Cleaning gunk off Polaroid negatives

[Yaakov Asher Sinclair]

How do clean the gunk off Polaroid PACK film. I know you use Sodium Sulfite for the Type 55, but the pack film (I forget the number now) has a different backin g. It's more plastic-y. I couldn't find instructions how to get the stuff off. I washed the negs in water, but there still seems to be a kind of film over th em. Many thanks in advance.

[mike rosenlof]

Sodium Sulfite like type 55.

You can find a data sheet at http://www.polaroid.com/service/filmdatasheets/3_4/665fds.pdf (http://www.polaroid.com/service/filmdatasheets/3_4/665fds.pdf) if I got the HTML encoding correct.

[andrea milano]

As already said, 655 film pack requires sodium sulfite too, best use the "bucket" Polaroid PN 10, where you can plunge the polaroid negatives safely without them touching anything and getting scratches. Make sure that you carefully remove the black plastic back coating(it comes off after a minute or so).If shooting outdoors, don't linger on admiring your positive, the negative will be otherwise partly solarized (but if you do it on purpose it gives a great effect). You can leave the negatives in sulfite for up to 72 hours but I wouldn't do it, few minutes or few hours is plenty! Enjoy!

[Charlie Stracl]

The 2 types both use a sodium sulfite solution, but the concentration is different. Contact Polaroid for details.

[Larry Burke-Weiner]

As an art director and shooter I've worked with a ton of photographers - and the best ones tell me when using type 55 - forget the sodium - just fill your clearing tank with water. They swear by it. I've been doing ti with no adverse reaction to my negatives.

[Sandy Sorlien]

I found out the hard way water doesn't work, and you really have to use very strong Sodium Sulfite which is fairly fresh (not all brown from too many negs). The concentration recommended by Polaroid is 16 oz (net weight) powder to 70 oz. water. You can do about 20 negs in that -- it clears the gunk off neatly and quickly and the black backing comes off after about a minute with a little help from your fingers. Rinse in water and LFN later.

[Sandy Sorlien]

For 665 pack film, that is.

Sandy