While Polaroid cameras are fairly simple to understand and use, they can often confuse those who have grown up in the digital age. If you somehow find yourself an old Polaroid camera and some film, you don't need to be afraid to use it anymore. Charging your 600 series Polaroid camera for the first time may seem like a daunting task, but it's actually quite easy, if you know what you're doing.
Steps
Step 1. Make sure your camera is a Polaroid 600 series
This means that you need a film for Polaroid 600 or another film designed to be compatible with the 600 series. You can find this out easily or with a simple search on the internet (here you will find a list of all Polaroid 600 camera models), or you can take a careful look at the camera. There may be a label somewhere (perhaps inside the film compartment) that says what kind of film it takes.
Step 2. Open the film package
Depending on the type of film you are using, and how it is packaged, you may need to carefully tear off several boxes and / or several layers of laminated paper.
Step 3. Gently remove the cartridge from the box, being careful not to touch the dark protective cardboard
Hold the film by the edges when you move it, and lay it down somewhere as you open the camera.
Step 4. Open the camera's film compartment by sliding the lever with an arrow imprinted on it
Step 5. Load the film cartridge into the camera
Hold it by the edges (being careful, once again, not to touch the dark protective cardboard) and slide it into the film compartment, with the cardboard facing up. It should slide easily, and settle into place.
Step 6. Once the film is loaded correctly, close the camera
If you have to force yourself to close the compartment, it means that the cartridge has not yet reached the bottom.
Step 7. If you have loaded the camera correctly, the dark protective card should automatically eject
You could keep it, as it can be used to cover images as they come out of the camera. Impossible Project film cards are also collector's items.
