Polaroid film demise?

[Kirk Gittings]

There is a rumour going around here that next year Polaroid will discontinue all peel away instant films. I can find no sourse for this rumour on the web. Has anyone else heard it?

[keith connelly]

...on.."photon detector"..?...this guy say's.."80 series(84,87,88,89,)..3.25x3.38..be taken out of production..last part of 2006...

[Ted Harris]

I spoke at length with two Polaroid folk at Photokina. Both in a position to know most of waht is going on (but not all). What both of their responses boiled down to was that there is that Polaroid has no intention of shutting down any of its film manufacturing facilities today or at any time in the near future. However, they also are not likely tomake any investment in physical plant maintenance or improvement. Thus, if something breaks in any of the production lines they are not likely to fix it and that would, in turn, lead to the end of film production. I passed the question back to be sure I was hearing correctly and go tthe same answer. So, bottom line, as long as things stay as they are not at the company it is highly unlikely they will make any investment, beyond normal upkeep), in existing film manufacturing facilities and, when the now rather long-in-the-tooth equipment starts to malfunction, will nopt make future investments in these facilities. So, eventually film manufacturing will go away ... all given current company business plans and who knows if/when they will change.

Remember that photography as we define it was historicalaly not the major buyer of these films; foresnic imaging, industrial testing and medical imaging were. Now, these markets are almost completely gone.

As an additional comment the same rumor is floating around Boston.

[Henry Ambrose]

No Polaroid is a scary thought.

I've shot five boxes of Type 54 in the last two months and just bought a sixth box. At around $400 with tax for all that I was complaining about how expensive it is. But I'd be in deep trouble without it. I'm shooting a lot with my 58mm in darkish interiors and can't see the full ground glass so I HAVE to have Polaroid. Or start shooting 3 times the film to be sure I've got what I want and even then not knowing. (No real answer but Polaroid)

Does Fuji make a 4x5 instant film thats good for proofing 100 speed color negative?

In the meantime I'll be doing my part to keep Polaroid in business. But if you multiply my use times 5000 that still ain't much film to keep a factory open.

[Kirk Gittings]

Henry, the Fuji b&w 100 film is very contasty, higher speed than the P64 series films and completely different in terms of recirpocity. All the Fuji instant films are licensed from Polaroid, perhaps if Polaroid drops them Fuji will pick them up. For myself, if Polaroid goes away I will have to go fully digital. I shoot interiors primarily with strobe and would have no way of proofing the lighting.

[william linne]

Actually, I was told by the Fuji rep that they make their own film. Years ago, Polaroid used to rebadge Fuji's FP100c and sell it as type 689 (IIRC). Fuji makes several different instant films,most not available in the US, and I like it a lot more than the competing Polaroid products. Now, if they would just make a positive/negative film ala Type 665....

[Kirk Gittings]

Actually, I was told by the Fuji rep that they make their own film

I didn't say Fuji didn't make it, but I was told by Fuji that all the instant films designs were licenced from Polaroid. This came up because I returned a case of their ASA 100 film (which I was given to entice me away from polaroid for my classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) because as stated above it was not as advertised. It sucked so bad I gave it back. As a result one of their product developent people called me to explain that their films were licenced (not rebadged) from Polaroid and that Polaroid would not license their most successful films. So they did not have a comparable film to Polaroid type 64.

Most professional instant films are designed to match the characteristics of transparency film, as proofing prints for transparency films. Sorry, but the Fuji 100 b&w film is so far inferior to Polaroid 64, 664 etc. that it is unuseable. I have tested it a number of times from the early days to recently and it pales in comparison.

[william linne]

I'm curious as to why you think the fuji film is inferior. I shoot the Fuji instant films as a final result and I always love how they look compared to the comparable Polaroid film. What is inferior in your opinion?

William


I didn't say Fuji didn't make it, but I was told by Fuji that all the instant films designs were licenced from Polaroid. This came up because I returned a case of their ASA 100 film (which I was given to entice me away from polaroid for my classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) because as stated above it was not as advertised. It sucked so bad I gave it back. As a result one of their product developent people called me to explain that their films were licenced (not rebadged) from Polaroid and that Polaroid would not license their most successful films. So they did not have a comparable film to Polaroid type 64.

Most professional instant films are designed to match the characteristics of transparency film, as proofing prints for transparency films. Sorry, but the Fuji 100 b&w film is so far inferior to Polaroid 64, 664 etc. that it is unuseable. I have tested it a number of times from the early days to recently and it pales in comparison.

[Kirk Gittings]

the Fuji b&w 100 film is very contasty, higher speed than the P64 series films and completely different in terms of recirpocity. Me above.

From another website:

Very high quality instant black and white material, officially rated at 100 IS0 but some users regard its true speed to be closer to 160 ISO Our own tests suggest that although the official speed rating is correct the much higher contrast and much deeper blacks take a while to get used to when assessing exposure.

The Polaroid equivilent has much more accurate exposure and contrast. Try them side by side you will see the difference. Blown out hightlights on the Fuji B&W film is the norm unless you rate the asa much higher (ie underexpose the film) and then you lose the shadows. As a proofing film the Fuji is worthless.

[william linne]

Thanks!

[Charles Hohenstein]

All I know is that the price of Type 55 is getting out of sight.

[Gordon Moat]

There is no further development of new Polaroid products, which in a way is a sad thing. It can mean over time that fewer people might be using it. I think the smaller peel apart sizes are not big sellers, judging from supply in several large cities.

I use Fuji FP100C time to time. While not as vibrant as Polaroid 690 (in pack film sizes), it is a nice proofing choice. They also make that in a larger (near 4x5) size, but only for their large pack film holder, or a Polaroid 550 pack film holder. Perhaps if Fuji ever decided to make single sheet peel apart instant films, then that might fill any void Polaroid might leave in the market.

On a strange note about Polaroid, a special order was done recently by Polaroid. This was for a variation of another instant film to work in SX-70 cameras. The new film is called SX-70 Blend, which is somewhat of a combination of other Polaroid instant films. Maybe this is a sign that a special order might be a possibility in the future.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

[Donald Qualls]

Gordon, if you read "behind" all the information on unsaleable.com about SX-70 Blend, it looks like it's 600 film in an SX-70 cartridge, with a very slightly bluish ND filter to give "whiter" whites and less warm tone. Nothing more or less, and the only thing "special" about it from the Polaroid standpoint was attaching the filter to the pack to allow drop-in use in older cameras (and that, in turn, might well have been done by a third party before sealing the pack envelopes). I'd bet they even used up existing stock of SX-70 shells, rather than making any new ones.

[Gordon Moat]

Hello Donald,

I read some of the comments on Polanoid.net about SX-70 Blend, and got the impression that something other than a bluish ND filter was at work. However, the interesting thing is that a form of manipulation works on it, but the same thing does not work on 600 film. To me, that difference seems to indicate something else is going on. Since my interest in that is because I do Polaroid manipulations, I will be ordering and trying some out. I know a group of like minded individuals locally, and we are organizing a group order at the moment. Hopefully it is not as simple as 600 film with an ND filter, but if it is that I will then know how to make my own.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

[Donald Qualls]

Simple way to test my theory: peel the filter off a pack and use the old tricks to load it into a 600 camera. Since the film under the filter is ISO 640, just like 600 and 779, it'll work perfectly in the newer cameras, and you can then compare the results, side by side, with the 600 film you can't manipulate.

The "manipulation" examples they show are mostly color shifting by controlling temperature during development (putting the print in warm or cool place immediately after ejection). The little bit of stylus work they illustrate is about what I've seen with 600 and with the "non-manipulable" Time-Zero.

I actually hope you're right, as it would indicate a higher level of customer responsiveness than we're used to from the "new" Polaroid (usually typified by the way they dumped 85/665 instead of spending a little time and money finding a new film base stock that would work to save what might be considered the most important member of the 3x4 line).

Unfortunately, given the prices, I probably won't get a chance to try SX-70 Blend; I have trouble affording 600, locally $26 for the twin pack, and can only buy the relatively inexpensive 667 (about $19 for the twin pack) for my pack-film cameras on a sporadic basis.