Polaroid Misfits

These two are the Polaroid misfit twins.

They were made around the same time by Polaroid. They both use the older style peel apart films. When Polaroid went under the production of these films was picked up by Fuji Film, but they have discontinued all of the stocks with the exception of one. FP100C, the ASA 100 color film is still made. Both of the black and white films in 100 and 3000 speed are discontinued. It’s not known how much longer Fuji plans to make this film.

Their model numbers are very close, indicating they’re pretty similar cameras.

They both have plastic bodies that lack tripod mounts. They both use the same system of operation that outlines the sequence of taking the picture. They both focus using bellows. But there the similarities end. The 220 has a 114mm f/8.8 plastic two element lens. The 230 has a 114mm f/8.8 three element glass lens. Even though the basics are pretty much the same, these two lenses give different results. The 230’s lens is noticeably sharper. The 220 has a fixed viewfinder/rangefinder on top of the camera body. The 230 has a combination that folds up, making it a little smaller when stowed away.

The cameras are both automatic exposure via the “Electric Eye” in the front. This system is powered by a battery that used to be pretty common to find, but has since become a bit rarer and a bit more expensive. They can still be found with some looking, but they run around $13 to $15 dollars in some places. In contrast, the rigid body Polaroids run off of $3 worth of AA batteries. As a result, the most common modification is to convert the system to another battery. These conversions use AAA or AA batteries most of the time but some prefer to convert to the CR123 that powers most of the compact auto-focus cameras from the 1980s since it does not require any cutting or modification of the compartment. I started the conversion of this camera to AAA batteries. I got it wired up temporarily using electrical tape. I tested it. It worked, but I sat it aside before finishing it up and soldering everything in place. I never got around to fixing up the 220.

I don’t have any real plans for using them in the future. I may convert the 230 to a fully manual camera using a Speed Graphic lens, a Copal shutter, and a board. The 220 has a shutter problem which would need to be addressed as well, so I could go with either of them. In the end though, I may just get rid of them. I’m needing fewer Misfits on the shelf and in the future.

If you’re thinking of getting a Land Camera like these, go see Cory at Rare Medium and pick up one of his masterpieces. His cameras are beautifully restored and worth every penny.

Polaroid Misfits

Some changes

I'm changing up how my posts are put on social media. Hopefully this will work better than the old way.

In any case, regular updates are coming. Sorry for the inconvenience. #sorrynotsorry

It's been some time. I re-thought everything. And now, I've moved on, and moved the idea behind shoot film, ride steel to it's own web site:

Shoot Film Ride Steel lives on!


See you on the other side . . .

Nikon F3 using Agfa Vista 400

I've been away from this blog, but here's a photo of myself and my soon to be wife. We're deep in the planning for the next tour, and as soon as the details work out, we'll be buying tickets and preparing.

We may get a tandem. That's what married couples do, right?

My fiance and her new Sirrus

Just a brief note today.

After being with this woman for almost three years, never having a fight or raising a voice, taking countless rides and one tour with her and being insanely happy, I decided the only smart thing to do was keep her forever. And to that end, I asked her to marry me. She said yes.

In some ways, it makes things more formal between us. But in others, it doesn't change much. We are going to be together for a long time. As it stands, I have to live to be eighty to make all the tours and trails we want to do.

gathering dust, shaking it off

We've been off of our rides of late. Doing some hikes.

Mostly I think it's a function of too many people and too much heat. All those days over 100 degrees wore us down. And when the heat broke, it turned in to a traffic problem.

Fortunately, we live somewhere where the solution is obvious. Go west and climb in to the mountains. Wandering among the tall pines can get the head uncluttered and settle the nerves.

We're off to Arizona for a week to visit family. And unfortunately we'll not be biking.

But, when we return, I have a strong desire to meander County Road 8 out of Phippsburg. The gravel miles have been lacking this year, and time in a national forest would be welcome, too.

Best of both worlds. Shaking the dust off by raising it on the backroads.

Our LBS and The Girlfriend Test

Olympus XA, Maco MW 100 

I'm kind of a snob about where I buy stuff.

I admit we bought my girlfriend a cheap bike to begin with because she wasn't sure she'd like riding. Turns out, I was creating a monster. Now she hates doing much else.

Which is good, because she figures in to the litmus test of how we chose bike shops. I call it "The Girlfriend Test."

She goes in to grab a part, and based on how she is treated, we decide to shop there or not.

Testing went as follows:

Performance Cycle on Colorado: Argued with her about size of tube she needed, ultimately selling her the wrong size. Attitude was "She's a girl. What can she know?"

BikeSource on Colorado: Wandered store for 20 minutes. Ignored. Left.

Ok, so the chains are right out. Let's try the little guys.

Bicycle Doctor: Way too busy to get to helping her, all three times. Good for them that business is good, but we kind of like getting waited on.

Cycle Analyst: Worst of the lot. I called ahead and asked if a particular tire was available. It was, they had over a dozen in stock, I sent her over to buy a pair. She walked in, and they told her they didn't have that tire and what she really needed was a pair of Schwalbe Marathons or something. I'm sure they were nice tires, but putting $160 worth of turing tires on a $50 frankenbike was absurd. She didn't buy from them despite some shady pressure tactics.

Which brings us to our current LBS.

Turin treated her right from the get go. Right answers, right attitude, friendly. And we're in there buying things on a frequent basis as a result. We bought two new bikes there in the last year, and I'm already looking at another. Instead of treating her like she was an idiot simply because of her gender, they actually seem to love waiting on her. The owner commented he likes her because she's so enthused about riding, and a happy customer was the best thing ever. As tight fisted as I am, I like giving money to local people who take care of folks right.

Turin Bikes, Denver CO

Now if I just had more storage space, I'd see about that new bike . . .