Converting Polaroid Spectra to 600 or i-type film

Polaroid launched the Spectra line of cameras in 1986. They were among some of the higher end Polaroid cameras you could get, jam packed with features like a 10 zone autofocus, self timer, viewfinder with an LCD readout and some models even had high quality glass lenses. They used a special format of Polaroid integral film known as Spectra, Image or 1200 type film, which had wider and slightly bigger prints.

While the cameras stopped being made in 2008, the film production lasted until 2019, when Polaroid discontinued the format due to lackluster sales during the 2010s. However you can convert them to take 600 or i-Type film and... still use them nowadays!

Let me show you how.

What you'll need

A Polaroid Spectra type camera that works, obviously :p
A 600 or i-Type adapter (more on that below)
An exacto knife, box cutter or 5mm file

As for the adapter, you have multiple options. There's plenty of diy 3D printed adapters you can find online but if you want something ready made, I'd suggest the Polastudio adapter. It's not cheap (around 80 bucks) but it's reliable, very easy to use and I'm going to be using it in this tutorial.

The Polastudio website has some resources so if you're unsure what to do at any point in this tutorial, you can also look in there for help.

Adapting the camera to take the film pack

Adjusting the film door

So, this step only applies to certain Spectra models. First open the film door and take a look at the plastic bit behind the rollers.

If it's already flush with the rollers, you can skip this step. If it extends past them, grind/cut it down until it's flush with them so the film pack fits right. That's it.

Getting the film pack inside

This step heavily depends on the adapter.

I'm using Polastudio here so it's actually quite simple. First tear off the black plastic strip in the front of the film pack and the black foil behind it.

If you're using 600 type film, just place the film pack onto the adapter. The contacts on the film pack should be touching the ones on the adapter. Push it inside the camera and you're done.

If you're using i-Type film, remove the contacts on the adapter, put in a pair of 3.7V batteries, flick the switch to on and you can push it inside the camera.

Now the camera works fine. It should eject the darkslide. If you take a picture, a usable print comes out.

However there are still going to be some spread issues as you can see. The top of the image wasn't fully covered by the development paste. If you wanna fix this, head for the next step.

Spread adjustment

So, the reason why 600/i-Type type film don't have proper spread on Spectra cameras is that the rollers have a lower pressure as they are calibrated for the bigger Spectra film. There are actually many ways to increase the pressure. Some people recommend wrapping the top roller in electrical tape but the most reliable way is to get the rollers to eachother by raising the lower one.

To do this, first detach the film door and the spread system using pages 124 and 125 of the Spectra repair manual.

After that, you're gonna have to file a bit of material off the white bits holding the bottom roller.

Shave a bit of material off the top where it touches the top roller on both sides of the spread mechanism. This is gonna take a bit of trial and error. The best course of action is really to file off a tiny bit at a time, reassemble, take a picture, check the spread, if it's still not right file off a bit more... rinse and repeat. This is a bit time consuming and you should be prepared to have a lot of film at hand. But once it's done, your spread issues will be over.

So here we go. I hope this tutorial helped at least a bit. Happy shooting!

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