[Karel Bata]

So translating that literally would mean that every frame is a bit different. I think I’ll pass on that.

also some carefully applied gradient blurs based on perspective gradients….

and I’ll have to google that!

However it’s done would be a cheat. The problem is (in effect) how to determine what mix of colors were present at a particular point (or pixel) – which would be way more than just levels of RGB – and then translate that into how a polaroid would have reacted. Pixel by pixel. An impossible task made more difficult by the fact that the way any ‘grain’ on a polaroid film develops seems to be affected by its neighbors.

Or else cheat.

[Karel Bata]

Wow. Have you really never seen a polaroid print before?

Take a look at this Polaroid data sheet, particularly the spectral sensitivity curves. See how narrow they are? https://www.polaroid.com/service/filmdatasheets/squareformat/89fds.pdf

Now take a look at the curves for a random Kodak stock https://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/e190/f009_0181ac.gif

Meanwhile here’s a CCD https://www.astrosurf.com/audine/result/kafc2.gif which is one of the reasons video doesn’t hold a candle to film. Yet.

And meanwhile, just to complicate matters, here’s what our eye does with it all https://www.normankoren.com/Human_spectral_sensitivity_small.jpg

And this is only a part of the difference. So it’s really not a trivial question that comes down to a soft lens and a bit of grading.

Surely someone somewhere in our brave new world must have figured out a way to do this…?

[Karel Bata]

And why use two legs when you can hop?

Well…I think it’s a more complicated affair than just tweaking the knobs that magic bullet comes with. I figure I can’t possibly be the first person to consider this question and could save myself many hours of trial and error by seeking out someone who’s already cracked it.

[Karel Bata]

To my knowledge Magic Bullet has no Polaroid preset.

But would you say that MB has another that would do the job? I’ve never seen any moving image that comes close to replicating the dream-like magic of a polaroid. But it would be great to get it in AE somehow.

Part of it has to be the optics of a Polaroid camera lens coupled with the relatively huge format of an SX70 film, but most of it is, I believe, down to Polaroid’s own chemistry which doesn’t work in the same way as a film emulsion’s.