how do I know if my pola 51 is expired

[George Kara]

I purchased 5 boxes of pola 51 that expired in 8/05. The film is rated at asa 640 but it appears from my testing that the negative is at most 125 asa. The print is simply unusable as it has maybe 4 stops. Underexposed, overexposed, overexposed + and nuclear whiteout.

I haven't scanned the negative yet but is this the character of 51?

Thanks

George

[Henry Ambrose]

51 is also known as 51HC, HC stands for High Contrast. Its not made for normal pictorial photography but rather for copy and graphic arts work. The negative is probably around 50-80.

Usually when Polaroid goes bad the pods dry up or they break incorrectly when pulled. The first gives you no picture, the later gives you a big damn mess in your filmholder. Either one stops the fun pretty quick. Old Polaroid is best when thrown in the garbage, IMO. Although it sounds like yours is still working as planned.