Hello - I'm on a mission..!

[OxfordJames]

Hi everyone,

I've always loved taking photos and slowly looking to move away from digital to analogue again - I want my daughter to have photos to look through when she's older like I can of my parents.

Unfortunately both my parents have now passed. When looking through old photos I found an album containing Polaroids (I think?) of a trip my dad went on, I think with his school (also my school).

I would love to find out the film and maybe type of camera that was used as I would like to retrace his steps and recreate the photos as best I can.

The photos are square with a white border, with 'A Kodak Paper' watermarked on the back multiple times and then in red is the Kodak logo and what looks like the print info. The only bit I can make out is 'Aug'. The photos were probably taken mid 70s, maybe 74/75. The front of the photos (colour btw) have two small black dots on the left hand side, like a snakebite. I have attached photos.

Many many thanks in advance for reading my ramble and any help. I am completely new to all this so apologies if it's an obvious solution.

James

 

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day James

Firstly - Welcome Aboard .... and I am also a newbie here although I have been busy elsewhere for many years

Frankly mate, I think that the task you are setting yourself is "bigger then Ben Hur" as the old saying goes. To try to locate photo locations for 40-50 years ago will be a huge task, and with the seemingly never-ending redevelopment of buildings and changes for urban land into housing, you may never locate many of the places your parents visited

It might be simpler to just take 1/2-dozen photos of recognisable locations and weave them into your own travels over the next few years

Insofar as leaving album images for your children ... I want my daughter to have photos to look through when she's older like I can of my parents .... I would suggest you just get 4" x 6" prints from your travels and create your own albums, perhaps with small "google maps" of your locations glued in as well, and use them both for your memories in years to come and as a visual legacy for your children. A good quality 50-page (25 leaves) album plus a selection of prints won't cost all that much after all

Hope this helps
Phil

 

[Nikon photographer]

Probably impossible to find out what camera or film was used, but looking at the photos it's going to be a square format, 126, 127 or 120, all were available in the 1970's.

 

[Jeff15]

Hello James and welcome, I cannot help with your search but good luck.....

 

[limr]

That's Kodak peel-apart instant film, most likely taken with a Polaroid Land Camera. Which model of Land Camera, I couldn't tell you. The 300 and 400 series cameras started coming out in the 70s, but that doesn't mean anything. My father bought a 100 in 1965 and we were still using it well into the 70s.

The good news: Land Cameras are still available (used, of course) and the battery pack is easily converted to take AAA batteries.

The bad news: Fuji was the only company making peel-apart but they stopped about 5 years ago or so. Impossible Project supposedly took on the challenge and so did CatLabs. Haven't seen amything commercially viable from either yet, but I also haven't been paying as much attention lately so who knows.

It may still be possible - but rare - to find older stock of the Fuji (100C color or 3000B - black and white) but whoever has a stock and is selling it instead of hoarding and slowly using it is going to charge exorbitant prices (cheapest I've seen it was for about $70 for 10 shots.)

ETA: There are still modern instant options. Fuji makes Instax and I think there's actually a Polaroid hybrid thingy that takes digital shots but prints them in camera. (I suggest the Instax Wide or Square: instax | FUJIFILM)

Also, the integrated instant film is still made for Polaroid SX-70 type and 600 type cameras, which are also found in the used market. The film packs contain the batteries to run the cameras so no need to convert like the older Land Cameras, which only took the peel-apart.

 

[Warfarin]

Welcome. I admire the desire to revert back to film as I shoot a lot of film myself. I also love prints. One way to get "prints" is to use photo book options from places like shutterfly.com. My daughter makes us a book every year for Christmas that covers that year. We love them. Polaroids are probably your best bet if you want square pictures with white borders. I have a 600 and the current film isn't near as good as it used to be. It's also expensive. Anyway good luck to you.

 

[gk fotografie]

Hi everyone,

I've always loved taking photos and slowly looking to move away from digital to analogue again - I want my daughter to have photos to look through when she's older like I can of my parents.

Unfortunately both my parents have now passed. When looking through old photos I found an album containing Polaroids (I think?) of a trip my dad went on, I think with his school (also my school).

I would love to find out the film and maybe type of camera that was used as I would like to retrace his steps and recreate the photos as best I can.

The photos are square with a white border, with 'A Kodak Paper' watermarked on the back multiple times and then in red is the Kodak logo and what looks like the print info. The only bit I can make out is 'Aug'. The photos were probably taken mid 70s, maybe 74/75. The front of the photos (colour btw) have two small black dots on the left hand side, like a snakebite. I have attached photos.

Many many thanks in advance for reading my ramble and any help. I am completely new to all this so apologies if it's an obvious solution.

James

This is just a Kodak color photo print with a white border, as it used to be pretty standard for photo printing, certainly until the 1970s. The idea that this could be a Kodak peel-off photo taken with a Polaroid Land camera, as suggested somewhere above, is not only improbable, but impossible. Given the quality/sharpness of the image, this could indeed be a print made from a 126 format (=square) color negative, as suggested by @Nikon photographer.

The holes in the photo are quite easy to explain. The prints were made at Kodak (and other labs) on very long rolls of photo paper. In order to cut the photos into separate prints after developing, holes were automatically punched in the photo paper between the photos during printing. The mostly semi-automatic cutting machines recognized these holes and could then cut the photo rolls into separate prints, it was all not computer-controlled as it is today and often something faltered so the cutting was just next to the holes until an employee reset the machine.

As a photo camera I'm guessing a Kodak Instamatic with 126 film format (see: instamatic), although there are also so-called instamatic cameras from other brands offered for sale here and there, such as Agfa, Zeiss Ikon, Contax. Search on Ebay I would say. The 126 color film is a different story, an out of date roll (try Ebay!) might not be a bad solution for what you want to do in this case.

Anyway good luck!

 

[snowbear]

I'm not convinced it's a Kodak Instamatic 126 - I had one or two and never had them produce square (1:1) photos. I vote for Polaroid Land camera

 

[limr]

This is just a Kodak color photo print with a white border, as it used to be pretty standard for photo printing, certainly until the 1970s. The idea that this could be a Kodak peel-off photo taken with a Polaroid Land camera, as suggested somewhere above, is not only improbable, but impossible. Given the quality/sharpness of the image, this could indeed be a print made from a 126 format (=square) color negative, as suggested by @Nikon photographer.

I disagree with the contention that it's "impossible." Land Cameras are absolutely capable of the quality and sharpness in the OP's photo.

(Also, the OP said that there were black dots, not holes.)

All taken with a Land Camera 100:


Victrola by limrodrigues, on Flickr


Armchairs by limrodrigues, on Flickr

And if the argument was that the above two shots were taken with different film (Fuji), here's one taken with the film available in the early 70s. Yes, that's me, holding the camera upside down:


Day 321 - As a child by limrodrigues, on Flickr

 

[Nikon photographer]

I'm not convinced it's a Kodak Instamatic 126 - I had one or two and never had them produce square (1:1) photos. I vote for Polaroid Land camera

Strange you never got a square photo, as a 126 negative is 28mm x 28mm, definitely not from a Polaroid camera, as Kodak never made film for them.

 

[Nikon photographer]

I disagree with the contention that it's "impossible." Land Cameras are absolutely capable of the quality and sharpness in the OP's photo.

And if the argument was that the above two shots were taken with different film (Fuji), here's one taken with the film available in the early 70s. Yes, that's me, holding the camera upside down:

Yes, Polaroid cameras could produce decent results, but as has already been pointed out, Kodak never made film for Polaroid cameras, and when Kodak released there own instant film in 1976 it cost them dearly when Polaroid took them to court and won.

 

[Nikon photographer]

Being it's a square photo, it could also be a camera that took 127 film, Kodak was still manufacturing 127 film until 1995, the negative measured 4x4 cm

 

[snowbear]

Strange you never got a square photo, as a 126 negative is 28mm x 28mm, definitely not from a Polaroid camera, as Kodak never made film for them.

Nope; every shot from that camera was rectangular.

 

[limr]

Yes, Polaroid cameras could produce decent results, but as has already been pointed out, Kodak never made film for Polaroid cameras, and when Kodak released there own instant film in 1976 it cost them dearly when Polaroid took them to court and won.

Kodak did actually make film for Polaroid cameras through 1969.

 

[limr]

Or, it could be one of the short-lived Kodak instant cameras after they stopped making film for Polaroid and decided to compete instead.

Kodak Instant - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

"Kodak manufactured Polaroid's instant film products from 1963 to 1969. Polaroid decided to manufacture its own. Since Kodak has a lot of experience manufacturing Polaroid's film the original plan was to create packfilm type instant products. There were many prototypes and test runs of the film with many private demonstrations to their board. Plans changed when Polaroid in 1972 released the integral type film with the introduction of the SX-70 system. Kodak decided to scrap the plans for packfilm release and focus on an integral type process. Kodak continued to use highly modified versions of Polaroid packfilm cameras as prototypes to test their integral products.

A few years later Kodak introduced its own instant film products in 1976, which was different from Polaroid's in several ways. Kodak instant film was exposed from the back without a mirror, the opposite of Polaroid's film which was exposed from the front with a mirror to reverse the image. This has several advantages; first the instant film is much less complicated compared to Polaroids which has the front layer that has to be transparent during exposure, opaque after the chemical spread and transparent after a development time. Kodak's method uses the chemical reagent as a light shield during development. The instant film in this process is capable of higher resolution compared to Polaroid's system since light does not have to travel as many layers to reach the negative. Other advantages include being able to use a matte finish on the face of the photo. "


Kodak Instant Print Film by HaarFager, on Flickr