Does Polaroid's i2 Firmware Upgrade REALLY Fix The Exposure Problems?

Thanks for testing!
I have a 600 modded SX70 from Chromatic Parts but something in me just wants to give the I2 a go for it's point and shoot autofocus abilities.

Do you know if they’ve done any improvements to their photo chemistry in the past two years? I always found that the colours were always too muted, with an almost yellow/orange colour cast to it. I also still ran into issues with streaking or trying to eject two photos stuck together. They improved it when they went from impossible project to Polaroid but has their been any further development to get a more colour correct image? Have they improved its archival times (they used to fade a lot)?

Always provided very useful analysis and tips!

This was a great video, I have been on the fence about buying an i2, but after watching this video I think I might take the leap. Thank you!!!

👍 Thanks!

Still think I will stick to my MiNT Slr670s for now !

I find the I-2 exposure to be inconsistent to the point of being useless. I always shoot it in manual and use a handheld light meter. The film speed varies quite a lot from batch to batch, especially with B&W film. I always shoot a test exposure on the first frame and adjust my meter accordingly. I've had a batch of i-Type that was ISO 2000!

Except for the first test exposure all my other shots have perfect exposure, but the camera meter is often different by two stops from what I set manually.

The only thing worse than the I-2 light meter is the viewfinder. I don't understand how could they made it this bad. Still, I am really happy with the results so I put up with the fiddly camera. I often use a 2 or 3 stop hard grad to balance the sky with the foreground (the hard grad will become soft on the larger format).

The dynamic range of Polaroid film is really really small, and unlike normal film it's also asymmetrical. +1.7 stops above middle gray is almost paper white, but there is shadow detail even at -2.7.

Dmax of B&W film varies a lot from batch to batch, color is comparatively more consistent, and usually has better blacks than B&W, but sometimes you get a really good B&W batch with very deep blacks. Film degrades very quickly in storage, especially B&W film.

I just love the Polaroid medium, I wish they made a better camera for it. Ideally something with a faster lens. I don't even mind the inconsistent film, it's part of the charm for me, although I wish they made faster film than i-Type (evidently it is possible since they make it by mistake).

wow did Polaroid improve the recent chemistry because those shadows actually haveso much detail in them! also those greens are popping more than before

Thank you for this video!

I actually like the role serendipity plays in the old firmware. I have several cameras that are fully capable of taking “perfect” photographs, both film and digital. And 50+ years of photographic experience to boot. I can easily achieve the standard look (correct exposure) in my work.

So, for me, the unpredictable results the old I-2 firmware gave me was something I could not foresee - I regarded that as an advantage, not a flaw. It did give me a fair number of unusable results, but I also got some really compelling work, outside the “perfect” paradigm that kept me taking the I-2 out to see what it would do! The ones that worked are magical to me.

As for the update, it’s been a back and forth mind battle for me. Yes, the update will give me more consistent, predictable, “correct” exposures. But then I might be losing some indefinable yet very intriguing and wondrous results.

We’ll see how it plays out. Thanks for the video - very well done!

Right when I upgraded I noticed the shutter speed would more often than not get down to ~1/40 in auto and that bothered me so much. Trying to put it in Tv would then also give me readings on the exposure comp scale of over or under exposure… over all it did fix the auto exposure issue but presented an issue for the camera shake. It’s not that bad of an issue but I would prefer 1/125+ even 1/80! Thankfully I’ve had enough experience before the update to figure out how to meter thanks to you and to WalkClickMake when he did an EXTENSIVE series on the dynamic range of Polaroid film.

Thanks for testing!

I just can’t support this product so long as it has a non user-replaceable battery. Goes against what film cameras are about for me

Went out with my I-2 tonight and I can say that the update did not fix the metering, at least on my copy, especially in auto mode. I took 8 images and only three of them were properly exposed. One of them had the flash on and the other two I used an external meter. To get the automatic settings to match the external meter I had to crank the exposure compensation all the way to -2. However, with the flash on the auto settings matched the external meter. I was using black and white film. Perhaps that had something to do with it.

Today sunny and some clouds, not too hot. Took 5 photos on the new firmware in auto mode. All well exposed, No overexposure and still detail in the shadows. Finally Polaroid has sorted it out.

I updated my i2 but I don't see any change. its still overexposing on auto. The app tells me that it's running the latest update. But I'm wondering if I'm missing something. But I'm not too bothered as I always shoot in aperture with adjustment for 2/3 underexposure.

I’m shooting instax but the I-2 looks so tempting now. But I heard polaroids tend to degrade/change after just a couple of years. Do you have any thoughts regarding this?

Have you tried using on filters on the I-2 for close up or telephoto adapters? I’m interested to see if it works well

I have used about 5 packs of film & been quite frustrated with the poor exposure results. When I saw this video I was annoyed that there didn’t seem to be any Polaroid notification of the upgrade. When I connected to the camera the app reported that the firmware was already up to date (1.01.1), so I am still disappointed with the seemingly poor exposure performance.

I personally do think it was a radically better photo