I haven't been able to find any side by side comparisons of the new SX-70 Blend film to the Original Time Zero (other than on the manufacturer's site) so I'd thought I would post this. I recently picked up a few packs of the new film.

My feelings are mixed. Is the Blend a better film? Well, the colors are truer. Whites are certainly brighter. So in that regard, yes, it's better. But part of the charm of the Time Zero was that it wasn't perfect. That lovely creamy pastel cast is gone. For me, that was part of the attraction to the film, it rendered colors in a faded hue that gave the photos an instant timelessness. I loved the fact that skies always looked a little too aqua and whites took on the tone of a faded newspaper.

But, to be fair, it still looks like a polaroid. The colors are by no means accurate. Just compare these images to the next photo in my stream taken on a digital camera. Quite a difference.

So, when my remaining 5 packs of Time Zero run out, I won't abandon my SX-70; I'll probably switch to the Blend. But in the meantime, I'm going to very picky about what I shoot, knowing it's the last of this great film.

Related tags:

sx-70, comparison, blend

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