The Instant Camera Guy

Australia's specialist in the repair, modification and restoration of classic Polaroid cameras. I ship Australia wide as well as overseas.

I am The Instant Camera Guy, an ABN registered sole trader specializing in the servicing, restoration and modification of classic Polaroid cameras - especially the SX-70 series. Please note that I mainly repair cameras, I do not often sell them. When I do sell them, I generally list them on Facebook Marketplace or on my Instagram page. All cameras I sell are guaranteed to work and come with a 1 ye

ar warranty on all labor performed to the camera. For those interested, my ABN is 93 161 449 237.

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Warranty:

As of 2024, all cameras I repair include a 1 year limited warranty. This warranty starts upon pickup or first delivery attempt by post. I consider my standard of repair work to be among the highest in the world. Each camera I receive is not merely just repaired, but fully overhauled. This means the camera is stripped back to its chassis before being rebuilt, with care taken to address all known major failure points and factory design flaws. This ensures optimum functioning and – more importantly – optimum client satisfaction. Each camera I overhaul is personally film tested and demonstrated functioning on video before being returned to its owner. In the highly unlikely event that a fault slips past my usual rigorous checks, then I will be happy to bear the burden of righting things. Examples of what the warranty would cover would include:
- A mistake made during the repair process
- Failure of myself to diagnose and/or repair a critical aspect of camera functioning
- Exposure issues relating to lack of or poor technician calibration
I will cover the cost of return shipping in such cases. Please note that the 1 year limited warranty does NOT cover damage or failure as a result of alteration, accidental physical or water damage and/or misuse/user-error. The warranty does not cover cosmetic blemishes or defects. Please remember that these cameras are pushing half a century old at the time of writing and some amount of cosmetic wear is expected to be present on an item of such a vintage, even once refurbished. A special case exists for a category of failure I will refer to as ‘unpredictable critical failure’. Specifically, these are parts of the camera which through the fault of nobody can spontaneously fail without warning and with no way to accurately predict failure. The two most notable examples of this are the integrated circuits (microchips) that operate the camera and snapped teeth in the gears responsible for film ejection. Fortunately this is not common. In cases where one of the aforementioned fails, critical spare parts will be required at additional cost, but will be supplied as cheaply as possible. The 1 year limited warranty is applicable to the purchaser only, and is not transferrable. Attempting DIY repair or having another party attempt repair – unless authorized by The Instant Camera Guy – will immediately void warranty. In the unlikely event that your camera proves to be irreparable, there will be no charge for labor involved in the diagnosis.

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15/01/2026

19/08/2025

Well that was fast!

Absolutely slammed with 30+ orders in 45 minutes

Missed out? Stay tuned on this page for the next round.

And keep your eyes peeled on my stories for the odd occasion where I post something for sale!

23/06/2025

Hi guys. As some of you might have realized, recently featured one of my custom cameras in his videos. Turns out, Linus is kind of famous on YouTube, and his recent video has seen my inquiries quadruple.

Truth is, I was actually at capacity BEFORE his video. Demand for my work is very high, and as a single man operation I can only work so fast. I pride myself on having among the highest quality of work in the industry, and this means my refurbs take time.

Going forward I'll be doing my repairs in "seasons". I'll periodically be posting that I'm open for orders. When I'm ready, you'll see my posts here and across my social media. At this stage I hope to be open for orders again in mid-late August.

Set your calendars, and follow my page if you want to stay informed. There is no "waiting list" because I simply don't have the manpower to check up on every enquiry.

Most independent camera technicians are the same, especially if they are niche specialist. It's not uncommon for Leica and Nikon F technicians to take 6-12 months to return a camera to a client.

Companies like Retrospekt can offer faster turnaround times because they would appear to use a production-line method of refurb, with multiple technicians doing several cameras at the same time (check their Instagram stories for behind the scenes shots). The advantage to this is it's faster, but the disadvantage is you don't know who worked on your camera, and their warranty is only 90 days, and they don't offer all the upgrades that I do. Pros and cons.

As the toy refurbisher in Toy Story 2 says:
"You can't rush art"

Photos from The Instant Camera Guy's post

28/03/2025

The SX-70 Alpha and SLR680 are often regarded as two of the best folding SLR cameras in the entire range released by Polaroid.

As a technician, I have to disagree. It depends on what you define as "best". The Model 1, although having many factory design flaws that must be rectified, is typically much more straightforward to service. It's issues are very consistent, making them fairly easy to fix. The cameras are generally held together with screws instead of rivets and the chrome panels are of very high quality. The lenses are easier to clean and they are easier to deskin too.

These two belong to a client of mine from Canada, and have had full overhauls. New motors. New SX-70R PCBs and PolaVolt i-type battery mods. They work like new!

26/03/2025

Midas touch

01/02/2025

16/01/2025

Have an SX-70R PCB modified camera?

Want a matching remote control dongle to go with it? I have a batch of SX-70R dongles in stock currently

This may well be the last revision of this model before a redesigned version hits the market.

This version of the dongle is apparently too time consuming and costly to produce - resulting in months of production delays.

Yongmin and I will likely re-introduce a cheaper, less complicated one in the future

If you want one, I have 5 left. First come first served.

Please note... that if your camera is NOT modified with the new PCB, these dongles will be basically useless. They are designed to control the new SX-70R PCB, and do not work on a standard camera.