Are polaroid 690's fragile?

January 26, 2008 12:05 PM

Are polaroid 690's fragile?

I don't use my 690 as much as I would like, because it always feels very fragile to me. Have you traveled much with yours? taken it out every day for a long period? give it frequent use? I guess experience with sx-70 and 680s counts too, but my sx-70 always felt more solid, though it was a manual focus with no flash.

I see this, but there's only one review.

posted by miniape to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (2 answers total)

I had a 690 for around four months and used it nearly everyday for a photo project I was doing with a friend. It worked great and I never had a problem with it over the four months...until I dropped it from about eight feet up. It was beyond repair after that.

I had dropped it many times before that, but from much shorter distance (one to three feet). It had it's share of dings from falling while it was that close to the ground, but still worked fine.
posted by treesarefree at 12:25 PM on January 26, 2008

I have not used 690s, but have used SX-70s, and those seemed bulletproof, as you have mentioned. I have even mailed several to Japan (ebay sales) in only a padded envelope (buyers request) and they all arrived in great working condition.

The original SX-70s used a lot of metal on the outer case. Later versions had a lot of plastic, which made them feel lighter. This may be the case with the 690 as well. I can't imagine the 690 was built cheaply. It was about $400 new, wasn't it?
posted by The Deej at 1:15 PM on January 26, 2008