instantphoto.eu Studio Polaroid digital 360 Instant Camera System (SPd 360)
This
is very special gear, the Studio Polaroid digital 360
Instant Camera System (SPd 360). There is little information about it,
but it fits into the 2000s strategy of the Polaroid company to integrate
computers into their systems. There was the Palette system which could
capture pictures from computers, early digital cameras and even digital
videos to Polaroid film. This SPd system can also be connected to other
computers. The name is an unfortunate choice, as there was already a
360 camera with an electroic flash.
It is a professional studio system that allows any kind of lighting as
daylight, spotlight, studio light system, flash on the camera and
studio flash system. Lighting can be fine tuned. The camera with a 1:6
zoom and an extremely lumious lens leaves nothing to desire. An
external VGA or SVGA monutor can be connected to the system for better
image control.
Some technical information from the manual:
Camera sensor: 1.4 Megapixel progressive scan CCD sensor
Camera lens:
Focal length: 5.7mm to 34.2mm
Zoom: 6:1 ratio
Aperture: f/1 to f/16
Focus: 1.3m to infinity
Camera preview screen:
PAL format composite video
4” TFT 480 x 234 dots
160 x 3 x 234 pixels
No printer specification available.
Some pictures:
The system consists of a printer unit, a camera unit, 9v supply and a long cable between camera and printer.
The printer unit with its pack 100 holder in its top.
Holder deposed. A unit similar to a scanner will move along the negative and expose it via LEDs.
The system has 2 error controls. towards the left a pin is depressed as
long as there is film in the cartridge. In the middle a device detects
the presence of the white tab before printing and it starts counting
the development time when the tab drawn.
Seen from the back and connected. There is even a PC flash socket to connect a studio flash system.
Printer setting panel. Left: 3 selectors: Format (1 to 9 pictures on a
print), Skin tone (dark, medium, white), Film type (b&w, colour).
Right: Print button.
You
can only print when there is a picture frozen on the camaera screen.
Here printing has ended and the systems waits that you pull the white
tab. If you do so, it starts counting the development time and no.1
will light up. At the end no.1 will blink and beep. If you print
pictures in a row, the system could manage up to 3 development cycles
(no. 2 and 3). Note that I had to put a white paper in front of the
cartridge sensor simulating a white tab to show this. Otherwise printig
would not start.
The camera. On the handle 3 menu buttons and freeze/unfreeze button.
The screen can be lifted for better visibility.
F stop selector on the lens.
Zoom and distance.
There is a tripod socket at the bottom.
Mounted on a tripod. Left side.
Right side.
Screen lifted. Note the hot shoe
Seen from the front.
Minimum distance is about 1.5m.
The zoom is powerful.
First push on the menu button. You can store up to 3 pictures to
retrieve them later as long as the system is under power. Scroll down
to access the settings.
Via the settings you can acces things like choice of light source...
...or light temperature.
In any case, this is a highly sophisticated system for a studio
photographer. Unfortunately pack 100 film is no longer available. A
tinkerer could adapt it to Instax Wide film, but the Fuji printers are
cheap, so this would only be a demonstration of your skills and it
would save a system from the bin that was very advanced for its time.
