Polaroid Type 55 found in closet

[John Conway]

I am very excited about this! In my closet I found a box of type 55 unopened! The expiration date is 2/05.I don't want to waste a single sheet. I'm open to suggestion on what speed I should shoot at with the eleven year old film .

[santoroman]

John-

Don't waste your time and skills on that junk. I'll pay for the shipping and just send it to me in Seattle. I'll make sure it gets put in the proper place.

santo

[Huub]

As it is slow speed film i wouldn't worry to much about possible speed loss. What i would worry about is that the chemical pods are dried out and don't work anymore as intended. And there is only one way to find out....

[Peter Gomena]

I found some not too long ago and the pods were dried out and useless. You can, however, use the packet like a ready-load. Don't flip the processing lever and carefully work the packet back out out of the holder. Peel it apart in the darkroom and process the film in your favorite developer.

[John Conway]

I found some not too long ago and the pods were dried out and useless. You can, however, use the packet like a ready-load. Don't flip the processing lever and carefully work the packet back out out of the holder. Peel it apart in the darkroom and process the film in your favorite developer.

I didn't think the pods would be an issue with ten year old stuff. I purchased an unopened box of polaroid on ebay dated 1971 a few years ago and got prints from most of the packets. The contrast was pretty good but development time was very long. I think it was type 57. There were other strange and unique things on the prints that gave them a vintage look.

[goamules]

I got some recently, stored in air conditioning. I can't remember how old, about 10 or 15 years. I couldn't get but one sheet to work.

[EdSawyer]

I had some 55 from 2004 , all pods seemed dry. :-/

[Vaughn]

Also what position it was stored in can be important. The best way is standing on end -- worst way is on its side. On its back, or front, is not too bad, but can eventually ruin some such as Type 69. It has to do with the orientation of the pod and maintaining the chemicals evenly across the length of the pod. In the case of the color, Type 69, the pods resting against and putting pressure on the film (the packs are alternated in direction in package) caused discoloration in the print where the pressure was applied.)

[Bob Salomon]

You mean expired 11 years ago, it was made quite a bit earlier then when it expired.

[goamules]

I heard you can gently warm them up in the microwave. Just kidding....don't!