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Home/Fitting guide
Takes about a minute

How to fit a filter to your Polaroid SX‑70.

The filter sits on the film cartridge, not the camera. There is no glue, no drilling and nothing permanent — if you change your mind, it lifts straight back off and the camera is exactly as it was.

Twin Tails ND filter packet alongside the Polaroid cameras it fits
First things first

Will it fit my camera?

Because the filter goes on the film pack rather than inside the camera, fit is far less fussy than people expect.

  • ND & Extra Bright NDFolding SX‑70 bodies — Alpha, Model 1, Model 2, Model 3 and the Sonar/SE.
  • DuochromeThe same SX‑70 bodies, plus modern Polaroid 600 cameras like the OneStep and Sun 660.
Not sure which camera you have? Send a photo before you order and we’ll confirm it.
Twin Tails envelope with the green Polaroid camera stamp
On arrival

Look for the green stamp.

Everything ships USPS in a plain letter envelope, so it comes with your post rather than as a parcel. It’s easy to mistake for junk mail — the green Polaroid camera stamp on the front is how you’ll spot it.

  • Your filter, kept flat between two pieces of card so it can’t crease
  • A printed instruction sheet
  • Free shipping within the US, or a $2.50 flat rate internationally
  • Tracking on domestic orders. International orders aren’t tracked.
The whole job

Four steps, about a minute.

This is the same instruction sheet that ships in every order. Work in normal room light — the darkslide is still protecting the film.

Twin Tails ND filter installation instructions: check the filter is lint free, position it on the cartridge with cut corners on top, slide the left and right tabs under the cartridge edge, tape the top and bottom tabs, then check it sits flat
The installation card included with every filter.
01

Check it’s lint free

Take the filter out and make sure it’s clean and free of lint. Anything sitting on the surface is right in the light path.

02

Position it on the cartridge

Lay the filter on top of a fresh Polaroid 600 cartridge with the cut corners at the top. The notches line up with the cartridge.

03

Tuck the sides, tape the ends

Slide the left and right tabs under the edge of the cartridge, then tape the top and bottom tabs down. Painter’s tape is recommended.

04

Check it’s flat, then shoot

Make sure the filter is sitting completely flat, load the pack into your camera as normal, and you’re ready to shoot.

ND filter taped onto a Polaroid 600 film cartridge, next to a loose filter
What it should look like

Taped at the ends, flat as a pane.

A correctly fitted filter sits flush against the cartridge, taped at the top and bottom, with nothing bunched over the cut‑outs. A loose filter is shown alongside for comparison.

Keep it flat. A filter with a fold or a bubble in it can catch as the film ejects. If it isn’t sitting flush, peel the tape and re‑seat it — the gel is tougher than it looks.
The one thing people get wrong

Which way to turn the exposure dial.

This is the most common source of confusion, because the two products want opposite settings. It’s worth thirty seconds of reading.

ND & Extra Bright ND

Leave the dial centered.

The whole job of an ND filter is to correct the exposure for you — it cuts the light so 600 film behaves like the ISO 160 film your SX‑70 expects. If you also crank the dial down, you’ll end up underexposed and muddy.

Dial → center
Duochrome

Turn the dial towards brighter.

Color gels absorb light as a side effect of shifting the color, so you need to give some back. Darker shades — Dark Blue, Magenta, Primary Red — want bright daylight or a flash to really sing.

Dial → brighter
Using an ND and a Duochrome together? Don’t. The combined light loss varies by filter and shade, and 600 film has nowhere near enough latitude for it. Use one filter per pack.
If something looks off

Troubleshooting.

Shots are still too bright+
Check you’re using the full‑strength ND filter (.6ND) rather than the Extra Bright (.3ND) — the Extra Bright only cuts one stop and is meant for indoor use. Also check the filter is flat and correctly positioned, and that you’re loading Polaroid 600 film. Leave the dial centered; if shots are still too bright, send us a sample and your camera model.
Shots are coming out too dark indoors+
That’s exactly what the Extra Bright ND is for — it gives you back a stop compared to the standard filter. Failing that, use a flash bar. Indoor light is far dimmer than your eyes suggest.
My Duochrome shots are very dark+
Turn the exposure dial towards brighter, and use the darker shades in strong light. Dark Blue, Magenta and Primary Red all soak up a lot of light — they’re daylight-and-flash colors rather than indoor ones.
There are faint marks on the filter+
Normal, and harmless. Light surface marks are expected on photo studio gel stock. The filter sits well away from the film surface, so they don’t register on the photo.
The film is jamming or ejecting oddly+
Almost always a seating problem. Take the pack out and check the filter is flat, that no tape is over the cartridge’s cut‑outs, and that nothing is blocking the rollers. Re‑seat and try again.
Can I move it to another pack?+
Yes — that’s the point. Peel the tape, lift the filter off, and fit it to the next pack. There’s no adhesive on the filter itself, so it can be reused many times over. Store it flat between two bits of card.

Still stuck? Just ask.

Every filter is cut to fit here in Seattle, and messages come straight to us. Send a photo of your camera or your shots on Etsy and we’ll tell you what’s going on.