what was it like using color polaroid film?

[Bill_1856]

In the hands of Marie Cosindas it was the most beautiful color process ever made for photographing people.
For most of the rest of us, however, it was fineky and expensive, and had an out-of-date time which was usually only a few months/weeks after purchase, and really meant disaster.

[chachi]

I find the current Fuji color peel-apart films to be superior in color and finish than the last few years of the Polaroid peel-apart films. The Fuji has more accurate color, and the finish of the prints is much more perfect.

i totally agree.

[scowhismi]

I don't know who is contemplating it. Have you heard something? Seems to me Fuji could do it and put it in their 4x5 packaging, and if they did, I would buy it. I was a big fan of Type 55 back in my early days.
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[Bosaiya]

What was it like?

What was it like? Like shredding money. Beautiful and wonderful and more than a little bit silly.

[Frank Petronio]

Very few studio shooters shot for a perfect color Polaroid aimed at reproduction, they were more just tests for exposure, lighting, and composition. Often the entire box was shifted magenta, although the latest color materials were improved. You could often shoot through a box or two (20 per box) when doing a single important shot for an Art Director. The current nostalgia for all things Polaroid is a bit silly, but the current alternative -- some persnicky client looking over your shoulder at a monitor is often just as tedious, frustrating, and in the end, stifling.

The B&W Polaroid materials were a lot nicer, you could actually frame a clean B&W Type 52 or 54 shot, and even if you use them out of date, they aren't so bad.

[Bill_1856]

What was it like? Like shredding money. Beautiful and wonderful and more than a little bit silly.

Thou has said it, Friend!

[Gene McCluney]

Polaroid is a bit silly, but the current alternative -- some persnicky client looking over your shoulder at a monitor is often just as tedious, frustrating, and in the end, stifling.

You said it. Much nicer to shoot, process and hand the client a polaroid (now-Fuji) test for them to look at, sitting in their own chair. I still do it.

[Gene McCluney]

For the longest time, back in the late 1970's and 1980's, I only shot b/w polaroid tests for the shots I was to deliver in Ektachrome transparency film...because the color pallet was so different for the Polaroid color materials, I did not want my clients judging the color from the Polaroid tests, just the composition and lighting. I eventually started using the color instant films, but had to train my clients to not judge color. Now with the Fuji instant films, under studio/flash shooting, I find the color to be very accurate.

[Sascha Welter]

For the longest time, back in the late 1970's and 1980's, I only shot b/w polaroid tests for the shots I was to deliver in Ektachrome transparency film...because the color pallet was so different for the Polaroid color materials, I did not want my clients judging the color from the Polaroid tests, just the composition and lighting.

The weirdest thing we ever did back then was one client who demanded polaroid tests to be faxed to them. I doubt that they could judge anything more than rough composition, sometimes hindered by the fax squeezing or stretching the image. They still complained about stuff like "the light side of that table is too white", which there was no chance for them to really judge on the basis of what they had seen.

We didn't use color polaroids either, or only very, very rarely.

[Ed Richards]

It is the best way to learn 4x5, if you are willing to trade money for time. If you do not process your own film, it is even cheaper. Since the stuff is a contact print, you can even put a loupe on it and judge sharpness. 100 sheets shot carefully and studied over a couple of weeks could get a new user to the basic competence stage. Since you see your mistakes at once, it is much more effective than film.