4x5 Instant Film: Photo-shoot

Darryl Roberts · Jul 22, 2021

Hi,

I'll be shooting a portrait, in studio, black and white.

I'd, like yesteryear photographers, like to provide Instant. I will be using a Graflok friendly 4 x5 camera?

Should I buy

an expired pack of Fuji FP-3000B45
or New55 PN100

I'm looking for an experienced answer please.

Thank you.

Donald Qualls · Jul 22, 2021

If the New55 is fresh dated, I'd recommend that. FP-3000B45 has been out of production for about fifteen years, and it's unlikely to still be fully viable due to either fogging of the very fast emulsion, or drying out of the chemical pods -- and due to collector value, you'll probably pay half as much per frame, give or take, as you would for fresh New55.

nbagno · Jul 22, 2021

Don't buy New 55. They can't seem to ship and screwed me out of several hundred dollars.

Donald Qualls · Jul 22, 2021

And then there's that. And LomoGraflok (to put Instax Wide, color or B&W, on a 4x5 Graflok back), won't ship until October unless you were in the first pre-order or Kickstarter group.

If you don't mind futzing with a dark bag in your studio, you could use one of the various improvised setups to shoot Instax, either in a Polaroid/Fujiroid pack film back or with standard film holders and putting the print back into the Instax camera for processing.

Darryl Roberts · Jul 22, 2021

Donald Qualls said:
And then there's that. And LomoGraflok (to put Instax Wide, color or B&W, on a 4x5 Graflok back), won't ship until October unless you were in the first pre-order or Kickstarter group.

If you don't mind futzing with a dark bag in your studio, you could use one of the various improvised setups to shoot Instax, either in a Polaroid/Fujiroid pack film back or with standard film holders and putting the print back into the Instax camera for processing.

Thank you. I have been considering that option

Bronson Dugnutt · Jul 22, 2021

Have an assistant develop 4x5 paper positives. Invite the subject(s) into the darkroom if they really need to see the image appear before their eyes.

I'm eagerly awaiting my LomoGraflok 4x5 Instax Back, since October '20.

cramej · Jul 22, 2021

Bronson Dugnutt said:
Have an assistant develop 4x5 paper positives. Invite the subject(s) into the darkroom if they really need to see the image appear before their eyes..

^This. Harman Direct Positive is nice. Much cheaper than any of the instant stuff. It takes a bit of testing to get it right, but once dialed it, looks great.

Darryl Roberts · Jul 22, 2021

Unfortunately, I just learned NEW55 is behind on production due to a health concern. Guess I'll get a box of the Fujifilm, expired box.

removed account4 · Jul 22, 2021

There really is nothing available that will be like a polaroid proof,
maybe instax but the colors are a bit wonky
I wouldn't do anything off of a kickstarter,
#55 has problems ( if it was 30 years ago and actually polaroid I'd say do #59 )
I wouldn't do anything expired.

if you hav a darkroom and assistant I'd suggest :

Bronson Dugnutt said:
Have an assistant develop 4x5 paper positives. Invite the subject(s) into the darkroom if they really need to see the image appear before their eyes.

but even that will take a tinker or too because unless your final product is going to be THAT. .. its ( and everything else ) will look nothing like
what you final image might be like. we used to go through boxes and boxes of the polaroid stuff, there was nothing like it.

are you going to make enlargements from your negatives in the dark or are they going to be negative scans and machine prints ?
if they are going to be negative scans and machine prints, do the whole thing in Ilford direct positive .. just be aware it is slow and like any paper negative, sort of contrast rich...
and unlike a regular paper negative you can't use a yellow filter to tame the contrast because it isn't VC paper.

have fun!
john

abruzzi · Aug 6, 2021

Well, its August. Last I heard from Lomo, the instax wide back should be delivered to early buyers in August, but I haven't heard peep. I ordered in November and the last I heard from them was March. Has anyone else heard anything, official or unofficial? Their site still says october for later buyers.

Donald Qualls · Aug 6, 2021

I recall the Kickstarter backers and pre-orders before some date (April?) were to have shipped in July or so, mine was after the cutoff and last I heard was going to ship in October.

abruzzi · Aug 6, 2021

B&H had some slightly expired B&W instax wide about ~4 months ago, so I bought a bunch. Its only getting more expired, until I can do some shooting. (I almost never preorder, but I was worried this would be a one-run product and if I waitied until they were shipping, they'd be sold out by then. So I am slightly impatient.)

Donald Qualls · Aug 6, 2021

I haven't yet purchased any Instax Wide -- but I had an Instax Mini camera and bought a couple packs of the monochrome film. I'm honestly not very impressed; it seems low on contrast (and of course, with self-timing development, there's no way to adjust it other than with the light itself, which I often can't control). I might give it another try once I get the LomoGraflok, a bigger print will always look better -- but I recall the same "meh" feeling about Polaroid Originals monochrome in my SX-70. It may be an inherent limitation to the dye-migration chemistry for black and white images...

Oren Grad · Aug 6, 2021

abruzzi said:
Well, its August. Last I heard from Lomo, the instax wide back should be delivered to early buyers in August, but I haven't heard peep. I ordered in November and the last I heard from them was March. Has anyone else heard anything, official or unofficial? Their site still says october for later buyers.

I ordered in the first group, haven't received any updates since the one pushing estimated delivery back to August.

abruzzi · Aug 6, 2021

Thanks. I've never preordered anything before, so I was slightly paranoid that they lost my order. I'll go back to building my 8x10, take a deep breath, and it will happen when it happens.

Donald Qualls · Aug 9, 2021

abruzzi said:
I was slightly paranoid that they lost my order.

Very understandable. If it were a smaller/newer outfit than Lomography, I'd probably be a little concerned as well -- but Lomography is well established and has some track record (as well as the marketing savvy to sell their learning curve mistakes -- see Lomography Purple), not to mention having a working prototype they were sending around to various large format YouTube channels. And I've ordered from Lomography before, with good results (Konstruktor 35mm SLR kit). So I was confident enough to send them money in April, expecting to wait six months for my new toy. I won't be concerned unless folks who ordered earlier don't start getting their LomoGrafloks by early October (about two more months push back).

OrientPoint · Aug 9, 2021

The last FP3000b45 expired in 2012. I have some and it works ok, but with much reduced contrast - the blackest blacks are grey. It's a look, but maybe not the one you want.

Instax wide will work great, but it's hardly old-tymey and it's not 4x5. New55 is always dicey in terms of availability, shipping and quality (not to mention cost).

The best option for 4x5 instant at this point, if you can find it, is FP100c45. It's color obviously, but even the older c. 2007 packs are pretty bulletproof. Old FP100b45 and FP3000b45 not nearly as reliable. You may also be able to find well-stored boxes of Polaroid 5x film that still work. It's a real crap-shoot though. Some of it will work almost like new, other boxes will be completely dry. 51 or 55 (the two with negatives and positives) seem to hold up the best.

If you want some FP100b45 or sheets of Polaroid 51 or 55 to try send me a PM.

Nicholas W · Jun 23, 2022

Darryl Roberts said:
Hi,

I'll be shooting a portrait, in studio, black and white.

I'd, like yesteryear photographers, like to provide Instant. I will be using a Graflok friendly 4 x5 camera?

Should I buy

an expired pack of Fuji FP-3000B45

or New55 PN100

I'm looking for an experienced answer please.

Thank you.

Fuji FP100b45 will more than likely be fine if you can find fridge stored stuff. Even then, later dated 2010/2011/2012 boxes will probably work great too.

4x5 Instant Film: Photo-shoot

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency