Accession number: 2021.28 https://collection.motat.nz/objects/124815/camera-polaroid-spirit-600-cl.
Department: Visual Technology
Related items: Operating manual, accession number PUB-2023-1 https://collection.motat.nz/objects/129346/polaroid-spirit-600-cl-operational-instructions.
The Spirit 600 CL is an instant camera produced by the Polaroid Corporation in the early 80s. Distinctive in its silhouette and branding, this specimen of the classic folding camera in all black displays the classic Polaroid Corporation logo, practically an icon of the 1980s. The camera features, of course, the stunning innovation of Polaroid, the instant photograph. But with that convenience comes packaged a host of limitations. A fixed focal length of 106mm means you have a minimum distance you can be from your subject (the CL stands for close-up - and includes a close-up lens you can slide across for distances of 60cm-2m), a limited range of shutter speeds and apertures with no ability to adjust them manually, and a flash that defaults to on, even in daylight. But it is these limitations coupled with convenience that most likely saw the resurgent interest in cameras like the Spirit 600 CL in the 2000s. The Lomography movement of the late 90s and early 2000s entered the public consciousness, with its focus on candid spontaneous photos over carefully crafted or technically brilliant photography. The aesthetic was a spiritual predecessor to the early photographic filters of Instagram, an embracing of the imperfections that gave film photography, and instant film, its “retro” quality.
The Spirit 600 uses the classic Polaroid 600 instant film which is maybe the most recognisable of any photographic format. This film was discontinued after the bankruptcy of the Polaroid Corporation in the early 2000s, but in 2010 the film was relaunched after the acquisition of the Polaroid production plant by The Impossible Project (now known as Polaroid B.V.). The nature of the film, to me, is the most interesting part of these cameras. I can’t remember the first time I encountered a Polaroid camera, but I expect it was in my early teens. At this point, instant film was commonplace, one hour photo development a regular and normal part of everyday life. I know that I thought it was pretty cool, the convenience of it, but I didn’t give it much thought beyond that at the time. On re-encountering instant film in my adult life, after forays of varying depth into film photography, my technical understanding of film development has made the instant film development process somehow more, rather than less, magical.
Photographic film (and paper) is light sensitive, usually through an emulsion infused with silver halide particles. Once it is exposed to light, a chemical process is introduced, causing the areas exposed to light to change to a tone or colour. Colour film has multiple layers that are sensitive to certain wavelengths of light, and in addition to a developer chemical, it requires dye couplers to bind different colours to the developed silver particles: a complicated process in the dark room, best left to experts.
Instant film does it on its own, and the way it does it is almost comical. Taking the photo happens in the same way that an ordinary film photograph is taken - the shutter opens and the film is exposed to light. The Polaroid then ejects the polaroid from the slot at the base of the camera. That slot plays an important role. Down in the base of the 600 film, in the large white rectangle where you label your photograph “besties,” is a pod containing the development chemicals. The slot that the film exits through acts like a laundry thresher, squeezing the chemicals down along the photograph as it exits, and starting the development of your photo.
The polaroid is a marriage of the science of optics, a complicated chemical process, both ingeniously married with a mechanical innovation. No wonder it continues to capture people’s imagination!
Article by Richard Kearney
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