as much as I enjoy the Polaroid I-2 I think the future of instant film is body conversions. Polaroid 110A, 180 land cameras, Graflex SLR's. First party support from Polaroid and Fuji is little to none, meanwhile people with 3D printers are adapting these formats to better cameras, sharper glass, with easier repairability. I've even seen people adapt fuji ACE cameras to instax now which wasn't even considered possible just a couple years ago.
Fuji Ace conversions became possible because Instax square was invented The Ace series was what Instax was eventually based on, so the fact that the film was a decent enough fit for the camera was what enabled that conversion to be possible And honestly, the future of these cameras is Polaroid just putting a damn battery door on the side It's not bloody hard
You are correct in thinking the doubling up of wires is for higher current handling, the reason this would've been done instead of just using thicker wires is that the connector used probably can't handle a heaver gauge wire being crimped into it. As to why they used that specific connector, who knows. maybe they wanted a locking type as they've had issues with the battery becoming unplugged during assembly? pure speculation. As for the white wire, yes it is a temperature sense, and the camera would likely not work without receiving a signal on that wire. or at the very least, refuse to charge the battery. It's a very common form of protection. The easiest way around it in your case is to cut the board off the "dead" battery and transplant it onto a two wire cell of the same size
Another thing you could do is cut the board off the old battery, then solder a JST connector onto it so you can swap in new two wire cells in the future
Great minds think alike This is exactly what I've done I ended up totally destroying the weird 5-pin connector on the PCB, and have hand-soldered wires directly to the pads This did turn out to be partially my fault. The plug lifts up totally perpendicular to the PCB! It's unlike any connector I've ever seen, and its not immediately obvious unless you scroll in a few images deep. I've used a thicker guage than the original, where I and have wired it into a 3-pin JST. I've also adapted the original battery to a 3-pin JST connector so I have a battery to play with in the meantime I will need to strengthen the wire so one cannot tug it right off the PCB, but basically all I have left to do then is install a door and i'm good to go!
@@theinstantcameraguy You can secure wires using electronics grade silicone, or automotive RTV that is listed as "sensor safe", that way it won't foul the board. It's what is often used in electronics to keep components stable. As for the plugs lifting perpendicular from the PCB, I know Apple uses them a lot in their devices, and given how Apple-like Polaroid construction has become ( somehow moreso than the 80's and 90's ) it is no shocker they would use this connector.
@@cdigames funny, Cathode Ray Dude was just talking about the sensor safe silicon... I ended up making a tension guard out of plastic that i cut up by hand. Much easier and less messy :)
You know the naming of these batteries are actually the physical dimensions? In this case it would be 1002045. 100=10mm thick, 20=20mm width, 45=45mm length. I couldn't find that but 902045 are common. So 9mm thick, 20mm wide, 45mm long.
I'm fully aware of this. In fact, I demonstrate a 102045 in the video - the same I use for the I-1. But this naming convention only gives a physical dimension in mm. 102045 are common in 2-wire versions, but less common in 3-wire thermistor versions. Yet both batteries are called exactly the same things 942044 are another battery that would fit. This naming convention is less intuative though I DID eventually find a thermistor version. However I havent found any that come with the JST connector pre-installed. Just three bare wires. Not exactly a big deal, but a bit less "off the shelf, drop it in" than I'd like But certainly 3 solder points is better than 62+ steps of disassembly :)
@@theinstantcameraguy A yes, it's 102045, I messed up the numbers. It's weird they're using the 3 wire version though because they don't use it in any of the other cameras. You often see drop-in batteries for cameras also have 3 contacts. Not sure if it's for temperature though. Might as well be for measuring internal battery resistance or some way of keeping track how many times it has been charged.
Really disappointing design from a repairability perspective. Imagine having a Polaroid camera that is 'hackable'. I would love to see what the community creates. It would fit really with Polaroid's 'imperfectionist' theme.
Best Polaroid content on UA-cam
Hopefully I'll have the best I-2 on UA-cam soon
as much as I enjoy the Polaroid I-2 I think the future of instant film is body conversions. Polaroid 110A, 180 land cameras, Graflex SLR's. First party support from Polaroid and Fuji is little to none, meanwhile people with 3D printers are adapting these formats to better cameras, sharper glass, with easier repairability. I've even seen people adapt fuji ACE cameras to instax now which wasn't even considered possible just a couple years ago.
Fuji Ace conversions became possible because Instax square was invented
The Ace series was what Instax was eventually based on, so the fact that the film was a decent enough fit for the camera was what enabled that conversion to be possible
And honestly, the future of these cameras is Polaroid just putting a damn battery door on the side
It's not bloody hard
Great, heroic effort Jake. I think your price for any rescue of these dead cameras in the near 3-5 years, should be $600 USD per hour, minimum 1 hour.
You are correct in thinking the doubling up of wires is for higher current handling, the reason this would've been done instead of just using thicker wires is that the connector used probably can't handle a heaver gauge wire being crimped into it. As to why they used that specific connector, who knows.
maybe they wanted a locking type as they've had issues with the battery becoming unplugged during assembly? pure speculation.
As for the white wire, yes it is a temperature sense, and the camera would likely not work without receiving a signal on that wire. or at the very least, refuse to charge the battery. It's a very common form of protection. The easiest way around it in your case is to cut the board off the "dead" battery and transplant it onto a two wire cell of the same size
Another thing you could do is cut the board off the old battery, then solder a JST connector onto it so you can swap in new two wire cells in the future
Great minds think alike
This is exactly what I've done
I ended up totally destroying the weird 5-pin connector on the PCB, and have hand-soldered wires directly to the pads
This did turn out to be partially my fault. The plug lifts up totally perpendicular to the PCB! It's unlike any connector I've ever seen, and its not immediately obvious unless you scroll in a few images deep.
I've used a thicker guage than the original, where I and have wired it into a 3-pin JST. I've also adapted the original battery to a 3-pin JST connector so I have a battery to play with in the meantime
I will need to strengthen the wire so one cannot tug it right off the PCB, but basically all I have left to do then is install a door and i'm good to go!
@@theinstantcameraguy You can secure wires using electronics grade silicone, or automotive RTV that is listed as "sensor safe", that way it won't foul the board. It's what is often used in electronics to keep components stable.
As for the plugs lifting perpendicular from the PCB, I know Apple uses them a lot in their devices, and given how Apple-like Polaroid construction has become ( somehow moreso than the 80's and 90's ) it is no shocker they would use this connector.
@@cdigames funny, Cathode Ray Dude was just talking about the sensor safe silicon...
I ended up making a tension guard out of plastic that i cut up by hand. Much easier and less messy :)
As an electronics designer/manufacturer I want to get an I-2 purely to take it apart and work on making modifications for it in my workshop.
You know the naming of these batteries are actually the physical dimensions?
In this case it would be 1002045.
100=10mm thick, 20=20mm width, 45=45mm length.
I couldn't find that but 902045 are common. So 9mm thick, 20mm wide, 45mm long.
I'm fully aware of this. In fact, I demonstrate a 102045 in the video - the same I use for the I-1. But this naming convention only gives a physical dimension in mm.
102045 are common in 2-wire versions, but less common in 3-wire thermistor versions. Yet both batteries are called exactly the same things
942044 are another battery that would fit. This naming convention is less intuative though
I DID eventually find a thermistor version. However I havent found any that come with the JST connector pre-installed. Just three bare wires.
Not exactly a big deal, but a bit less "off the shelf, drop it in" than I'd like
But certainly 3 solder points is better than 62+ steps of disassembly :)
@@theinstantcameraguy A yes, it's 102045, I messed up the numbers. It's weird they're using the 3 wire version though because they don't use it in any of the other cameras. You often see drop-in batteries for cameras also have 3 contacts. Not sure if it's for temperature though. Might as well be for measuring internal battery resistance or some way of keeping track how many times it has been charged.
@@Ni5ei if the 3rd wire is for anything other than a thermistor... I'm screwed lol
@@theinstantcameraguy😂😂😂
Have you thought about doing spectra mods?
what specifically about them
I can already mod them to external batteries :)
Really disappointing design from a repairability perspective. Imagine having a Polaroid camera that is 'hackable'. I would love to see what the community creates. It would fit really with Polaroid's 'imperfectionist' theme.
This was fantastic to watch
how would i clean mirror without taking it apart lol
Reject planned obsolescence 😤