polaroid 800 Land Camera converted to 120/220.

[orionid]

So, I finally worked up the nerve to take the dremel to my Polaroid 800, which uses no longer available Type 47 instant roll film.

As I got into the project, I realized that I would also be needing to take pliers, a hammer, and a chisel to it. I don’t have step-by-step photos, but I was inspired by this guy. Basically, I followed the same general procedure with a couple of deviances:

Instead of ripping out all of the hardware, I left in the left side roller and the pressure plate.

I didn’t glue anything (yet). I wanted to be able to make it easy to change if something wasn’t quite right.

The 800 had slightly different clearances than the 95A so I had to take a hammer and chisel to the inner door to add a “hickey” to it to fit over the ends of the spool. This then required removing part of the outer door framing with the dremel to let it close smoothly.

After the first test roll jammed and refused to turn, I swapped the lego gears on the drive for a higher torque setup (not shown in my photos).

Here’s some photos of the mods:
Original gear setup
The guts
Installing a take-up spool
Inner door shut

And here’s some results. I fit five shots on this roll. Once I start really getting the feel for it, and learning exactly how many turns to start the film and between frames, I should be able to fit seven 6cm X 10.5cm shots per roll of 120. 220 should also work, but I haven’t tested a roll yet.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/orionid/4284434008/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/orionid/4284351558/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/orionid/4283607187/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/orionid/4283606483/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/orionid/4283605585/in/photostream/

Also note: If anyone’s freaking out about the thoughts of dremeling near the glass lens, I had two layers of automotive grade masking tape over the glass from beginning to end.

[thepostess]

Those came out great. We have a 95 Land Camera we’ve talked about converting, but most likely we’ll find another on eBay to do it, so we can keep this one intact.

[nobigdeal]

Thats cool!

[soosh]

very cool. I’ve thought about doing something similar with a Kodak Six-16 that my grandmother had in a drawer for about 40 years before giving it to me. It was my very first vintage camera.

[orionid]

Thanks, guys.

thepostess, I wasn’t too concerned about messing this one up, outside of personal pride as a tinkerer/tweeker (of the engineering, not the meth variety). I only paid $2 for it at a flea market last summer.

soosh, the Six-16’s are actually still workable in their own regards. You can find spools and paper on fleabay (or steal paper from a 116 roll), and restock it with fresh 70mm film. I picked up a 100 foot roll of 100 iso Fujichrome 70mm for $20 on the bay, so deals are out there. (I haven’t done anything with it yet, so it’s in my freezer, waiting. You could also put opaque tape over the red window to prevent light leaks and load 70mm straight into it in a black-room. Just make sure to unload it in black and transfer it to light-tight casing before taking it to a shop or developing yourself.

[sleeping]

Or you can pay extremely high prices to have someone else re-roll it for you:

http://www.centralcamera.com/Film/Film-for-Older-Cameras/

[thepostess]

As an update of sorts, dear husband starting gutting the 95 Land Camera last night after seeing the pics you took with your 800. I guess I’ll have to find film.

[orionid]

As an update of sorts, dear husband starting gutting the 95 Land Camera last night after seeing the pics you took with your 800. I guess I’ll have to find film.

Awesome!

[LeicaLens]

That is very, very cool.

[orionid]

Thanks, LeicaLens!

[LeicaLens]

Thanks, LeicaLens!

By the way, how did you manage to get the film spool to wind on each frame correctly? What I mean is, how did you calculate the frame size to crank-turning ratio?

And I really love the fact it is done with Lego.

[orionid]

I used a test roll (I figured wasting one roll to get measurements was better than screwing up a bunch of rolls) to count the number of turns to frame one. I then used tick marks to count the number of turns between each frame. I recorded my info into a chart that I put on the back of the camera (frame one, 4 turns, frame two 3.75 turns, etc.) along with Polaroid EV numbers converted to actual shutter/aperture and the sunny 16 rule.

[LeicaLens]

I take it that after the first frame, all the other frames require the same amount of turns? Sounds like a lot of work, but rewarding nevertheless.
And I still love the use of Lego 😛

[ravnostic]

Legos. Is there anything they cannot do?

Wicked cool.

[Farktographer]

Holy crap, rav – you backtracked 2 years into posts and uncovered this. Do you have too much spare time at the moment?

Also – Orionid, you scare me sometimes. Scary in a good way.

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