A Camera I Really Wish I Could Use
A friend who knows I love old cameras gave me this Polaroid Big Swinger 3000. I have the box and the original manual. Unfortunately, I have no film for it. Polaroid discontinued peel apart 100-series pack film a long time ago. There are alternatives from Fuji that have also been discontinued, but are insanely expensive. There was another Swinger model that used Polaroid 20-series roll film, which was the first Polaroid film to develop outside of the camera. You can’t get that film anymore either.
Growing up, several of my relatives had Swinger cameras. They were pretty popular then and the $19.95 price tag was somewhat affordable. I remember that the black and white photos that camera out of the Swinger looked pretty darn good. It would be fun to shoot mine, even once, although I would imagine that I would be disappointed in the results. It seems no one has been completely able to duplicate Polaroid’s instant film stock like the original.
The television commercials for the Swinger starred a young Ali MacGraw. Barry Manilow sang the tune. Here is the commercial. Be careful, the tune and the words can get stuck in your brain.