fuji instant holder pa-145

[seliday]

Hello ~ I'm new to the group, and just getting back into LF photography since after a 20 year hiatus. And boy have some things changed! I picked up a fuji instant holder pa-145 (having only experience with the old Polaroid back/film). 3 questions - 1. I shot 1 pack of Fujifilm - FP-100C45 film thus far, and each image was only 'half exposed'. The other have appeared to have not been exposed at all. Any ideas what I did wrong? 2. Is there B&W film that accomodates these holders? I bought what I thought was correct, and it is way too small for the holder.. And lastly, can one shoot only a couple of shots from the pack at a time (ie, I want to shoot 2 pics in color, switch the film, shoot regular film or the instant b&w and then go back to the color instant?) or do you have to use the whole pack at one time? Thank you so much for reading my lenghty email! All the Best! ~Sarah

[johnielvis]

put up a pic...maybe the darkslide wasn't pulled out enough????? that's all I can think of without seeing it.

OH--what you do is pull out the pack in the dark (dark tent) and put it in a light tight sheet film box--or something else totally light tight...then put in the other pack.......

you can load partially shot packs but will lose the next frame if you don't do it in the dark.

[jp]

Welcome!

The 4x5 film (fp100c45) goes into the pa-45 not the pa-145. I'll assume it was just a typo. The fp100c (without 45) goes into the pa-145.

If you put the paper tab through the wrong hole, it may leave a streak unexposed or unprocessed in the photo. The darkslide should also be pulled out to the line imprinted on it while an exposure is made.

There is B&W film for it, and has recently stopped being made. Plenty of old stock around. When you consider processing costs and film costs, the fuji instant is a reasonably priced way to make images with a 4x5 camera, even though the output is not the same as a negative or slide.