Advice on Impossible film

[EASmithV]

Finally getting myself to try the SX-70 Sonar I have.

Bought some silver shade and some Color Protection, Any advice on light shielding, or other advice on getting the best results?

Is it true that Color Protection needs no shielding? How about Silver Shade?

 

[xya]

silver shade needs immediate protection from light. it's diffucult to handle, but it's worth it.

color protection works fine without immediate shading. some days ago I made 2 similar shots, one was returned without haste, the other left open to light in a room with good light but no sun. I cannot see any difference. it takes a good moment to develop. the shots are completely blue for about 15 minutes before the image appears within another 15 minutes. the colors are fine. grain is still an item.

it's a bit of the old polaroid magic in slow motion.

 

[EASmithV]

how would you recommend I shield the silver shade from light immediately?

 

[AgX]

Attach kind of lighttight bag to the eject-end of the camera in a way that the film would be ejected into the bag.
As the film is not fully ejected, but held by the camera, you could attach cardbord to the camera in a way that it fully covers the image side of the film.

 

[nickrapak]

I've found that this method, courtesy of Impossible themselves, works best: http://vimeo.com/20367465 . Just be careful if it's windy out, as the wind can cause the darkslide and the film to separate.

 

[bvy]

A few things:

When I was shooting with the Sun 600, I found that the black bags that my Ilford 5x7 paper comes in fit snugly over the ejection slot. The picture ejected right into the bag, never seeing light.

With my Spectra which is too large for that, there's a hand feature whereby the picture won't eject until you release the shutter button. Press and hold to take the picture and let up when you're ready to eject. As mentioned, I keep a dark slide with me and allow the picture to eject against it. Then I bag it. Don't know if your SX-70 works this way, but the dark slide trick should still work. You just have to be quick about it.

I'll order the Color Protection when they release it for the Spectra -- some time this month allegedly. I've heard nothing but good about it.

 

[AgX]

The SX-70 just ejects the film, no means to retain it.

 

[maarten m]

using the darkslide to protect when ejecting is something i do for my SX70's. my impulse has the frogtongue that covers the picture while it's ejecting. as soon as i can, i cover it up with my left hand and transfer it to my pocket asap. shielding doesn't seem to be an item with the new ColorProtection film though, but even for the original polaroid film, there was mention of not leaving it exposed to sunlight when ejected, i think. grainyness isn't an issue to me, because it makes the TIP-film what it is.

 

[bvy]

Oh, and about the Silver Shade... It's beautiful stuff. One quirky thing about it, though, that doesn't get talked about as much, is that the film seems to continue to develop if you don't take immediate precautions to "dry" it. Impossible makes a dry age kit which seems to be nothing more than poorly packaged silica and a strip of cobalt chloride paper. The point is to do something. The Cool stuff I have started out a true monochrome and then turned sepia within a week. The sepia looks fine but I lost a lot of shadow detail in the process. The oldest shots are almost gone (I scanned them at least) and I'm trying like hell to preserve the more recent ones without resorting to making lifts or transparencies.

 

[EASmithV]

So If I take a bunch of silica bags and a plastic bag and put the film in there i'm good to go? And, I see on the video people inserting the darkslide into the camera door, opeinig the door after the darkslide is ejected? won't this fog the film?

 

[nickrapak]

And, I see on the video people inserting the darkslide into the camera door, opeinig the door after the darkslide is ejected? won't this fog the film?

No. There's a small piece of flexible plastic that covers the ejection slot when the door is opened. That being said, don't try to wiggle the film pack or put the darkslide in in bright sunlight, as there might be a little fog.

 

[AgX]

"There's a small piece of flexible plastic that covers the ejection slot" of the film-cassette.