I finally had a chance to look at Edward Levinson's report on the Polaroid Pinhole Camera that is available in Japan. (The report is on http://www.???????/ for those that have yet to see it.)
This clears up some confusion (in my mind at least...) regarding the film used. Here in the US the Polaroid integral film formerly called "One-Step" has been relabeled "Polaroid 600". Since Polaroid has not produced any new cameras since the 80's that do not use integral film, I expected that this was the film used. It turns out to be 600 Series PACK FILM, which is another matter entirely. (Pack film is the 3.25 x 4.25 inch format peel apart film most of us are familliar with fron the 1960's and 70's. I just never call it "600 film", rather I call it "pack film" or 669, or 667, or 665. A better name would be "660 series" since all the stock numbers begin with 66.) $99.95 is a lot to pay for a camera of this type. As a collectors item it is interesting, but one can make their own version of this camera for next to no cost. Cameras that use pack film are widely available at yard sales and resale shops for very little cost, often less than $10.00 in good condition. I used a camera of this type for my Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day photo. I have used the Type 665 Pos/Neg material and can confirm that it does indeed produce a useable negative. My experience has been that one must overexpose the print to get a good negative, but if you have a good negative you don't really need that original print. If there is interest on the list, I can write up some brief instructions on how to (and how easy it is to) convert a Polaroid pack film camera to pinhole / zoneplate. (Type 667 is the ISO 3000 speed B&W material that I use for hand held zone plate shots, auto-exposure meetered by the camera's original shutter.) Mike Vande Bunt
