Polaroid Diaries: The German winter blues (SX-70)

I spent the whole of November in Germany, and I didn’t expect anything spectacular in terms of weather. The days were short and dark clouds covered the sky. Without exaggeration, the sun appeared only one morning during my stay. And, while I had a great time, I asked several times myself: does it make sense to shoot polaroids in these conditions? That said, the Polaroid Diaries: the German winter blues turned out to be an existential question and less an artistic expression.

The truth is that I tried. Since the plan was to spend a month in Germany, I bought five SX-70 films. Of course, after more than a decade in Berlin, I was aware that the Novembers were gloomy. However, I tried to remain optimistic. I knew that I would travel a bit around, and I thought that I might have the chance to shoot some decent polaroids even under dark skies.

While my base is always Berlin, I visited Hannover and Hamburg. Needless to say, the weather was everywhere the same (clouds, drizzle, occasional snow), and the light wasn’t enough for polaroids. The SX-70 film is slow, and the camera’s shutter speed is too. Honestly, there wasn’t much hope.

The day I was about to return to Athens, I checked carefully the polaroids I shot amidst the German winter. It was the first time I felt somewhat disappointed. Out of the five films, I shot only one. The SX-70 film needs lots of light, but this light was nowhere to be found. I even thought of not making a diary at all.

But then, I changed my mind.

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What you’ll see in the Polaroid Diaries: The German winter blues

The reason I changed my mind was simple. You can even call it honesty.

On the one hand, it was an honesty to the readers of this blog: I find it unfair to show you only the photos that work. These diaries are not only about how fantastic polaroid cameras can be. I want to show their weaknesses and struggles and inform you about what is better to avoid.

And then, of course, it was about being honest with myself. That’s what a diary is all about: to present what you did in a given time. It doesn’t make sense to hide mediocre photos and show only the nice ones. On the contrary, I want to share what worked and what didn’t work. Honestly, I don’t think one of these will make it to my polaroid zines.

All that said, in the Polaroid Diaries: the German winter blues, you’ll see the 8 polaroids I took during my stay in Germany. Specifically, you’ll see photos from Berlin, Hannover, and Hamburg. As for the rest of the films, well, I’ll have to use them elsewhere.

As always, after the photos you’ll see below, I’ll add a section with the settings I used and my thoughts about shooting the SX-70 film when there’s no light. Let’s start.

Polaroid Diaries: The German winter blues with the SX-70

The first photo I took gave me already an idea of what to expect. When I arrived in Berlin, I decided to shoot a polaroid from the balcony. As you can see, the weather is terrible. There’s a park straight in front of the flat, and I wanted to see what the SX-70 could capture. Quick answer: not that much.

After the initial shock, I kept the SX-70 in the drawer. I found it a loss of film shooting under such conditions. So instead, I decided to wait for some sunny day(s). Unfortunately, these days never arrived. But I kept hoping anyway, and one of the following weekends, I visited Hannover with Barbara. We wanted to see the True Pictures exhibition at the Sprengel Museum and I, of course, had the camera with me.

We spent the night at Grand Hotel Mussmann, and when we entered the room, I thought of shooting the symmetric courtyard.

After this shot, it became clear that most of the polaroids from this journey would look like this. They would be gloomy, a tad shaky, with dull colors. It’s always good to shoot your film within a month after loading them, so I knew that I’d have to take the photos anyway. I kept carrying the SX-70, but I didn’t consider taking pictures most of the time. Then, one day, close to the hotel, I saw a shopfront. There were some reflections, and some objects occupied it. Well, I thought, I’ll try.

That’s probably the best polaroid I took throughout the journey. I won’t lie: it gave me some hope. So, when we decided to visit Barbara’s family in Hamburg, all of a sudden, I became more optimistic. I packed three films packs because I imagined shooting tons of polaroids in Hamburg. Well, it never happened. So, below you will see a polaroid from our room in Hamburg.

Somehow, this polaroid lowered my expectations. Hamburg was even darker than Berlin, and it also snowed a bit. Later the same day, we went to the Elbphilarmonie. The new Philarmonic opera of Hamburg is an architectural gem, and it’s stunning. On the top floor, the Plaza, you can have fantastic views of the Hamburg port. I asked Barbara to stand on one side of the frame. I thought of having just a fleeting image with a port view. The idea might have been good, the execution…well, let’s say not that good.

After visiting the Elbphilarmonie, we strolled around the Speicherstadt. That’s one of the most atmospheric areas in Germany. You can see century-old warehouses made of red brick for kilometers. It was 3 pm, and yet it was very dark. I knew that I couldn’t get anything decent, but I thought of trying. The colors in real life are beautiful, but they didn’t turn out well in my polaroid. At least, there’s some charm on the skyline.

One of the following days in Hamburg, we drove to Blankenese. Unfortunately, there was no change in weather. Moreover, it started snowing. Blankenese is a small suburb of Hamburg straight at the river Elbe. The locals use small ferries to move from one place to another, and they are part of the public transport network. That said, you buy a ticket that costs the same as the bus or metro, and travel. I saw a couple with an umbrella getting ready to embark. The colors were beautiful, but they didn’t appear on the polaroid.

As you can imagine, the extra film packs traveled back with me to Berlin. There was no reason to lose any more film. I saved the last polaroid, the one you see below, for my last day in Berlin. It didn’t matter that much if the final day would be sunny or cloudy. Since I shot a polaroid on the first day, I just wanted to shoot another one on the last. Instead of shooting a photo from the balcony, this time, I took a polaroid from the church in the courtyard. Here’s how it looks.

My Polaroid SX 70 settings for this edition

As you can understand from the tone of this diary, I wasn’t pleased with the results. Of course, that’s not the first time I had issues with the light while shooting polaroids (I wasn’t that satisfied in Peloponnese, too), but it was definitely more challenging.

Regarding the settings, I decided to overexpose every shot you saw. Specifically, I overexposed all photos by 2/3, and the one in Elbphilarmonie is overexposed by a full stop.

However, this resulted in slow shutter speeds, and the photos are a bit shaky. Apart from the display window photo, I don’t feel that these images are sharp enough for the camera’s standards. Also, the colors are too dark for my taste, and I can’t see the pleasant atmosphere of the cities in any of them.

Before writing my thoughts about the absence of light and the SX-70, I must say that there’s no post-processing in any of the polaroids you saw. As always, I just scan them, and apart from a +10 in sharpness for web optimization, there’s no other touch.

Polaroid SX-70: should you shoot when there’s no light?

Every polaroid camera out there needs light to perform. But this camera needs even more light, as I wrote in my SX-70 review. I occasionally shot polaroids on cloudy days, and most of the time, I wasn’t satisfied. But I never shot an entire film under such weather conditions. Therefore, I’d say that the only thing you can (maybe) shoot without sunlight is portraits.

On the other hand, if you want to shoot landscapes or photos with lots of details, it’s better to keep your camera in the closet if there’s not enough light. Without sunlight, you’ll struggle to shoot something decent, and the photos will look more or less bad. The SX-70 can only perform well if it’s sunny outside. If that’s the case, you can shoot anything and get stunning results (see my polaroids from Anafi, for example).

All that said, whenever you see sunlight, have the SX-70 with you. On the other hand, if it’s cloudy, it is better to leave it at home, save the film, and use another camera instead.

And that’s it with one more edition of the Polaroid Diaries and the photos with the Polaroid SX-70 in Germany. Don’t forget to subscribe to the mailing list below if you want to see more polaroids, camera reviews, and tips.

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Last Updated on January 15, 2022 by George Pavlopoulos