The short answer: sort of…
A Polaroid pack camera comes with a 114mm lens and basically covers a 3×4″ image. I was curious as to whether it could shoot 4×5″. In order to do this, the film plane would need to be moved back so that the image circle could expand to 4×5, which would also require moving the lens body back by the same amount. I quickly designed and 3d printed up a replacement back which had a 4×5 image area at the film plane, then made some adapters to move the lens body back as well. Opening the shutter and holding it up to a light confirmed that it might be possible, though there was definitely light fall-off at the corners.
I taped a piece of photographic paper to the film plane, covered the back to prevent light leaks and took a test photo. The first test result did show some light fall-off on one edge, caused by trying to expand the image area without removing the hinge assembly on the camera which offset the image circle on the negative to the left.
I designed a simple 4×5 back which fit within the profile of a pack camera and special 4×5 film holders to fit into the back. Standard 4×5 film holders are larger than the profile of a pack camera, so a back designed for a standard holder would extend beyond the edges of the camera and would make it look a bit clunky. An elastic strap holds the film holder onto the film plane. Instructions for this modification, including 3D files, can be seen on my website.
Because the 4×5 back is quite a bit larger than the original Polaroid back, the hinge assembly needs to be removed, so this is a destructive modification which requires a replacement battery compartment cover. It’s quite a bit more narrow than the original door, but works to hold a 18650 Li-Ion battery. An alternate battery cover which is larger was developed to hold the arduino components for the manual shutter speed conversion that makes these pack cameras so versatile. I found converting a pack camera to manual shutter speeds is one of the best modifications you can do with these cameras. You can read about it in this article.
I normally shoot paper negatives and lith film, but it’s possible to shoot with high speed film, making this a compact point and shoot 4×5 camera. It doesn’t fold down to fit into its original case because of the lens body offset, but it does fold down into a compact size that fits into a fairly small case. And indoor test with ISO 400 fomapan film showed good results, with some vignetting.
What kind of results does it give? Funky photos with loads of vignetting! Though if you crop the long edge a bit, you get a 4×4 photo with very little vignetting. It’s not for everyone, but it’s another way to use a Polaroid pack camera. High speed film works well, and because of its higher dynamic range produces less vignetting. Lith film and paper negatives produces the most vignetting because of the high contrast they produce. Here are some examples taken with lith film:
And a picture taken with Frankenstein 200 negative film:
Is this modification worth it? I’m still not really sure. It does give a wider field of view than the standard 3×4 Polaroid sized photo, but the physical vignetting is quite strong which would require cropping down to square format (4×4). It does increase the stature of the lowly Polaroid pack camera to the big league of “large format photography” but in a very lomo sort of way. Film handling is easier since negatives don’t have to be cut down to Polaroid size, but images need to be cropped a bit, unless you want to keep the character that vignetting gives.
In the end, I’m happy to be able to use this pack camera with all its quirks and imperfections. Check out the links below if you are interested in this modification:
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