15yr old daughter has an interest in photography and suggested that she might like a polaroid, which is cool, but then i checked out the cost of film these days!

after picking myself up off the floor i had a quick google last night thinking there must be some form of digital equivalent but could only find some similarly expensive bits of kit.

can anyone suggest something similar’ish (i.e. polaroid’ish/holga’esque filmy quirkiness but in a easy print digital format) and/or a quick n’ easy wireless photo printer for snaps that she could use?

If she has an interest in photography I’d recommend a Pentax K1000 and a few rolls of black and white film of various iso ratings. That’s what i learned the fundamentals on 20 years ago and they are great wee cameras.

A polaroid camera will teach her nothing about lighting, exposure, iso ratings, shutter speeds, lenses, f stops, depth of field etc. If she just wants to point and shoot there are plenty of “polaroid” apps and filters for smart phones, then all she’d need is a printer. There are websites out there that’ll print on polaroid style paper too.

I was sceptical too but mine is still on the first multipack of film from months ago. She only takes a few …like we used to in the old days. Or something like http://polargram.com/ might be handy?

Lomo?

I would not recommend film camera. It’s a royal faff compared to digital, and it’ll take longer and cost way more to learn the ropes.

Try these – standalone photo printers

Canon standalone photo printer

Pocket photo printer

Fuji Instax

I would not recommend film camera. It’s a royal faff compared to digital, and it’ll take longer and cost way more to learn the ropes.

I don’t agree – film makes you think more about what you are doing because of cost (so you spend more time on individual shots) and, once you’ve mastered developing, there is a whole world of fun experimenting you can do.

I don’t really have a direct answer to your question, but you could get her to create a pin hole camera out of a shoe box that might be interesting for someone interested in photography.

Digital photography makes it too easy in some respects – if you take enough pictures of something at least one is going to look reasonable.

You could also set her a challenge to take one digital pic of each object rather than loads – I think that would encourage her to learn about the camera settings rather than relying on the law of averages.

I’ve learned vastly more using digital than I ever did with film, because I can snap, see the results, learn, try different things without it costing me a penny. I can try whatever creative idea takes my fancy. I never used to do that with film because I was always trying to conserve frames.

Once I blew through 36 in a ‘photoshoot’ with a mate on bikes, that was all I could afford to do. 2 weeks later I found out only a couple were any good, but the day and the location were long gone.

I don’t agree – film makes you think more about what you are doing because of cost

You shoudl still be thinking just as much with digital (I do) but you aren’t limited by the cost and time. I don’t want to be limited by my kit, I want unhindered creativity. I can see no advantage for being limited, and I’ve seen nothing on these regular threads to convince me otherwise. Film proponents just look like purists.

The idea that you’d brainlessly hammer the button and fill a memory card with nothing is silly. If you’re into photography, you’re into it – and you’ll want to think about what you’re doing. You’ll still do that with either medium.

Remember I started with film, and was damn glad to be rid of it. Look down on me for it, go on 🙂

molgrips – Member

I would not recommend film camera. It’s a royal faff compared to digital, and it’ll take longer and cost way more to learn the ropes.

Try these – standalone photo printers

What is a printer going to teach her? How to push a button?

What is a printer going to teach her?

Nothing at all. The camera will teach her about photography. The OP wanted a way to get the images onto paper.

If you want to experiment with development, use Photoshop. It’s all about creativity.. not ritual.

First establish what it is about a polaroid camera that appeals.

It could be retro cool, or having an actual print, or similar. If you work out that a polaroid camera is the way forward then you’ll probably want to look towards the fuji instax cameras as using an old polaroid and impossible film is probably going to cost a good bit more.

The problem is that there is very little that is accessible and as “photographic” as an instant camera. You could instead look at local darkroom photography courses, or even as simple as a photography book – they often provide far more inspiration than a new camera ever could.

This one (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0030DL346?btkr=1) is really good for showing what can be done with any camera (it was made back when iphone’s had terrible cameras). The digital rev pro photographer, cheap camera series is also great for showing what can be done with very little: http://www.digitalrev.com/article/pro-photographer-cheap-camera-challenge/MjYwMjQ2Njkz

A teenager wants an instant camera due to an “interest in photography”?

Hang on while I find a picture of Jimmy Hill.

How about a second hand DSLR?
I started on a SLR but it was big cost and faff to get the film developed.
Get a DSLR and a simple editing/photo manager programme (like Picassa?) and go from there. I learnt so much from the DSLR and love it. Would also allow her to do some HD filming.
I picked up a Nikon 3100D with a lense and 32gb card for £120.

Given that polaroids were always a bit crap and all about convenience rather than image quality I’d have thought the modern equivalent would be either one of the larger phones with a decent camera or a whatever digital camera your budget stretches to and a tablet computer to view the images on. If there’s any she really wants to print out then either do it at home or at snappy snaps/boots etc.

A teenager wants an instant camera due to an “interest in photography”?

Seems fine to me. It’s not as if art is an orthodox church, is it?

I was a big fan of Polaroids (in large format sizes) and with the right film you can do emulsion lift/image transfer. I was devastated when they stopped making film. Some films are now available from The Impossible Project, although they don’t have the gear to make the ones I want.

I bought some of their B&W film a couple of years ago and an old camera. To be honest, the results were awful, but I suspect the chancer who sold me the camera knew a sucker when he saw one!

Polaroids are a really great way of working, and if you get a reconditioned camera from Impossible you should be guaranteed that the results will be up to spec. I’d definitely recommend it – film does seem expensive, but you can ration it out, and then shoot a load when inspired.

How about a pin hole camera?

I know ilford make one that takes a 5×4 plate holder, but I made a simple one for my little one out of a old quality street tin 😉

Dev, Stop and fixing chemicals, box of 5×7 paper, some Dev trays and a light sorce and sheet of glass to contact with?

Great for teaching her the basics of wet photography

Smartphone and Retrica?

OP, instant cameras are all the hipster rage at the moment – my daughter (currently doing a photography degree) was after one for her birthday yesterday.

The Instax ones are the only ones any self-respecting 15yr old would be seen with, and come in a suitable range of feminine colours. Film is expensive, and there’s a limited amount of fiddling you can do with settings. It’ll be a fun way to share snaps with friends, play around with a few arty shots and mess about with aryy effects on un-set prints, so interest would probably last until the first set of film runs out. After that its £1 a shot.

And they’re sold out everywhere. (My daughter had something else instead)

thanks guys, some really interesting ideas and replies.

as for the whole ‘what is photography’ thing that was touched upon, good old stw someone has always got to have a pop somewhere in a thread, i think its a bit like sid viscous said about music, ‘you pic up a guitar, go twang, and you’ve got music.’ same with a camera, shoebox with a hole in, phone or whatever, just point, shoot and see what you get. i used to do the local camera club thing (way before digital) and so many people got so wrapped up on technicality that the actual picture itself became secondary.

but i think that a grounding in fundamentals is a good and necessary thing, don’t get me wrong. at my daughters age i was shooting on a rangefinder zorki that my dad had brought back from the USSR in the 70s, he would’nt let me near his slr pentax kit, and processing my own film and prints in his darkroom. i posted about darkrooms the other day as i’m curious to do some processing again, my hope is that my daughter may show a little interest if i have the stuff, and rwamartin very kindly offered to give me a few bits of processing kit so i’ll be able to process films again and start playing.

anyhow, the polaroid, well it was an instax as it turns out, my daughter is keen on because we have an old polaroid (taken late 70’s i think) of my mum rolling pastry in her kitchen, it sits on our kitchen dresser, and she really likes the look and feel so she wants to look at creating montages of instant images. so yes maybe not a colour perfect chocolate box type image, but creative use of the medium nontheless i reckon and a damn sight more of a use of time than sitting on her ipad snapchatting or whatever young people do these days.

Fortunately the basics are still mostly the same on digital. PASM is on my DSLR the same as it was on my film one 🙂

Re the look and feel of polaroid – you could do the same digitally. Ok so it’s not ‘real’ and authentic, but neither is seeking out old tech when modern alternatives are available 🙂

whatever young people do these days

Don’t underestimate the young 🙂

I picked up a ‘quick and easy’ photo printer recently (Canon ‘Selphy’ – see wot they did there!) works out about 20-30p per print. Pretty sure the latest incarnation support wifi/smart phone cameras etc, retails for about 90 quid I think. My experience is that it’s easy to use, spits out a print with a kind of laminate water resist final layer and is suitably colour cast and destructive of shadow detail to be classed as a Polaroid type of setup! Environmentally unfriendly to the max (each laminate spool is discarded) Mine cost fiver at a boot sale, the paper cost 28 quid

The Instax mini 8 is available online at all the obvious outlets. We have one that we bought for a laugh and it is good fun. However, my wife found it didn’t mesh well with the tiled kitchen floor though, they aren’t built to last 🙂

A friend has a new Polaroid camera, I think it’s a Polaroid 300. Not my cup of tea but seems good at the job it’s meant to do.

she really likes the look and feel so she wants to look at creating montages of instant images. so yes maybe not a colour perfect chocolate box type image, but creative use of the medium nontheless i reckon

Picasa lets you create collages of pictures that you can then save off and get printed.
So, she could use a normal digital camera (or mobile phone) and one of the many ‘effects’ programs to make them look like Polaroids; even give them the frame.
You can then stick them into a collage in Picasa, adjust the size, position and front-to-back position of each one before saving and printing out.

I did one for a series of bike pics (not with Polaroid effects though) and it works really well.

I think an important thing to keep in mind – men and women have different approaches to photography (and lots of things).

Your daughter might not want to geek out on kit and technique. Its not just about resolution and verisimilitude.

You can utterly master the mechanics and never in your life take a picture that moves someone or makes something happen. Try not to do the blokey ‘you have to do the basics, you need one of these, thats not proper’ thing. Thats for blokes and you’ll reveal photography to be something you’re daughter isn’t interested in.

Women look through the camera, not at it, and the the best photographs are ones where its as if the camera wasn’t between the subject and the photographer. Ms Maccruiskeen is a first class degree educated documentary photographer – published, respected – her photos have changed government policy. She doesn’t own a working stills camera at the moment, probably hasn’t for 10 years, other than the one on her phone. Our house is full of books of truly great photography though. Its the pictures that matter.

If your daughter knows what she wants, help her get what she wants.

+1 mac.

There was a thing a while back about the ten best photographs ever, voted by the public. Almost all of them (if not all) were effectively snaps – off the cuff images with no preparation or careful deliberation over setup. They were all about the subject, the place and the time.

If your daughter knows what she wants, help her get what she wants.

+1000

If your daughter knows what she wants, help her get what she wants.

thanks to everyone who replied to this. mac’s comment really is sage wisdom i think, so have given it some real thought, spoke with daughter and done some digging and i’m going to not get here the plastic instax she was looking at (she was selecting on price not the fact is plastic and colourful) but go with the instax neo classic which looks like, and is according to quitye a few online reviews, a damn nice piece of kit.

mind you i also found this on my travels, looks like fun!

https://shop.the-impossible-project.com/shop/cameras/impossible

+1 maccruiskeen. I’ve been taking photos since the 70’s, I actually started with one of those 110 format cameras, I used to take B&W and develop my own at work, as we had a full darkroom. Then I bought an SLR, a Contax 139 Quartz, with Tamron lenses, followed by a second body.
I now probably take far, far more photos with my phone, basically because I have it with me all the time, and I’m taking photos just to suit myself, and I take a fair amount of care with composition along with some cropping later, but that’s pretty much it.
I get enough decent photos that I’m happy with, without any fannying around in Photoshop or whatever, and along with my little Lumix for zoom, my Nikon DSLR never gets a look in.
Last week the Western Daily Press published one of my photos, and it looked pretty good full size on the Letters page.
That one was taken with the Lumix, but could have been taken with the phone and cropped.
If the young lady wants to play with montaging instant photos, then good for her, it was certainly good enough for David Hockney. He now creates enormous landscape paintings by painting on an iPad then printing off on huge printers; it’s how the medium is used to create the desired end result.