Overhauling a "refurbished" SX-70 Model 1 purchased on Japanese eBay

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My name is Jake and I repair instant cameras! Got an SX-70 you want overhauled? Get in contact with me! Links below!
In the eleventh episode of The Instant Camera Guy, I re-repair an already refurbished camera for a client of mine.
Like what I do? Find this video helpful or entertaining?
Feel free to buy me a beer (or two!):
ko-fi.com/theinstantcameraguy
Getting artifacts in the video? For best quality, manually select 1080p quality, as depending on your bandwidth, RU-vid may default to 720p - and RU-vid's 720p compression looks like garbage
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My client Stan purchased this SX-70 Model 1 from eBay; paying a premium in exchange for a camera that was supposed to be refurbished and in tip top working order.
After shipping it all the way from Japan, he sadly found the camera had unpredictable exposures and streaky light leaks on the images.
After finding me through my RU-vid channel, Stan decided the camera may be better off in my hands, and so sent it in for an good checking over.
After a few discussions with Stan, we decided the best course of action was to give it a full overhaul and and PCB upgrade! The final result ended up amazing and I'm confident Stan will be happy for years to come.
I ended up finding numerous issues with the camera. Not all of these are likely the fault of the Japanese technician that did the refurb, but some mistakes were certainly made. The intent of this video is not to throw shade on other technicians, but to educate everyone watching on how to improve and do things better. After all, we are all human, and even I make mistakes from time to time.
In the end, I feel the biggest problem was a clear lack of proper film testing on the final product before shipping it out. The seller did include a photograph as 'proof' that the camera functioned, but it was a photo shot indoors.
Using an indoor photo as evidence of a cameras functioning simply isn't good enough, since the SX-70 shutter is designed in such a way that poor calibration does not affect low EV scenes as much as high EV scenes. Indoor scenes also often do not produce light leaks due to bellows pinholes, since the indoor lighting is far less powerful than the sun.
If the test photo was taken outdoors in bright sun, both the light leaks and exposure problems would have been spotted and the issue rectified before being sent to the client.
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Got a Polaroid that needs some love? Hit me up!
/ instantcameraguy
/ theinstantcameraguy
www.theinstantcameraguy.com
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Aki Asahi leather can be found here:
aki-asahi.com/store/

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Опубликовано:

21 янв 2024

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Комментарии : 48

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

Yeah... looks like I just totally forgot to add the B-roll in this video... oh well! Honestly it wasn't very entertaining. It shows an alpha spec motor connected to the Model 1 ribbons using little brass cables. Common factory technique

@monochromebluess Месяц назад

Another superb restoration. With the bellows light leak appearance - I wonder after all your hard work if you were reminded of Al Pacino in the Godfather …. Just when I think I’m out they pull me back in again …. Great work solving the issue.

@jenslingspaint3523 4 месяца назад

Oh man, what a fantastic overhaul of an SX-70. I wish you were closer so I could get my SX-70 to you for an overhaul.

@theinstantcameraguy 4 месяца назад

Use the post office! 99% of my clients ship their camera to me, even within Australia

@happyblad 4 месяца назад

Awesome to see a fix for a light leak in the bellows. Super cool refurb!

@practicalphotography1235 3 месяца назад

Was able to repair my bellows after watching this. Thank you.

@user-rd9os7uj4d 5 месяцев назад

The gloves discussion, I was wearing some strange thin gloves when I dropped one of the Sonars you did up for me. Now it looks like that Beetle Juice CGI face with one eye.

@m_blvck_m6302 5 месяцев назад

Great content!!!!

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

thank you for your kind comments

@Kwstr42 4 месяца назад

watching you tip the screws over gave me an idea to glue pill cadies to a small white board so i can hold screws for each assembly in the order they were removed so they cant go anywhere, and you can label the chambers

@heresmyurl 5 месяцев назад

I love how you're using an Xacto knife as a pointer. I'm 6 minutes in. Will report other things after I'm done with the whole video.

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

how else is one supposed to be exact in their pointing?

@andrewhamop6665 5 месяцев назад

I wasn't expecting a shout-out, thanks for that! Lovely end result as always Jake. I'm really looking forward to sending my Model 1 in for a tune up. After my sonar adventure I've since learned not to go digging around in one of these cameras myself, with the intent of making things 100% better with no mistakes. That being said, I have been looking for a new project. One of these days if I can find a good deal, I'm going to grab a cadaver off eBay thats pretty far gone and see what I can accomplish, just for the fun of it. It seems like the main issue behind all of this was rushed development on behalf of Polaroid, since they probably would have caught most of these issues in extended testing. Oh well, more business for you and the rest of your profession. Also, I've seen a number of electronics technicians wear rubber or nitrile gloves for the exact reason you mentioned with the cross contamination. Having an extra layer of skin can be handy, plus its nice to know that the potential grossness of other's electronics wont be sticking around on you or your workbench.

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

You are 100% correct in terms of being rushed to market. Numerous scholars have debated whether or not the SX-70 project was the beginning of the end of Polaroid. Being a publicly listed company, with shareholders to please, the pressure on Polaroid to produce a working camera was immense, and there were numerous issues with their early cameras. Sadly, by the time these were rectified, Polaroid had entered a period of obsessing over cost reduction, resulting in cut corners and poorer quality of materials. If you want a practice camera, grab a Model 3! Its all they are good for IMO! Gloves is an interesting topic, and one I was waiting for to come up. I find the type of work required on this camera too fine to wear gloves, and find that it really impedes my repair skills. However they do have their place in terms of working with solvents etc I am fortunate (or unfortunate?) in that I have very dry skin by default, so oily residue from my fingers is fortunately never really an issue, which helps immensely when cleaning lenses!

@andrewhamop6665 5 месяцев назад

@@theinstantcameraguy Between the first Model 1s with their poor QC and early flaws, and the Model 3 with it's cheap plastic body and non-reflex viewfinder, which of the folding SLRs do you think had the least issues but also the highest build quality? I actually have a Model 3 that seems to work fine, so maybe I could experiment with removing the skin and cleaning the various mirrors. Ah, and yeah I figured that was your reason for not wearing gloves. I guess you probably haven't had a camera (besides this one) that really could have warranted gloves anyway.

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

@@andrewhamop6665 there are a few chrome Alphas and early Sonars that I'd consider near perfect in terms of QC (except for the dreaded rivets vs screws) But its all swings and roundabouts, since storage and damage over time is the 2nd thing to consider

@fototrip9346 5 месяцев назад

The part about motor replacement was very interesting, especially information that the ones from 600 cameras can be used in sx-70. The light leaks can be easy to find when going to dark-room and flashing with some light throw the bellows, that's how I check my LF bellows. I wonder which camera rollers can be used as a replacement for sx-70, one of mine is eaten by chemistry and want to swap with the 'new' one. Cheers.

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

This was one of the hardest pinholes I've ever had to find in 13 years. Its proximity to the edge of the bellows frame, position behind the erection arm and miniscule size all made it rather difficult to spot! Off camera I checked multiple times in my workshop with the lights off using my bright work lamp and that is how I found it. In the end though, a film test in bright sun doesn't lie! If it wasn't for my insistence on film testing, even I might have missed it! You'll need to find another set of SX-70 rollers to replace yours. There are no others that fit.

@TRIPLEEJF 5 месяцев назад

Another amazing video. Thanks so much Jake! I would love to hear you talk about the Open SX-70 PCB. Do you have experience working with those? How do they compare with the SX-70R?

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

I was actually planning on doing a video on this! I just don't know how to tackle the content yet... And also... it's not really a commercial product yet

@TRIPLEEJF 5 месяцев назад

@@theinstantcameraguy that's great to hear! It would be nice to hear your take on the project and it's current state. Looking forward to that video whenever it happens!

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

@@TRIPLEEJF I've been involved with the project since very early days, and I own two!

@tonygraham6140 5 месяцев назад

I have bought cameras from retro, ebay, 2 European repairers and from Australian overhauling expert. All of the 3 others I had to send to Australia to be rectified. With one especially expensive SLR680 with a serious problem the tech refused to do anything to fix it. ...................................... The others were so bad that making a decent photo was impossible. Daytime shots all extremely overexposed. ................................ Five cameras would not even run fast enough to properly eject film. The camera from ebay worked for a few months and then the motor started running non-stop. 11 cameras in all, none overhauled, only refurbished, all unusable upon delivery. One may think that the closer you get to a face for a flash photo and the darker it gets is a problem. Not that SLR680 refurbisher.

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

I'm glad I was able to help in your situation! What can I say other than I stand by my own work :)

@Cioxs 5 месяцев назад

Great content, keep it up! I should soon have my own SX-70, albeit with a refurbish done by Polaroid themselves. The refurbish was done by the person they managed to rehire from the old Polaroid company. He has almost half a century of experience refurbishing Polaroid cameras; so hopefully his attention to detail and deep understanding of the inner workings is at least similar to yours. Your comments on the state of the refurbishing scene, even when done by polaroid technicians themselves, is slightly worrying though. I got it for quite a low price though, and if I ever need a touch up I know who to contact ;). If you ever get the opportunity and have the interest to, I would love to see a video of you modifying a spectra camera to take 600 film. There are 3d printed and commercially available adapters, but they do not fix the issue of the rollers struggling with the smaller size of the film, causing problems with heterogeneous chemical spread. If anyone is able to fix this issue, it would be you I think. I would love to see a proper method to bring new life into the spectra cameras.

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

As far as I am aware, these days, purchasing direct from Polaroid is actually purchasing a camera refurbished by Retrospekt. They handle all large scale refurb efforts these days and comprise of a team of people working out of a warehouse in Wisconsin. They operate on a large scale like a factory assembly line. You can check out their Instagram where they often have behind-the-scenes reels At some stage, a decade or so ago, they did have some training by Jos Riderhof (the factory employee who I believe you reference). I won't speak for their quality of work, but you can feel free to ask around in forums etc Did you purchase an old refurb that Jos personally did? As for Spectra cameras, the only true solution would be the film pack adapter PLUS a re-designed door. There is just simply no real way to alter the rollers in any significant reliable way otherwise. The tolerances needed for film spread are VERY tight.

@Cioxs 5 месяцев назад

It's an old refurbish by Jos himself. Shame to hear that the rollers work with a tight tolerance. I guess that explains why most people who mention adjusting the rollers online end up not posting any results.

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

@@Cioxs the Spectra community are small, but very dedicated. If there was an easy way to do it, it would have been done by now!

@McCoyFromSpace 4 месяца назад

1:48:44 so, thought bubble here. Recently on the Polaroid subreddit I’ve been seeing a lot of “ugh Polaroid film is so inconsistent compared to Fuji!” How much of that do you think is ACTUALLY just unserviced cameras from the 70’s being a little funky? And not nearly as much of the films fault. I feel as though a lot of people overlook that these cameras are 50 years old and they’re trying to compare them to cameras who at the most are 10 years old.

@McCoyFromSpace 4 месяца назад

2:11:22 ope my bad, should’ve kept watching 😂

@theinstantcameraguy 4 месяца назад

I agree with this 100% Most 'critics' of modern Polaroid film you will find are shooting on some ancient 40 year old camera that is completely unrefurbished, OR, they have purchased it as "refurbished" from some cowboy on eBay who thinks a full overhaul means "I put some new leather on it". This is also the reason why you don't typically hear complaints from someone shooting an old Spirit 600LMS. The design of old box type 600 cameras are practically invincible, and when you combine that with the flash that does most of the exposure, and you get very consistent results years later. SX-70s though suffer from IR filter corrosion, and will basically ALL over-expose by now unless you are insanely luck. What's worse is that Polaroids modern cameras don't help the situation. Just look at the wonky auto exposure on the new I-2 for example. Fact of the matter is these are complex little cameras, and it takes a lot of skill and dedication to get them to a point where run properly. Magically, my refurbished cameras take great photos. Am I just lucky and buying good film? No! I buy my film from an un-refrigerated stationary store haha. I just know how to refurbish a camera properly!

@coolduder1001 Месяц назад

I don't see a point to the switch mod mainly cause if you're gonna use an sx70 for 600 film, you're probably always going to use it for 600 film

@theinstantcameraguy Месяц назад

This is true Once you go 600 there is really no reason to go back lol

@tonygraham6140 5 месяцев назад

And to your point, I sent you 2 already refurbished Sonars to add an external power supply using AAA batteries. As you discover the power device caused the cameras to run very sluggishly. It seems that the purchase I made was not overhauled cameras, rather only spot repairs of what problems manifested during a cursory check. One lesson discovered is that the external power device with AAA batteries is actually not plug and play for Sonars, if something is amiss in an unfortunate place on the camera..

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

AAA battery holders of all kinds are "plug and play*" with emphasis on the asterix AAA alkaline batteries DO have the power to run an SX-70, but are really at the lower limit if the electronics, switches, traces etc are not in tip top shape. Lithium ion batteries output more power, and are one solution to overcome this, but overall the solution should really be to have your camera properly serviced

@user-rd9os7uj4d 5 месяцев назад

As we found out in November when the addition of external power slowed down the Sonar so much that they were effectively inoperable. . @@theinstantcameraguy

@user-rd9os7uj4d 5 месяцев назад

Don't worry, they will be returning to you soon for a complete and competent overhaul done with passion and integrity. I've painfully learned my lesson with the re-work and postage. @@theinstantcameraguy

@jungletrooper9252 5 месяцев назад

Don't suppose we could get a link for where you get your leather?

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

Google "SX-70 Leather" and Aki Asahi is the first hit for me I'm actually super surprised that nobody seems to know Rikuo exists... You are the 4th person to ask! Guy has been in business for decades and his quality far surpasses all the others I've dealt with. I will put a link in the video description

@jungletrooper9252 5 месяцев назад

@theinstantcameraguy thank you! Never heard of him til I started watching your videos. From what I've seen so far, they look a lot nicer than what I would find from other stores of reputation.

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

@@jungletrooper9252 no worries at all I've dealt with numerous other suppliers over the years, and honestly... I think they are all garbage in comparison!

@user-rd9os7uj4d 5 месяцев назад

Love that non-rant rant at the end. Seems to happen when a topic is misunderstood or popularity thought to be unknown/figured out, then in an instant a lot of myths get spread and a lot of self declared experts pop up believing that no one can contradict them.

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

there is actually a HUGE problem with the spread of misinformation in the instant film community One of the biggest issues I have to tackle is the L/D wheel nonsense. Where by Polaroid perpetuates a myth that SX-70s require a notch or two towards dark to expose correctly. This is 100% incorrect, and if your camera over exposes, it's usually due to the camera not being serviced properly

@bobmalin656 5 месяцев назад

Can you share a link for the SX-70 leather? I cant find the name

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

Aki Asahi I'm surprised he doesn't come up with a google search! Website is fresh out of 1998, but his quality is living in the year 3000

@bobmalin656 5 месяцев назад

@@theinstantcameraguy i didnt know how to spell the Name. I found it. Thanks

@user-rd9os7uj4d 5 месяцев назад

When are you going to make the recommendation that I got, of doing one's best to not buy from an outfit with an assembly line of workers "refurbishing" cameras?

@theinstantcameraguy 5 месяцев назад

I try not to trash-talk other refurbishers But I'll certainly try and release videos where I am fixing a camera that I think could have been done better