For years, my eBay hunting routine included an obligatory search for the elusive CB-70 (or CB-72) polaroid integral film back. Not that it is that elusive. It’s usually just very highly priced for what it is. If you collect vintage photography gear these days you are used to that, though.
One day, my fortune changed. Not via a routine search, but via a fellow eBayer trying to offload a Canon retinal camera, I managed to finally acquire a piece of history that I was dying to experiment with. But where to from here?
The ideas ran through my mind like a roll of 35mm blasting through a Contax G2. 3D printing would definitely be involved, but how? What materials? How do I treat the design? Cold shoes, tripod sockets, and dark slides? I sketched away for nights, but nothing seemed practical or particularly attractive. I made prototypes, to at least figure out the mounting of a body to this back. I let it sit on my dresser, staring at me every night for a week. I wasn’t satisfied.
The project was ultimately abandoned, with my only consolation being that I didn’t pay the $200-500 price tag this device usually goes for. Still, I had waited all this time for a stinkin’ Polaroid back, so I prayed to the analog gods for an answer.. and the answer hit me in the least likely of places–Costco. Specifically, a box of 700+ Lego bricks on sale for $40.
Lego cameras are not something new, though I had yet to see a Polaroid solution. My sails had found a 2nd wind. I eagerly and anxiously measured, and planned how I would pull this off. How the bricks nearly perfectly aligned on the base of the back was something of divine providence. The body was done, and having developed the mounting bracket, all I needed was a lens solution. Well, duh, of course it’s going to be a Mamiya Press lens mount!
I quickly whipped up the mount from an existing design of mine, extending the inner walls deep enough to help block any light seeping through the cracks between bricks. A 4-hour print later, and it was complete!
Granted, it took a bit more than that. The first print of the lens mount was a waste, because I had used a design file for the Polaroid 600SE… doh! The 2nd print was not quite at the correct flange focal distance so that I could boast sharpness at infinity. 3rd time’s a charm, and just in time for Polaroid Week. I also decided to try a Mamiya TLR lens because of the shorter flange focal distance, but the size reduction wasn’t really noticeable. That one got a bit of a Boba Fett color theme.
Took advantage of clear skies to give the camera it’s first real test in the form of astrophotography. Though I am nowhere near the ideal dark sky, I still got some interesting results. After grabbing a close focus example of my Lego Minifig project team, I felt my mission from God was complete. I am fulfilled.
The Lego CB-70 bodies now sit on a shelf, awaiting the next Polaroid Week while the back has been installed on my daily shooting setup (more on this later). I am contemplating building some bodies and putting them up for sale, but am fairly certain this is a very niche market. If you are interested, contact me.