Fun with Film: Polaroid Color Print 200

The world of online auctions will have you thinking quickly now and again, with too little time to really weigh out the value of a possible pickup.  Before you know it, you've bought something that seemed like a great deal in the moment but worry about having some sense of buyers remorse afterwards. 

Some of my camera acquisitions were snapped up in haste, and in spite of my follow up worries, have turned out to be favorites in my collection.  But these hastily made purchases don't always result in happy endings.  I've a nice little drawer of problem children that I'll have to document one day.

So when in looking about for film, I hit upon an auction ending within an hour for 22 12 shot rolls of 2002 vintage Polaroid Color 200 for about $16, I quickly piped in a bid and expected to be outbid. Instead, when the dust settled, I won the lot at opening bid.  Whodathunkit?!?

All told, once shipping was added in, I paid just over $1 a roll for this little stockpile of film. Now the concern weighing over we was whether I had bought a stock pile of junk! 

Packed in a box that proffers little in the way of marketing buzz, one wouldn't expect a vast amount of photographic character from shots taken on this film. 

Polaroid Color 200 was typically sold in 25 roll boxes, with each roll containing 12 exposures.  Its main purpose was to be able to quickly yield color images for businesses that needed photos. This might include realtors, insurance agents, or even press outlets.  With an emphasis on simply getting a representational image for practical purposes, Polaroid Color 200 lacks any of the traditional marketing buzz that typically surrounds color films.  There is no mention of vivid saturation, fine grain, or exceptional skin tones on the large box of this Polaroid film, but rather a no-nonsense "take it or leave it" box of film with a simple purpose in mind. 

A Bolsey Move: The B2 Rangefinder

"Less Filling! Tastes Great!" was the tagline of one of the more memorable TV ads of the 1980's, meant to highlight the seeming impossibility that the same product (in this case beer) could achieve two things that couldn't really happen in conjunction with each other. I don't know if Jacques Bolsey was much of a beer drinker, but I'd like to think he would appreciate the tagline nonetheless.

Born in Kiev, Bolsey emigrated to the United States prior to the second World War, and had already established himself in the field by inventing the Bolsey movie camera and in assisting with the design of at least one still camera.  During the War, he developed a combat still camera, and upon the war's conclusion, adapted that design to a consumer model that would become the "Bolsey B" line. Bolsey's objective was to create a quality camera with sought after features at an affordable price.

The Bolsey B2 is a pretty capable camera with a modest form factor, seemingly ideal on the surface for portable on-the-go shooting.