Polaroid 600 teardown and repair! Fixing a Polaroid 600 that won't power on. It stumped me!
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- Опубликовано: 9 янв 2024
- My name is Jake - and I have been repairing Polaroid cameras for clients professionally as The Instant Camera Guy for over a decade. Got a Polaroid 600 that needs some love? I'm happy to help!
In the fourth episode of The Instant Camera Guy, I tear down and diagnose a box type Polaroid 600 that refuses to power up.
Initially I suspected a bad battery terminal, since bending it into shape seemed to fix the camera while it was disassembled. But the real issue was something completely different!
Like what I do? Feel free to buy me a beer (or two!):
ko-fi.com/theinstantcameraguy
Getting artifacts in the video? For best quality, manually select 1080p quality, as depending on your bandwidth, RUclips may default to 720p - and RUclips's 720p compression looks like garbage
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Released around 1982, the Polaroid 600 series of cameras become one of Polaroids best selling models. Box-type 600 cameras were so popular that they would be produced for three decades, into the early 2000s!
They outsold other models such as the SX-70 by a factor of at least 20 to one and for most people, are the first camera that comes to mind when asked to picture a Polaroid.
I started off repairing 600 type cameras 13 years ago, long before I had ever touched an SX-70.
Unlike the SX-70 SLR series, which tend to be riddled with design flaws and faults that require full-overhaul servicing, the 600 series are comparatively bomb-proof. As a result, they are one of the few models that I offer 'as needed' servicing, depending on the fault.
They are designed in such a way that they do not use screws! And are instead entirely 'clipped' together.
Common faults in the 600 series include mis-shaped battery terminals, snapped plastic lugs in the shutter assembly, detached springs and corrosion of the main switch assembly. Flash units can also go bad due to component failure.
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Got a Polaroid that needs some love? Hit me up!
/ instantcameraguy
/ theinstantcameraguy
www.theinstantcameraguy.com 
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This video was a Godsend! I just bought the exact same polaroid and it didn't work. Using your video I confidently took it apart and was able to determine that my issue was the same as in the video. Then I was able to get a spare unit (thanks to you!!!) and repair the whole camera. Now it works perfectly and of my three polaroids has the most crisp photos so I am sooooo happy I didnt give up. Thanks so much!
So glad I was able to help and supply the parts! I find it very interesting you had the EXACT camera as I had here
Next free time I have... I think I'll attempt to tone out the PCB with a multi meter for shorts and see what I can find! Don't throw out your old flash yet!
planning on respraying one of these sometime soon, collecting all these dissasembly videos to make myself fully confident. thank you for the contribution
my pleasure!
Interesting review to see the inners of the box camera and how easily it was designed to strip down. I have a 670AF and it works ok. Only thing is when it charges up the red light goes off but the green light does not illuminate. Camera still flashes ok though !
Love these
ME FIRST >:D ANOTHER STUNNING VIDEO JAKEY BOY
thank you for your kind comment. Feel free to leave suggestions on what you want to see for future content!
This video is a godsend, but I’m particularly having trouble replicating how you opened the flash casing. I’m going to keep trying but it would be immensely handy if you could do a close up on how that works and which part of the casing actually holds it in place (looks like it has grippy arms on the *inside* side of the casing that seem to pinch it? if that makes sense)
Also, hi from Perth! :)
Honestly a close up won't help. Unless you have the original factory tool, there is an "art" to cracking them open
I've shown other repair technicians who still struggle to this day
No amount of close ups are going to replicate years of experience in this case
Meant to reply to this sooner, but I got it in the end - you were right, blindly fiddling about got it open eventually without any real damage.
Now that I’ve been able to see inside the snapping mechanism though, I might have a shot at making a proper tool for it, since the ones from the Polaroid factory/repair shops inevitably disappeared off the face of the earth.
I’ve got a decent collection of these and it’ll be handy to have something that works every time.
Nice
I was about to ask if you'd do a repair on a 600 box, and WABAM! You uploaded one, lol. But I have a Sun660 that when a new pack is inserted, it immediately starts ejecting before the door is closed. I can't find ANYTHING on how to repair it. I took it apart and the actuator lifting the 2 pins to disconnect power after a cycle won't pause to stop the camera. I also don't know it has an issue knowing the film door is open as it ejects once power gets to it. Would it be possible for me to send this to you for repair and if a video could be made on it?
I'm happy to give it a crack! Most likely your camera has an issue with its film counter mechanism, and the camera is stuck on dark-slide eject mode. If any of the plastic parts have snapped in the mechanism, the easiest method of repair is to poach a working shutter unit from another camera. Good donor cameras are ones with broken body panels or flash units etc
Even if the camera is beyond repair, they are useful to take apart for parts if only for the motor, which can then be modified and used to replace worn motors in SX-70 cameras
Message me through social media and we can talk about looking at your camera!
My Polaroid Sun635 QS keeps spitting out film as soon as the film pack is inserted and motors keep running would you have any idea what the cause of the issue might be?
this is usually a film counter issue
But could also could be any number of issues, including bad capacitors, snapped shutter pieces etc
I use this type of cameras to make Polaroid Tours in Florence, Italy.
What I noticed is that after years of usage and hundreds of packs of films, one cam after the other, the camera flash stops working. The camera still works perfectly but the flash doesn't charge.
I was wondering if it's a capacitor issue that can be fixed or I just have to accept that these cameras will just stop working one after the other.
its likely some aspect of the flash. Could be part of the trigger circuitry, diode, the bulb blowing etc
Fixable, but needs spares
8:52 i got fucking zapped…
Edit: twice
RIP
Hello friend ! I have a 670 AF that is not spitting his black protection and not taking pictures (obviously) the only sign of life that he does is the 2 leds, firstil the normal red and then, the green is FLASHING (wtf) if you have a guess, please tell me I look for help ;) Thanks
It's very hard to know without seeing it in person
A 670AF flash will blink green once charged, that is normal behaviour
@@theinstantcameraguy Yeah i see, no problem mate ;) but can you indicate how to take the electronics out of the shell of the camera, in ur video it looks easy but for me it’s not, is there something i miss i’ m at 9:01 min in the video
What you are missing is years of experience
I make all this look easy :)
But these are tricky things to work on
@@theinstantcameraguy for real ! i will try my best to not break something