Goodbye Polaroid, we shall miss thee...

[Hollis]

I thought that due to the demise of polaroid, at least film-wise, I would start a LF polaroid thread. Type 55, 809, 57, all is fair game.

If anyone knows anyone at Fuji, please, convince them to pickup the pieces and make type 55 again.

Made this afternoon with my tiny no-name rectilinear lens on Type 55...

[Steve Kefford]

What demise?

Steve

[Pat Hilander]

Here's some 55 that was left in the clearing bath a little to long.

[Gene McCluney]

What demise?

Steve

Oh, come on, it is all over the major news outlets in that last couple of weeks. Polaroid has, or will, cease production of all instant film products within a few weeks.

[Dave Aharonian]

I don't shoot a ton of polaroid, but I always have some T55 in the fridge and I'm going to miss it when its gone. :(

[Ron Bose]

Dave, that's absolutely beautiful !!

[BrianShaw]

Does anyone want to buy a T-55 clearing bucket? I suppose the value has gone from "not much" to "nothing at all". ;) I'll miss T-55 a bit, but will miss T-52 more.

[Ralph Barker]

FYI, Hollis, several previous threads about the Polaroid situation have been merged into the following:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=33055&highlight=Polaroid

[drew.saunders]

Today being President's Day, and a day off for me, I decided to burn my last 9 sheets of Type 55, so I biked over to the Mausoleum where the Stanfords are entombed (on the Stanford University campus) and the nearby memorials and cactus garden and shot all 9 sheets. 2 ended up blank (I guess I never really learned how to make sure that the packet "caught," oh well, that's a skill I may never need) but the rest turned out OK, without any white corners, and with only a wee streaking on one (more skills I finally mastered, to no further use). Anyway, here are the four OK ones of the 7 that turned out.

Drew

[Ted Harris]

This was just supposed to be a test shot .... but I kept the negative.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Type 809, Voigtlander Petzval

[Alan Davenport]

Taken on some very old (over 10 years past its exp. date) T-52. Scanned and "hand" colored in PS...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2284/2253955890_6bb2d362a8.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulvernonphoto/2253955890/)

[Steve Kefford]

Oh, come on, it is all over the major news outlets in that last couple of weeks. Polaroid has, or will, cease production of all instant film products within a few weeks.


Thanks. I assume you mean all over the major American news outlets.

Intrerestingly, there is no coverage on the Polaroid website.

Steve

[BrianShaw]

Look at any instant film product in the "for sale" section of www.polaroid.com -- the announcement/apology is there.

p.s. it was in the UK news also. Where are you located???

[Steve Kefford]

Look at any instant film product in the "for sale" section of www.polaroid.com -- the announcement/apology is there.

p.s. it was in the UK news also. Where are you located???


Brian,

I was looking at the press release section on the Polaroid site. I am in the UK, and I have subsequently seen it on UK news sites, but only after I started looking. It was easy to miss.

I am a bit sceptical about reports of product demises as there are so many false alarms, and there was one about Polaroid last year that was false (or premature :-)). Also journalists do have a great ability to take any fact and turn it in to any story they feel like. Sometimes they even ignore the fact part of the equation.

Steve

[BrianShaw]

Hi Steve,

I share your skepticism in most cases, preferring to keep a positive attitude until real facts show up. In the Polaroid situation I have been watching this since 2001. For anyone who has been watching (which does take a bit of effort) it is no surprise.

The part of the situation I'm now watching with a skeptical eye are the rumors (hopes) (fantasies) that Fuji will 'save the day" and if not them, Harman/Ilford. I would be happy if it happened but I'm just too much of a realist to get my hope up too high.

Over on APUG someone just posted a link to a Polaroid phase-out table... but most of the availability data is already wrong. Like you, I was quite surprised that they have no press release. I suppose one morning we'll all wake up and see a Polaroid web site that simply no longer mentions instant film. This is like watching the last few dodo birds die.

[Gordon Moat]

http://www.polaroid.com/ifilm/en/index.html

[Jerry Flynn]

I have some out-dated type 55 (dried out developer pods) that I am going to try to use as if it were a ready load. I'll not process it in the holder, but instead will tray-process the film. I'll have to experiment with developers and times, but it's better than throwing it away.

[scrichton]

It sucks.. but I hope we will all learn to adapt. The rights and production equipment are for sale and I'm sure someone will buy them saving the day... if not, I'll move on.

[butterfly]

On the Polaroid UK shop site:

http://www.polaroid.com/shop/shop_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441760052&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302032259&bmUID=1203692116218&bmLocale=en_GB

Every 4x5 film bar one specific 10x8 film will be discontinued within the next several months. It is a crying shame really. I love type 55.

As Polaroid state 'although the circumstances made it inevitable'.. I wonder what those circumstances are? Maybe they should share their reasons and give us some supporting data. At least I would be interested and sympathise a bit more. At the moment I am totally pi**ed with Polaroid. One tiny note in a box on the web site is not really good enough for their loyal users!

The user base of Type 55 and sales could never have been enormous, and I would love to know the figures and how much sales have dropped since the introduction of digital (if indeed that is the reason for ceasing production?).

Steve

[Gordon Moat]

Steve, it has been stated in a few other forums that the land is worth more in the short term than for Polaroid to continue production. This land in the US will become a shopping mall. I think the situation in the Netherlands was slightly different. There was some mention from Polaroid about a year ago concerning cleaning up that plant, and becoming more environmentally friendly. Perhaps the choice to shut down that plant was somewhat due to environmental impact concerns.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)

[Doug Dolde]

I won't miss it at all. Never used it.

[Gene McCluney]

I won't miss it at all. Never used it.

Then you have never shot photos for ad agencies and commercial clients have you? If you had, you would have been forced to provide instant proofs to the art directors.

....and I suppose your "eye" is so accurate that you can get spot-on transparency exposures every time in every light without bracketing? Using polaroid-type proofing, I haven't bracketed a 4x5 transparency in 20 years. Of course I process myself, so I know the condition of my E-6 line.

[Alex Hawley]

Sheeesh! Check out the price of 8x10 Polaroid (http://www.17photo.com/subcategory.asp?catid=&scatid=46&page=1&manuf=&sort=4&om=&rpp=10) at 17th Street Photo. Two weeks ago it was still $224 per box.

[alanps]

On ebay you could buy out of date 5x4 type 79 for $39 per box up to a week ago - now they are trying to (and getting) $70 plus for a box - crazy.