No more peel-off film, we use Instax wide instead.

Fujifilm discontinued FP-3000b and FP-100c and make million Polaroid Automatic Land Cameras paper weights or pops for photo shooting.

Indeed,  if you have a dark bag and an Instax Wide camera, you can use the Instax Wide camera to develop the Instax Wide film photo taken in a Polaroid Land Automatic Camera. 

With the help of a dark bag, we can put an Instax Wide cartridge into the film compartment of a Land Automatic. After the shot, use the dark bag to transfer the cartridge to an Instax Wide camera, cover up the lens and take a blind shot, the Instax Wide camera will eject the film and the photo starts to develop.

Here is a comparison of the quality of photos from an Instax 100 and a Polaroid Automatic #240 Land Camera:

Fujifilm Instax 100 has a wider angle lens and wider field of depth than Polaroid Automatic Land Camera #240. The Polaroid outperform Instax 100 with swallow depth of field and more details captured on the film.  Land Camera is a manual focus equipment that allow better focusing when photo shooting.  The lens itself gives more details in both over exposure and under exposure areas. Colors captured is more saturated than Instax 100 too. 

Moreover, I love the darkened photo, which gives the photo another layer of impression.

Although ISO rating of Instax Wide film is 800, it is fine to set your Polaroid to ISO 300.  

To allow closing the backdoor of the Land camera,  I removed the film glider inside the back cover of my Land camera.  To apply constant pressure to the film when the film cartridge is half used,  I put two foams into the slots of the Instax film cartridge.

I wish some enthusiasts will make a custom mod kit to allow using an Instax in a Land automatic without a manual swap of film. But before it happens,  I am happy with the current solution. 

Remove rust in the camera

You can polish away the rusty surface inside the film compartment if the rust is not heavy. It is an important procedure to save these camera as the chemicals in the developing process which may squeeze out and stay on the metal surfaces inside your Polaroid Land Camera. Those developing fluid is lightly corrosive and will get your camera rusty if you don't clean them after use.

If there is rust inside the compartment, you can use a #400 or finer sand paper to polish those rusty surface until all rust have been removed. The polished surface is clean and in shiny steel colour. You can check the condition of the metal and verify if the rust is too heavy that the metal is almost 'eaten' away.

After you polished the rusty part, you will need to paint the polished surface in black. The painting serve the purpose of protection and also reduce the reflective surface inside the camera.

In my camera, the rusty part is close to the rollers and I need to remove the film guider to have the polished area cleared for painting.

3 screw have to be removed. There are 2 small spring underneath the top cover. You must be very careful not to lose them as they are vital to have the film guider in the centre position of the rollers.

Use a small tray to keep those small parts, you cannot find some of these pieces unless you bought another second hand Land Camera for them.

Although spray paint may have better cosmetic result, I prefer to have the area painted. the paint I used is the TAMIYA Acrylic Paint ( Flat Black ). Several layers have to be added to have nicer and stronger finishing. Compared to the original coated black surface, the new paint seems a little bit darker. 

Anyway, protection is more important than outlook. Therefore, I will say the job is done.

Leave the painted surface dry completely after applying extra layers of paint. You can polish the paint away for repainting if it is needed.

The outlook is much better now compared to the original rusty chamber. This maintenance will give your Land camera extra years in services.

Found a #230 for the project

** Update on 03 June 2017: As Fujifilm discontinued FP-3000b and FP-100c, converting the automatic exposure to a manual is not urgent anymore. It is, however, very urgent to modify the machine to make it capable to use Fuji Instax films (either Instax Mini or Instax Wide). I had another post to try using a Instax Wide film in a Polaroid Land Automatic.  You may have a look at here:

http://revitalisepolaroidland.blogspot.hk/2017/06/no-more-peel-off-film-we-use-instax.html

Today I bought a #230 Land Camera from a user on a Photography blog. You may wonder why I bought #230 instead of others. Well, it has plastic case that can be drilled and cut easily. The end product in my plan will have a few switches, knobs and a number of LEDs, therefore a plastic case Land camera is a better option.

The condition of the camera is fair. It can be operated and the shutter etc. seems running smoothly.

There are two problems that I need to tackle. First is the rusty developing roller part and second is the "possible" light leaking bellow. 

I cannot test the light leaking at the moment coz I don't have a darkroom at home. A limited test with a bright flashlight in a dark corner in my house suggested that the bellow doesn't have light leaking. So, I will tackle my worry later.

But the rusty roller part, I polished it with fine sand paper to remove most of the rust. Some hidden parts, however, cannot be cleaned. I, therefore, used WD-40 to spray those areas and try to dissolve the rust out. The result looks good. I will place it in an open area, open the film chamber, place an used Instant film cartridge (stuck with thick tissue paper) and wait for at least 2 days letting the WD-40 to vaporise before I paint the polished area. Drops of silicon oil will be added by that time to lubricate the rollers and joints.

    

The whole machine casing (except the lens) was cleaned with alcohol. Some area with rigid dirt was cleaned with a WD-40 sucked cloth. DO NOT use water to clean this machine. 

DO NOT use WD40 on the bellow.  I have not figure out if it is coated with PVC or other kind of rubber,  but WD40 will harm these old synthetic rubber.  SO, DON'T use WD40 on the bellow.  Alcohol should be good enough. 

The machine is cleaned now, and is ready to be modified with a micro-processor controlled manual and automatic exposure camera.

Of course, I will take it out and take a few shot before I start modifying it into a digital machine.

By the way, #230 is a 4.5V machine. The ex-owner connected a CR123A (3V) with a AA (1.5) battery to get the 4.5V to work. I must, at here, emphasis NOT to do so. It may result in fire hazard. The energy density of a Lithium battery is much higher than an AA battery. You need to use batteries of same type to power up the gear.  3 x LR44 (PR44 is the best) is a good choice if you are lack of experience to hack electronic gadgets.

A few photos are enclosed to record the "pre-modification" state of the camera.