Originally Posted by
rdenney
Some basic answers for you:
1. The Type 55 P/N Polaroid film is rather special, in that instead of the paper negative it uses a real film negative (plus the positive print, of course). After making the exposure and processing like regular Polaroid film (more about this in a second), you would peel the paper surround off the film and slide it into a holding tank that was filled with, as I recall from dim memory, a sodium sulfite solution. The plastic tanks can still be had. All of this was done in daylight, so it was really quite easy. The Type 55 negative had a somewhat narrow tonal range, but it was quite usable. The point is: If you have some 55, you might either want to equip yourself for dealing with the negatives, or learn on something else and wait until you are ready (or sell it someone who wants it for what it is). It is discontinued and it seems a shame to waste the negatives through inability to deal with them.
1a. You shoot Polaroid sheet film by moving the lever to the O position, insert the film until it stops, pull out the paper leader (which acts as a dark slide) until it stops, make the exposure, push the paper leader back in, flip the lever the other way, and pull it all out as a package. That last pull bursts the chemical packs and squeegies the chemical into the sandwich between the negative and the positive. Then, wait for the prescribed amount of time (different for different films and temperature dependent), and peel it apart. At that point, you would peel off the paper from the edge of the plastic Type 55 negative and slide it into the clearing tank.
1b. The modern Fujiroid approach. There is no longer any Polaroid sheet film that goes into your 545 holder (though you can use Quickload film in that holder). But you can get a Fuji PA-45 (or Polaroid 405--again fuzzy memory there) holder and buy the Fuji 4x5 pack film. Follow the instructions that come with it. If you just want to play and get instant feedback, that's the best way for now.
2. The Readyload system was offered by Kodak for their paper-sleeved conventional film, but they have discontinued it. Your Readyload holder is therefore basically useless, unless you come into a stock of old Readload film.
3. The Quickload system is still current, though, as you have discovered, Fuji doesn't offer many films using that system. That film will work both in your Quickload holder and in the Polaroid 545 holder. But it's not instant film--it's just conventional film that uses the paper sleeve so you don't have to load film holders.
4. Sheet film holders are most commonly made by Riteway, Fidelity, or Lisco. A visit to KEH.com will show many of these for sale. The newer ones are plastic, and use an FRP dark slide. You pull the dark slide, rotate one end to open the film slot, hold the film with the notches on the upper right (so that the emulsion is facing you), and slide it into the film holder. Then, fold the end back over and reinsert the dark slide. In the field, you slide it under the ground glass, pull the dark slide, make the exposure, replace the dark slide, and remove the holder. The holders hold two sheets and have two dark slides, so you can turn it over and make another exposure.
5. Get a copy of Ansel Adams's The Camera and The Negative. In any excursion into large-format photography, these classics are still completely current.
6. Your camera has an International back--also known as a Graflok back--that allows you to remove the ground-glass frame after focusing and composing, and install a roll-film holder. That becomes yet another film option, though you give up a lot of the format. Roll-film holders for all the medium formats are readily available, and often for about $200ish for good used 6x9 holders or a new Shen-Hao 6x12 holder.
Rick "who lived in Houston, College Station, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas before being exiled to Virginia" Denney
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He's always after me to ditch the blasphemous digital format and be a real photographer LOL.
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