I need suggestions on what type of Polaroid camera would be best to use in the studio in order to check lighting arrangement before firing my 35mm. It needs to use peel apart film and I must be able to connect it to my electronic system. I have a Nikon F100. Is there a 4x5 Polaroid back available for

-- llewellyn Berry (llewberry@aol.com), August 20, 2000

Answers

The old 185,190,195 series are the only Polaroid cameras that are fully aperture and shutter adjustable manually. They date back many years, and command a high ($300 - $500) price in good used condition. Try the reputable used dealers, or take your chances on eBay.

Someone recently recreated that camera, using various parts bought from Polaroid. You'd have to do a Web search and/or literature search to find the vendor. You'll pay a high price for it, though.

-- Jeff Polaski (polaski@acm.org), August 21, 2000.

I suggest that you look for a FM2 in a user condition and attach a Polaroid back to it. That way you can use the same lens that you are shooting with on the F100 to check lighting ratios. The NPC Polaroid back may set you back about $350 though, so you are looking at about $550 in toto. You get two shots out of the Polaroid back.

-- Erik (xx@xx.com), August 22, 2000.

If it's just the lighting you want to check, you can use any of the Polaroid pack film rangefinder cameras:

600se ($900+ with interchangeable lenses) 180/185/195 family ($700+) 110A/110B/120 with a www.fourdesigns.com packfilm modification. (usually $400+, but I bought mine second-hand--third-hand?--for $225)

You can also take the pack film camera to parties and have lots of fun with asa 3000 film.

But using a Polaroid back lets you preview not only the lighting, but the composition, angle of view, and whether your main camera is malfunctioning in any way.

-- Roger Wong (rogerw@bigfoot.com), August 22, 2000.