I'm a '90s kid, meaning I narrowly missed the two-decade Polaroid craze of the '70s and '80s, but this Christmas my partner gave me the gift of analog photography in the form of the Polaroid Now+ and I couldn't be happier.
I caught the wave when instant cameras returned to popularity in the 2010's and Fujifilm's more affordable models were all the rage with us then-teens, but after a few years, I found the photo size and lack of creative control of my Instax Mini 8 too limiting.
However, that's not to say it's been all sunshine and roses since I started dabbling with my new Polaroid. In fact, quite the opposite; it's been a glorious trial by fire that has me yearning to reimmerse myself in the frustrating, challenging but undeniably satisfying world of analog technology once more.
Still, I wouldn't recommend rushing to make the rookie errors I made while setting up and taking my first few shots, so here are my tips, tricks, and common errors to avoid.
1. Inserting the cartridge incorrectly
Given that my nickname amongst friends and family is Calamity Jane, it will come as no surprise to those who know me that I am unfortunately doomed when it comes to most things in life that involve hand-eye coordination.
So I managed to mess up inserting my first film pack. In my defense, it's not made clear in the instructions just how easy this is to do; for fellow first-timers, I'll save you some heartache.
To clarify, the instructions are correct; you'll need to power up the camera, hit the eject button on the right-hand side to open the film door and slide in the cartridge darkslide up with the tab facing towards you. If you're more used to contemporary tech, you might be afraid, as I was, to put too much force behind this; don't, it takes a fair bit of gumption the first few times you use the camera.
What the instructions don't mention is that if you take too long investigating every nook and cranny in admiration of how this beautiful piece of tech works, the camera might just power off. Should that happen, the darkslide won't eject once you close the film door and you'll have to remove the cartridge to start again.
2. Removing the tab
There are reams of Reddit users bemoaning just how many newbies mess up their early Polaroid experience by removing the tab from their film pack.
The tab, you see, is how you remove the film pack from the camera when used (or when incorrectly inserted), requiring a firm tug to dislodge the film from its slot.
I maintain the moral high ground in that I didn't intentionally remove it, but it instead ripped off as I tried to pull the aforementioned stuck cartridge from my camera. It happens.
Pro tip; whether you're just struggling to get some traction or you've lost your tab altogether, use some packing or duct tape (carefully!) to create a new, wider tab with which you can remove jammy cartridges.
3. Taking low-light photos
Polaroid cameras love light, so naturally the first thing I tried to do is take a low-light picture of my Christmas tree.
The Polaroid Now+ has a lot more manual control than other instant cameras on the market, which is why I even attempted this kind of shot to begin with. In my head, a slightly adjusted aperture and longer shutter speed was going to result in this romantic shot of an ethereally glowing tree, making for the first artistic shot for my new photo album.
Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. While the results aren't horrible, it's just not sensible to try and take low-light photos with these cameras, broadly speaking, and certainly not until you understand how it works a little better. If you do want to try, definitely use the flash, increase the exposure, and consider introducing more ambient light to the scene if you can.
4. Accidentally shooting with the app
This one is just dumb and highly specific to the Now+ model I have, but I implore fellow Now+ owners to heed my warning; close the app when you're done shooting.
I know, it warns you, and you think you'll follow it. But one day you won't, and it'll be the day you jump scare yourself with a phantom photo being taken against your will.
For me, I walked away from my tripod-mounted camera with my phone in my pocket and accidentally triggered the shutter button, netting me another version of the exact shot I'd just lined up, which would be great if it wasn't a terrible one.
5. Impatiently trying more advanced setups
As highlighted above in my low-light learning, I'm fairly ambitious when it comes to testing the boundaries of new gadgets. In the particular case of the Bluetooth-connected Polaroid Now+, there are a host of settings and photography within the companion app that allow you to try different shots for varied results.
It's tempting to dive straight into these and see what results you might get, but I'd recommend a more scientific approach based on my experience so far. If you flunked out of science at school, here's a basic principal of experimentation; change one variable, and note the differences in results.
Don't, on the other hand, do what I did and change the lighting, exposure, shutter speed and camera positioning to try and achieve the desired effect and then leave yourself with no idea which factors gave the results characteristics you like versus those you don't.
6. Fearing film waste
As highlighted in our Polaroid Now+ review, the film for my particular instant camera is pretty pricey - much the same can be said for most devices in its class, too. Film photography in any form is not a cheap hobby, but there's a huge emotional and sentimental payout that makes it worthwhile.
While that doesn't mean you should be wasteful, it does mean you have to be prepared to kiss a few frogs before you meet your prince.
Keep an eye out for sales and discounts on film, and stock up when these arise to ensure you're getting the best value possible, but remember film is there to be used!
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