The Polaroid I-2, more discussion

In the last post about the Polaroid I-2, I discussed the frustrations that I had with the camera and the film. 

I suppose that I should say that the Polaroid I-2 is the flagship camera for Polaroid and is the most expensive and feature laden camera that is currently available. The camera alone is £500 and then there is film on top of that.  The Polaroid Now+ camera at the time I purchased the I-2 was the second most expensive Polaroid camera at £149. Other Polaroid cameras, for example the flip that came out this year, are £200. 

"This camera is the replacement for the SX-70!", they exclaimed.

The I-2 is more expensive by a huge margin and so expectations from this camera were high.

Initial use of the camera produced results that were not in line with expectations set by the high price and cornucopia of features. I shot a pack or three in the camera, each with increasing frustration until I discovered a forum for the I-2 that suggested the firmware might be out of date.  Now call me "Mr Old Fashioned" but surely a newly manufactured and shipped camera should be delivered with the latest firmware. But no! More to the point the camera hadn't been on the market for long so a major firmware update being available was a surprise to say the least.

I connected the Polaroid 'phone app to the I-2 and blow me if the app didn't say the firmware was out of date.  The app does the download of firmware from the 'net and pushes that firmware to the camera for installation.  Bit of a faff but now I had the latest firmware installed on the camera. Now I could be the best Instant photographer in the world!

But hold on, not so fast. This is where the inconsistent film (remember that from last time?) chucks a huge nut loosening tool into the mix. So another couple of packs of film later (at £17.99 this is getting expensive) and I'm beginning to suspect that someone at Polaroid is laughing at me. As Johnny Rotten asked the audience at the last Sex Pistols gig in America in 1978, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?". Well yes Polaroid, I do.

I am not a new photographer where either normal negative film or Instant film, in the form of Instax Wide, are concerned. My Chroma Snapshot, Instant Edition with LomoGraflok back is a completely manual camera. This requires me to take a meter reading after entering the ISO of the film into the meter, transfer the aperture and shutter speed to the camera and take the photo.  And Instax Wide is consistent and the ISO is the ISO!

See what I mean? Nothing wrong with my ability.  

It is absolutely infuriating to have an expensive camera, and even more expensive film, not behaving itself. You question yourself "Is it me?". Your confidence slips. It's not nice at all!

So having watched every YouTube video about the I-2 and it's, alleged, capabilities, I decided to have a break from worrying and being frustrated and decided to try some double exposures.  When you put the I-2 into multi exposure mode the camera does everything automatically, so if auto doesn't work then I'm writing a stiff letter to Polaroid in the land of the Dyke.

Well, left to it's own devices the camera did a sterling job of being an automatic camera.  At this juncture in proceedings, strong oaths were sworn, Anglo Saxon phrases used in public and the parentage of the designer of the camera firmware was brought into question in no uncertain terms! Still I had a working camera, so lets consider this turn of events a win!