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OldMork t1_j9nm50y wrote

6000 shots of polaroid must been expensive, they were never that cheap not even then.

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Cohibaluxe t1_j9oe3yc wrote

Some very rough math puts a single shot of Polaroid film in the mid 1980s at $2.5 ($14 for a twin pack of 20 shots total; $14 adjusted to tosay is ~$50, 50/20=2.5), adjusted for inflation. $2.5 a day (in today’s dollars) doesn’t seem extravagant, but yeah, any daily cost over 20 years is going to add up.

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NativeMasshole t1_j9og6hg wrote

So $15,000 over 18 years? That's not terrible for a hobby. I've probably spent more on weed in a similar time period.

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Cohibaluxe t1_j9oiu6o wrote

Indeed. A lot of people spend more on coffee every day. 15 grand looks like a lot, but as mentioned, it’s over a span of almost two decades.

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1CEninja t1_j9q78a0 wrote

Yeah one way you can think about it is somewhere in the ballpark of an hour of minimum wage work per week (probably less since I think minimum wages in purchasing power were stronger back then), and substantially less than that for a working professional.

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MDM3331 t1_j9qh7n8 wrote

Why not grow your own?

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xtossitallawayx t1_j9r7qnx wrote

Buying all the grow gear, tending to the plants, waiting 3-4 months, spending hours and hours trimming, and waiting a bit more to dry... versus going to the store, getting a 1/4, and being on way.

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MDM3331 t1_j9r8c8n wrote

Understandable. In your shoes I'd likely do the same

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arsenix t1_j9s5alq wrote

A pack of cigarettes in the 80's was only $1!

Now I know why my parents would never buy me any film for my polarioid camera!

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Ok_Copy5217 OP t1_j9noyjt wrote

did professional photographers or sponsors get special promotions in bulk orders?

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idontknowjackeither t1_j9pzv1s wrote

I don’t think many professionals ever used Polaroid for work. Maybe for something like a photo booth at an event where you get a quick souvenir snap, but 35mm was the professional film of choice in this era for most purposes.

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adamcoe t1_j9qghxt wrote

Many, many, many pros would shoot test shots on Polaroid at shoots to get a baseline idea of what stuff would look like. Without the instant feedback we have now with digital, you had no idea what it would look like after developing so it was incredibly common to shoot a fair number of Polaroids to help gauge light levels and balance, etc. Obviously very few of these were used for anything but a rough reference, but pro photogs of the time would definitely have had plenty of polaroid film around.

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RoadToSurfdom t1_j9qt5az wrote

Also, polaroids were used in industries like film and fashion, where you wanted to take a reference photo of something - like, documenting what clothes actors are wearing so they wear the same at the shoot tomorrow.

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