How do I make a photo look like a Polaroid?

Two things have to happen. The picture itself needs the chemistry: lifted milky blacks, soft contrast, colour faded toward pastel, a little bloom in the highlights and softness at the edges. Then it needs the paper: a white border with thin sides and a deep chin at the bottom. In CAM135 the first is the SX-70 film filter and the second is the SX-70 frame, and you can add a caption on the chin in your own handwriting.

Can I write on the Polaroid frame?

Yes. Every instant frame has a caption line on the chin, written in a handwriting face. From the camera it stays on every photo until you clear it; from the camera roll it goes on one photo.

Is this the official Polaroid app?

No. The official Polaroid app is for controlling Polaroid cameras and printers. CAM135 is for making phone photos look like instant prints. Polaroid is a trademark of Polaroid International B.V. and CAM135 is not affiliated with it. The film and frame are named SX-70 because that is the print they are modelled on.

Is the Polaroid look free?

The free tier is Portra 400, CineStill 800T and Tri-X with the LC-A, Holga and Rolleiflex. The SX-70 film and the SX-70 camera are part of the $19.99 one-time unlock, together with every other film and camera.

Does it print real Polaroids?

No. It makes a digital photo look like one. To hold a real instant print you still need an instant camera or an instant printer.

Polaroid app · instant prints

Make it look like a Polaroid. Then write on it.

An SX-70 film filter with its milky blacks and pastel colour. Five instant frames photographed from real prints, with a real chin. A caption in your own hand.

Download free See the six papers

SX-70 film · SX-70 camera · 5 instant frames + 1 peel-apart

A couple in mismatched pyjamas slumped on a green corduroy couch on a Sunday morning, one asleep on the other's shoulder, milky and pastel like an SX-70 print

sunday, still in pyjamas

01The film: Polaroid SX-70

Milky blacks, pastel colour, soft edges.

The SX-70 print never had a true black. Its shadows lift to a warm grey, its colour fades toward pastel, its highlights bloom, and it goes soft at the corners. That chemistry is the filter.

A tabby cat on a sunlit windowsill between potted plants, soft and pastel like an SX-70 print

her window

Blacks: Lifted to a warm milky grey. Nothing in an SX-70 print is truly black.
Colour: Faded toward pastel, with a warm yellow-green cast in the midtones.
Highlights: Dye bloom: bright windows and lamps spread softly into their surroundings.
Sharpness: Crisp in the middle, gently soft toward the edges, the way the plastic lens rendered.

02Six papers

Five instant frames and a peel-apart.

Each paper is a photograph of a real print with the picture laid into its window, so the chin's depth, the gloss and the torn edge of the pack film are the real ones, not a border drawn in software.

Four friends around a kitchen table at night leaning over a lopsided birthday cake, one about to blow out the candles, flash-lit with a dark background like a Polaroid 600 — 600
Brighter, whiter, glossier.

Two children in a backyard above-ground pool at harsh midday, one clinging to an orange inflatable ring, the sky washed almost white, pastel like an SX-70 print — Wide
A landscape instant print.

Mini
The small upright one from a party camera.

A tabby cat on a sunlit windowsill between two potted plants looking out at the street, soft and pastel like an SX-70 print — Mini
The small upright one from a party camera.

Square
A narrow white edge and a short chin.

The same couple on the corduroy couch, printed on a square instant frame with a short chin — Square
A narrow white edge and a short chin.

Type 669
Pack film, pulled through rollers and torn off by hand.

A head-and-shoulders portrait of a young man in a worn denim jacket against a whitewashed wall, warm and muddy with a faint development streak, like Type 669 peel-apart pack film — Type 669
Pack film, pulled through rollers and torn off by hand.

SX-70 · 600 · WIDE · MINI · SQUARE · TYPE 669 PEEL-APART

03The caption

The chin is for writing on.

An instant print has a chin because that is where you write who and when. In CAM135 the hand belongs to the frame: an instant chin gets handwriting, a slide mount gets a typed label, a date back gets the orange LED. You type the line, it writes it.

Set it from the camera and every photo you take carries the same line until you clear it, which is what you want on a day out. Set it from the camera roll and it goes on that one picture. Either way it is written on the paper, not on the photograph, so the picture underneath stays clean.

All eleven film frames

04The camera: Polaroid SX-70

Or shoot with the SX-70 itself.

The SX-70 is also one of the 23 cameras. Load it and the viewfinder goes square, the film goes pastel, the lens goes soft at the edges and the flash falls off the way the real one's did. Shoot, and the print is already framed.

A phone photo made to look like an instant print and a photo taken with an instant camera are different things. The second one was square when you framed it, and you could not zoom, and you knew you had one shot. Loading the SX-70 camera puts those limits back while you shoot. The film filter alone is for the pictures you already have.

All 23 cameras

05Plainly

Not a Polaroid printer. Not the official Polaroid app.

If you own a Polaroid camera or printer, the app you want is Polaroid's own. CAM135 makes phone photos look like instant prints. It does not make them into physical ones.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

See pricing

POLAROID IS A TRADEMARK OF POLAROID INTERNATIONAL B.V. · CAM135 IS NOT AFFILIATED · SX-70, 600 AND TYPE 669 NAME THE PRINTS THE FRAMES ARE MODELLED ON

Questions

The short answers.

How do I make a photo look like a Polaroid?: Two things have to happen. The picture itself needs the chemistry: lifted milky blacks, soft contrast, colour faded toward pastel, a little bloom in the highlights and softness at the edges. Then it needs the paper: a white border with thin sides and a deep chin at the bottom. In CAM135 the first is the SX-70 film filter and the second is the SX-70 frame, and you can add a caption on the chin in your own handwriting.
Can I write on the Polaroid frame?: Yes. Every instant frame has a caption line on the chin, written in a handwriting face. From the camera it stays on every photo until you clear it; from the camera roll it goes on one photo.
Is this the official Polaroid app?: No. The official Polaroid app is for controlling Polaroid cameras and printers. CAM135 is for making phone photos look like instant prints. Polaroid is a trademark of Polaroid International B.V. and CAM135 is not affiliated with it. The film and frame are named SX-70 because that is the print they are modelled on.
Is the Polaroid look free?: The free tier is Portra 400, CineStill 800T and Tri-X with the LC-A, Holga and Rolleiflex. The SX-70 film and the SX-70 camera are part of the $19.99 one-time unlock, together with every other film and camera.
Does it print real Polaroids?: No. It makes a digital photo look like one. To hold a real instant print you still need an instant camera or an instant printer.