Mint’s Sharpa Lens Promises to Dramatically Improve Polaroid SX-70 Photos

Mint Camera has announced the Sharpa Lens, a newly-designed replacement optic for the Polaroid SX-70 that it says is “the sharpest lens ever made” for the instant camera.

The company says that its Sharpa lens solves what Mint calls a “fundamental limitation” with the optic that originally shipped with the SX-70. By making a brand new lens, Mint was able to use modern optical design technologies and produce a lens with seen layers of multi-coating that are also mold-free, haze-free, and scratch-free.

The original SX-70 lens was last produced in 1977 and, as a result, nearly all examples available today suffer from serious problems, Mint says. The first is the condition of the coatings, which Mint says are often deteriorated. The original anti-reflection layers break down over time, causing flare and loss of contrast. Lens clarity is also affected by fungus, haze, and even blackening inside the lens elements, which the company says is “common in 50+ year old glass.”

Finally, even if the lens doesn’t exhibit those issues, the consistency of the optics from that era is spotty.

“Decades of wear cause each lens to perform differently, leading to unstable performance,” Mint says. With the Sharpa, that changes. “Every lens is built to the same standard, delivering the sharpest results every time.”

The new lens, which is now available as part of its fully upgraded SX-70 cameras, is constructed of four elements and has the same 24.5cm (10 inches) to infinity manual focus range as the camera’s original lens.

Below are a few sample images shot on Mint Camera’s SLR670, which is the upgraded version of the Polaroid SX-70 that it offers.

The new Sharpa lens is available as part of Mint’s upgraded SLR670 Max camera, which it says includes all of Mint’s upgrades to the system. The camera also has Mint’s Time Machine attachment that adds both Auto and Manual shooting modes (with 16 shutter speeds). It also includes an external flash trigger, USB-C charging, compatibility with a range of film types, an improved light sensor for more accurate exposures, and a five-year warranty.

All that does come at a cost, though: $1,299 for the SLR670 camera alone.

Image credits: Mint Camera