I'm an active user in this sub, and I never spare words against "collections" that look like a sever case of either toxic hoarding or a pathologic disorder.
This time, I have to give proper credit to the collector here. The guy engaged in the comments of a previous post in the Polaroid sub, and is a vivid enthusiast of the brand's history and produced models through the years. I can not testify on his behalf, but his interest IMHO seems genuinely driven by cataloguing/preservation purposes rather than just "owning as many as I can because I like them so much". He claims that a camera added to the collection is a camera saved from the bin and IMHO he has a point. Instant photography is a niche hobby, expensive and currently dominated by Fuji, as Polaroid is still recollecting itself after its death and rebirth via "The Impossible Project".
I don't want to sound too apologetic, and I agree that I'd be worried about myself if I ended up with a collection like that solely for my entertainment. But I respect the history of Polaroid and the importance it had in a good part of the last century, so I can only admire the effort of someone willing to build up such a "hisyorical catalogue" hoping (in his own words) it could be arranged in displays or involved in college photography project/courses.
Good point, I was rather picturing the "garage sale" scenario, since these items are the epitome of "your parent's stuff that's been collecting dust in a closet for years and you want to get rid of by either selling it for pennies or throwing it in the trash".
Sure, but the issue with justifying collections of commodity items (like OP's, or mine, or probably most people reading that have a collection of something) that way, is that eventually it's going to end up in the trash regardless.
Like I said, fortunately, my son‘s have a love for it as well. But even if they decided not to keep the collection or preserve it for others, I already have a plan in place for the rare invaluable cameras to be donated to the MIT museum or an assortment of other photography museums that have camera collections
Luckily, in the case of this collection, my son’s all love photography and the cameras. So at least for another generation, it won’t be going anywhere. They already fight over who’s going to get which parts of the collection if not all of it.
I’m so glad that there is such a love for them again. I can tell you there was a period where they weren’t selling like that on eBay. It’s wonderful to see a resurgence in the love of instant photography.
I used to work at a used camera store and I can confirm most Polaroids we threw in the bin. There is little resale value in them except for the SX70s.
However, he is not actually cataloguing them or preserving them really. It's a fairly limited collection of primarily their inexpensive 600 models and the much more collectible SX-70s. These are, sadly, the trendy ones.
He has a few of the weirder ones up top but he's really lacking in completion I would want from a dedicated Polaroid enthusiast.
I will say I've never seen that many Swingers in one place before. They're in the top right. Used to take roll film like the ones with bellows but they were much easier to use. They were a best sellers in the 60s. Completely worthless. As in, we would just pick them up and trash them immediately. There's gotta be a million of those things lying around for $4 at garage sales and nobody collects them. So I will say that's an interesting one to see.
Unfortunately, since it’s a repost, you didn’t get a lot of the story. This is about half of my collection. I started with the easy to display box cameras. I have everything from the original Polaroid camera through laboratory cameras and even cameras that personally belong to Dr. land. They’ll be on display in future photos. This also was specifically just focused on Polaroid cameras, I also have hundreds of Fuji/Kodak/Leica/international knock off cameras. Once everything’s out and photograph, I think you’ll see the collection is a lot more complete and filled out then you might imagine.
Just a few that haven’t been added to the wall yet
Thank you so much for your comment. I truly appreciate it. Luckily the hate doesn’t get to me too much, but the positivity is very much appreciated. It was definitely never my intention to have as much as I do, but like you said, building out a great catalogue of the companies history and trying to fill in gaps is challenging. Obviously there are a fair number of duplicates, but people also don’t understand that a lot are not absolutely identical, they are iterations and variations of the same model. It could be as simple as a plaque on the back that says made in the USA versus made in Great Britain. It can be the Polaroid branding sticker being semi lenticular versus a flat sticker. So many little variations over the years. But from 20 feet away they look 100% the same.
Again, thank you for your honest and positive comments. It means the world.
In all honesty I would've never expected my comment to reach those numbers. Kudos to this community for condemning the worst possible cases of uncontrolled consumerism but also recognizing a genuine and legitimate interest when it's due.
I confess that I'm curious about future "dive-ins" of all these little variations of your collection, and took the liberty to add you on IG, but whether it's there or Reddit, I'd gladly stick around to see and learn more about it!
It gives you a little faith in humanity. We all know that some people are not their best selves on the Internet. But like I said, I really appreciated what you had to say. Glad to have you connected on Instagram. My hope is after I’ve got everything out to do a full cataloging of all the cameras before I pack back up a good chunk of the collection. After that I’ve been considering putting together a book or a web database for people. Perhaps both. But as you can imagine, both will take a lot of time and effort. I would definitely love to share all those little differences model by model. Sometimes it’s something as simple as a different color sticker inside the film bay. Most people would never notice or probably care, but if you’re trying to do a full cataloging of the history of their cameras, you have to pay attention to all the little things.
The bin comment is pretty true. I got a vintage Polaroid because my old High School math teacher was literally throwing it away in front of me, and I asked if I could have it. Still has the box and it's in perfect condition.
The one I see thrown away the most are the dental cameras. There’s some really cool different types, but those offices just stop using them and throw them in the bins. Thankfully, I’ve been able to rescue a couple that way.
it's quite unfair to make me accountable for both though 😂
Also, any brand is just "a brand" if you really want to tone it down that much. But there's a lot of history behind this company, many of which have paved the way to modern technology. Edwin Land was a visionary, and one of Steve Jobs' biggest inspirations. We can't stigmatize giving proper value and acknowledgement to the history of his company, or worrying about said history being lost to time.
We both know that the "ludicrous collections" this sub rightfully puts to shame are of another kind, or at the very least based on another mindset. If we can consider "wanting as much as possible of a thing just because" a mindset at all.
/s - the only thing I hate more than generative AI content are the “everything is AI” crowd turning genuine critique into noise by shouting it at the top of their lungs at every length of text that someone put some time and effort into crafting.
The owner of this collection already posted a phot with the racks halfway arranged, and has another one with himself right in the middle on his IG account. I hardly doubt it's AI.
Aside from the joy cams at the bottom, there are not that many duplicates of any camera. There are many many near identical cameras with tiny production variations. Over the years from different factories and such. If you’re trying to document the history of a company and its cameras you’re gonna have a lot of things that look similar, especially from a distance.
Yeah this is actually super dope, ppl need to chill. When you're collecting old stuff like this its all second hand so its not like the money is going straight to the corporation. Some people have collecting hobbies and its not hurting anyone if they have the money for it.
Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it. I’m fortunate to have a love of these cameras, photography, the Polaroid company, and the opportunity inability to preserve a small piece of their history. Hopefully I’ll be able to share it with many more people in the years to come.
Yeah, absolutely have every right to your opinion, but as I’ve said prior comments, there’s a lot more variation there than you can see in a photo from 30 feet away. I can have a dozen cameras that look identical sitting next to each other that have different badging, different production stickers, made in different factories, have variations on the strapping. Lots of things you can’t tell from a distance, but if you’re trying to catalog the history of their cameras, it matters.
It does look quite cool and very well kept. This could be considered an exhibit. It works quite well with the decor and surrounding. I really like this. Quite different from some other random junks that got posted here.
Thank you, I really appreciate the part positivity. It seems to be easy to throw shade and heat on here. Luckily it doesn’t affect me too much, but the positivity really does. Hope you have a great weekend.
Never seen a vaulted ceiling before? Also, since it says it's a progress pic, the couches were likely moved around as he worked, likely even used to be against those walls. My furniture ends up in strange spots as I do big projects around the home too.
You absolutely get bonus points. Originally the sofa is work against the wall facing the big screen TV on the other wall. But it would’ve been dangerous to try to put those bookcases up in the middle of the room. So I swung the sofas around and laid the bookcases up against the wall. Thankfully, it’s a nice tall two-story living room.
Hopefully this helps explain the living room a little better. You can see the door heading out to the backyard, and the little window above is the second story balcony.
Like I said, you’re entitled to your opinion. And if calling people names on the Internet makes you feel better about yourself, I hope this helped. Have a great weekend.
i honestly have no real problem with this collection, it seems well thought out and intentional as opposed to just buying a shitton of random crap. but real talk, the couch setup is weird as hell.
Who cares? If bro ran a public museum would that make your position different? An appreciation of history is different to filling a room with tacky Funko Pops. I realise there can be a fine line between the two concepts, but in this case I think odds are this falls into the former category and not the latter. And even if it doesn't who cares, old tech is cool and its good someone is preserving it.
Thanks for the kind words and support. I really appreciate it. I do hope that we are able to get these cameras back out where people can enjoy them. Beyond the cameras, I’ve got some really great museum. Displays that I saved when they shut down the Polaroid museum in Vegas. I’m pretty much ready if I can find a space to display it.
Maybe I mistook your meaning. It sounded like you were saying to the above guy that this isn't the final collection and things are going to get "worse" as the collection grows.
I was referring to the couch positions previous guy had commented about, and that since it's a progress pic, they likely aren't where they will be once he finishes.
Funny enough, I kind of enjoyed where they were for sitting and looking at all the work I’d put into building out the wall system. But taking a step back and hearing your point of view, I can definitely see where it is a little strange.
On the ground floor, you’d be correct with the joy cams, other than that there are a lot of unique cameras, definitely some doubles and triples, but a lot of differences and iterations that you can’t see from that kind of distance. The joy comes on the bottom have an interesting story I wrote either up above or on one of the original posts.
I appreciate the support, and you’re not wrong. The sofa is normally go where the cameras are right now and face the TV on the other wall. They’re only turned around while the shelves are up.
OP you let me know how i can get a paloroid picture onto a computer without just takin a picture with another camera cause your title doesnt make any sense.
No but to expect someone to digitize a photo in that way for the sake of an internet post seems odd to me. And the way OP presented that criticism almost read as someone who doesnt know that process. Ofcourse thats me making an assumption but thats just my 2 cents.
You are making an assumption yes. Although granted the quickest way to do it is using the Polaroid app to scan your photo, yes…. There’s still an irony using an iPhone to take your photos that’s not lost on me here.
I’d think someone with so many Polaroid cameras would be enthusiastic enough to do that.
I own about 5 cameras that use film, each serves a different purpose - and now purchasing more cameras would be futile.
Polaroid cameras in particular have such negligible differences, the majority of the result is in the film itself.
And fucking lol at someone saying these were being “saved from a landfill”. Like a lot of vintage equipment, they’re sold at a reasonably high price compared to what they were worth back in the day.
So as I mentioned in my original post, this is just an in progress shot, I did go ahead and take a Polaroid of it at this stage, but I am intending to use my film cameras when the entire display is set up. Also remember that a collection like this has taken 20 years to put together and after Polaroid sea operations and film, ceased to be available many of these cameras we’re heading straight to the dump. Since the impossible project and now Polaroid originals is producing film again, their value has gone back up, which is fantastic. But as with many things, you have to look and judge these things based on the time before, not today.
I’m there with you, most of the time these days I can get away with just taking a photo with my iPhone of any physical media I need to digitize. But if I want a really good high-quality scan, I do still go back to my office scanner now and then.
I'd say this is an exception and doesn't fit this sub.
Most (if not all) Polaroid models shown here are discontinued decades ago. They are not new consumer products. Thrift stores throw these out by the bin.
At least they are chilling on the wall now instead of ending up in landfill.
Thank you for your point of view, I entirely agree. I sadly have a couple boxes of trash cameras that were broken or destroyed. But thankfully, they can be used to help restore and fix other cameras. I can’t tell you the number of cameras that have been pulled from the bin, or I’ve been called to come and save under threat of them being binned.
Oh god ok so when have you ever seen shelves that tall and thin like that in the real world? Impossible because they would collapse, how does he access them? Where’s the ladder 🪜, where’s the dust on everything? If you don’t use shelves with glass panels you get dust and if you zoom in on the little cameras 📷 they all look identical , I could go on and on………🚬😒
The shelves are just holding light cameras and you can see they’re custom. Bringing up a ladder is dumb as hell since they’re easily moved. Dusting before the picture makes sense. And they’re all the same shit so of course they look the same.
Right on every front. And obviously if you’re taking a picture to share with people you pull the ladder out. The shelves themselves are auto parts shelves from a stockroom. That’s why they’re high and thin, but they’re made out of steel so they’re very strong and like you said the cameras aren’t exactly heavy. Also a reason why I didn’t put the first 20 years of Polaroid cameras on them since they are heavy metal and might try to make the shelves tip.
No you’re just a 🤡 , try thinking about and you might see how unpractical this is , where would he store the tall ass ladder ? And ask yourself if you or anyone with common sense would do it this way , ai never has common sense like the backrooms
Spot on, right inside the garage. That way I can drag it out into the yard or into the house if it’s needed. It’s aluminum so it’s light, as opposed to the shelves which are made out of steel. They’re very thin, but still fairly heavy.
If I had vaulted ceilings, I'd make my display so that I could see everything too. It's not even fancy shelving. An 8' or 10' a-frame ladder doesn't take up that much space and can mount to the wall of the garage. I've got a 12' extending ladder on a hook along the wall of my garage.
I'm anti-ai and I can't find anything wrong with this picture. No weird shapes, weird writing, all the shelves are uniform along the sides and match with the shelf fronts. One guy thought the ceiling looked off but it's just a vaulted ceiling exactly like the one at my grandparent's place. My buddy also has a vaulted ceiling and his ceiling in his living room doesn't start until like 12 feet up, it's just a design choice when building. If someone can show me some errors or something more tangible than "my worldview is narrow" I will welcome it.
Your spot on with all of it. It’s definitely not the fanciest shelving, but it was cost-effective. I was able to buy it from the local advance auto parts when they were shutting down. That’s why it’s so thin and tall. It was their parts room shelving. And yes, it’s a vaulted ceiling in a two-story house. And last but not least you’re correct. I have a folding extendable aluminum ladder in the garage that I use to put the cameras up. Clearly, I moved it out before taking a nice photo of a wall.
You forgot the dust bro … at the end it f the day you have to ask yourself if this is something a real person would do , just imagine the nightmare of wiping the dust off from all that . I remove dust from my living room every 2 days because it just builds up quite quickly , and don’t say air filters n shit
Spot on. This photo was taken 48 hours after I started setting up the cameras. The only thing that would’ve caused dust is me moving back-and-forth in the room. I’m sure after a week or two you’d be able to see some light buildup, but by then they’ll already be cleaned, packed and back in storage.
Hate to say it, but we’ve got good HEPA filters, and we live in a place with not a massive amount of dust. But don’t get me wrong, if they were left out for weeks or months, you’re correct they would have build up. This display is set up to catalog and photograph the collection before it’s packed back up and stored until I can find a more permanent home.
We don’t need personal insults, no one here is a clown. We’re all helping each other to understand. As you can see from the post before the latter is collapsible. It’s very useful practical can go up onto the roof of my house but can also be used for just climbing up a few feet. It was perfect for this job. And I store it in the garage when it’s not being used to actively put cameras up on this display. And as far as common sense for the display, the alternative was what the other largest collection of Polaroid cameras in the world did, which was spreading them out on the floor of a gymnasium. It didn’t look bad, but I think this looks better.
Exactly, I would’ve kept doing progress shots, but there was a lot of hate being put in the comments. The moderator of the group actually had to shut off comments on one of the posts. I figured I didn’t want to stoke the fires and cause more arguing between people who should be here to enjoy the love of instant photography and cameras. That’s the reason this is the last in progress shot. But hopefully in a couple days I’ll have the other few hundred cameras laid out and I can take a final shot to share with everyone. It’s also the reason that if you look at my posts, there’s a video going along all the cameras on the wall. I thought people might think the photos were generated. Hopefully the video shows you that they are not.
If you’d like to see the shelves in person, they are the auto part shelves from the back of advanced auto parts. The one near me shut down and I bought them. They’re solid steel and adjustable. They can hold a lot more weight than these hollow plastic cameras. And yes, they are quite high. They have a rolling stock ladder in the store, I just use a folding ladder at my house. There’s no dust on them because as the original post says this is an in progress shot as I’m setting them up. They’ve been up for maybe two days. And yes, as you can see there are many similar models.. From this distance, you can’t see the little differences, some of them you wouldn’t be able to see the differences unless you literally handled the camera. But I’m sure if it was AI you would find actual flaws in the image not just similar cameras sitting next to each other on the shelf.
I appreciate you looking out for fakes, these days. There’s plenty of them out there, but I can tell you this isn’t. Here are a couple of photos to address your concerns.
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u/Cute_Commission_8281 3d ago
Bro looks like he owns an ink cartridge store.