Polaroid 550 info

[drdave427]

Are they worth fooling with ?? INSTANT sounds interesting while I'm learning -- I can instantly see where iI made mistakes !

[Gordon Moat]

The Polaroid 405 back is cheaper, and holds the smaller Fuji FP100C cartridge pack.

The Polaroid 550 only can use the larger FP100C45 packs, which cost more.

[healyzh]

I can see the 405 film being good for checking exposure, but how good is it for checking the shot? I've been thinking of getting either a Polaroid 405 back, or a Fuji PA-145 back (not easy in the US) for simple exposure checks.

I have a PA-45 back for my 4x5 camera's and it's a great learning tool, but as you point out, it costs more to use (roughly 3x).

[Gordon Moat]

Your best check of the shot is a bright ground glass on your camera. After that you can pull a Fuji Instant shot. Arguably the larger FP100C45 shows you more than the smaller FP100C, though the difference is about 1cm on three edges. I am okay with the smaller pack film for the 405 holder, since it is lower cost and slightly easier to pack. I also have a Polaroid 550 back, and use FP100C45, but not as often as the smaller pack films.

[drdave427]

Thanks for the input guys -- I will buy one of these 2 holders -- probably the one I can find the best deal on !
I don't know the proper term for my camera's back - I just got it this week - but it has a lever that you pull that spaces the Ground Glass away from the camera so you can slide a film pack in. The back rotates and has a ruled glass in it , but not sure what type it is.

[Gordon Moat]

On a 4x5 camera (or many view cameras of all sizes) the ground glass is in a holding frame, held to the back by spring tension. The back might be reversing or rotating. A rotating back will rotate to go from horizontal to vertical orientation. A reversing back will need to be removed and put back in place to switch from horizontal to vertical. Some view camera backs have a ground glass holder that can be removed easily, often by moving the springs slightly out of the way. Some view camera backs also have sliding parts near the ground glas frame, usually with little tabs on them, which allow for connecting some types of film backs that might be too thick to fit under the ground glass.

http://www.toyoview.com/LargeFrmtTech/lgformat.html

I suggest reading a bit on that link. Then search through the main page of this LF Forum website, and you will find some more articles. The basic ideas are easy to find, and the rest is practice.

A "bright ground glass" as I mentioned before, just means that the image that the lens projects onto the glass is bright enough for you to compose the scene you want. What I meant is that you will be able to tell mostly how the image will appear by starting with the view on the glass. It does not matter if there are grid lines or not, all you need to be able to do is view the image. Some ground glass is bright enough that a dark hood is not needed, though I suggest doing most of your composition when your head is under the dark hood and looking at the glass.