In praise of Polaroid Type 55.

JBrunner · May 30, 2006

Recently I bit the bullet and started shooting some type 55. It did make me gasp a little, economically, but after spending some time with the negatives, all I can say is...Wow! Sharp! And grain approaching microfilm standards. (well maybe not, but it is pretty darn fine)

Things are going to get more expensive,, and a niche product like Polaroid is of course, showing the brunt of it.

I feel a little less gouged, now that I have experienced the thrill of checking out my neg, and overexposed positive, right in the field. It reminds me of the feeling I get when a print comes up in the tray.

I have posted a type 55 I shot over the weekend in the gallery. I'm very pleased.

Anybody else in praise of this film? How do you like to print it? Is there a way to keep the rough frame edges in an enlarger? Filed carriers? (A little affected, I know)

If you have not shot some, I urge you to try it- sticker shock and all...

George Papantoniou · May 30, 2006

Mr Prints of Darkness, I shot my first P55 at Fine Arts School (1988 or something). Never got hooked. I liked it, but enjoy waiting until after a darkroom session to see the results, too.

Best way to print the border (as far as I am concerned) was to use the gigantic Durst 138 Laborator w/ condenser and the 5x7 glass neg carrier...

JBrunner · May 30, 2006

Well, I don't think I'm going to give up my Pyro, but I am having a boatload of fun with this stuff. It's just nice to try something different, and get such nice results.

Oh, and just what I need... one more enlarger....

jimgalli · May 30, 2006

Jason, Another holy grail. If you can find a 5" X 250? ft. roll of Kodak Aerial Panatomic X on fleabay sometime.......I truly believe it's the same film. Shoot it at asa 32 and hold your breath developing because it's contrasty. But you can not find grain in an enlarging scope to focus on. And if you buy it right it's about 17 cents for a 5X7 neg. To date, I have made my finest Pt/Pd prints from negs done on this film. The contrast just pops the pt/pd.

Forgot; If you have a mat cutter, make a special holder for the polaroids by cutting 2 special sized windows in mat board and making your own holder for the enlarger. It's all I use at home because it's all I have. Seems to hold them nice and flat.

JLP · May 30, 2006

Jim,
That idea about the matting board is awesome and should be fairly easy to make for Beseler 45. Thanks very much.
James already gave me a good tip about the 55 negative clearing so my first take on 55 will very interesting.

Thanks both.

jan

JLP · May 30, 2006

Sorry, i meant to write Jason.
Thanks Jason.

jan

Amund · May 30, 2006

I`ve used a few boxes of the 55, and I love it. One of the best films ever for portraits IMO, It has this incredible smoothness with skintones that is hard to describe.

david b · May 30, 2006

B&H is having a special on short dated film (Oct 2006) for $75 for a box of 20 shots.

Fintan · May 30, 2006

david b said:
B&H is having a special on short dated film (Oct 2006) for $75 for a box of 20 shots.

While researching this thread;
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

I found that Freestyle have type 55 for $69.95 but I'm not sure if that includes taxes.

Alex Hawley · May 30, 2006

I got hooked on Type 55 about a year ago. Don't know for sure why but I sure like it. One thing i most enjoy (other that the oustanding results) is developing it with being in the darkroom.

Lately, I've been playing with solarizing the neagtives. Here's the thread I started: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

David A. Goldfarb · May 30, 2006

Type 55 is nice stuff. I use it often for tests and quick shots, but it's got great tonality for portraits. The neg is Panatomic-X, I've read, and it does look like it. Panatomic-X Aerial film I believe has extended red sensitivity but under normal conditions probably looks a lot like Panatomic-X.

SeamusARyan · May 31, 2006

As I have no darkroom type 55 is fab, I dont have a drying cabinet either but that's another story, I used to print it with all of the borders showing, see here for examples http://www.whiteroomgallery.com/artists/seamus_ryan/index.html , but now I tend to only show the edge upto where the glue/paper starts.

I print them on a 10x8 enlarger between 2 sheets of glass with a rubylith marked area to centre the neg. It works beautifully with kodak ektalure but that is sadly now a thing of the past, apart from those of us with a few boxes in storage of course.

I am currently teaching myself photoshop so I can produce enlarged negs to go Alt, probably try cyanotypes to start with as they appear to be a little bit cheaper to do than Pt/Pd but hope to graduate to Pt/Pd eventually, not that there is anything wrong with cyanotypes, a friend of mine tones them in tea and they are lovely..... now just have to convince "her in doors" to let me use her tea

I know type 665 has bitten the dust but here's hoping polaroid can keep type 55 around for a very long time

enjoy

Seamus
www.seamusryan.com
enjoy

Fintan · May 31, 2006

SeamusARyan said:
...but here's hoping polaroid can keep type 55 around for a very long time

absolutely agree and i hope polaroid dont increase their price on it, IMHO its now at the absolute maximum

MenacingTourist · May 31, 2006

So which one of you guys are going to write a basic article for those of us who need a little more hand holding? Anyone...Bueller?

Ted Harris · May 31, 2006

Fintan said:
While researching this thread;
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

I found that Freestyle have type 55 for $69.95 but I'm not sure if that includes taxes.

Badger and Midwest also regularly sell T55 at 69.95 and NOT for short dated film. Both have it in stock now.

In praise of Polaroid Type 55.

JBrunner

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George Papantoniou

JBrunner

Moderator

jimgalli

JLP

JLP

Amund

david b

Fintan

Alex Hawley

David A. Goldfarb

Moderator

SeamusARyan

Fintan

MenacingTourist

Ted Harris

In praise of Polaroid Type 55.

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Moderator

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