NPC 190 Camera

[Arthurwg]

Will any of the currently available instant films work in an NPC 190 Camera? I'm particularly interested in P/N B&W. I know that New 55 made some P/N at one time.. Is it still available?

 

[Oren Grad]

Here's who to contact about New55:

https://the-famous-large-small-format-photography-co.myshopify.com/

https://www.famousformat.net/

 

[OrientPoint]

The NPC 190 takes pack film, which is no longer available unless you want to buy expired packs on the Auction site, or "One Instant" film from SuperSense (https://the.supersense.com/products/one-instant). One Instant is like $10+/shot and front what I've seen half of them will jam in your camera :-(

Fuji FP100c was the last "real" pack film to be made, and was discontinued in 2016. The stuff is quite bullet-proof. Packs that expired 15 years ago still work quite well most of the time. Packs from ~2000 work, but the colors do go wonky when you go that far back. Problem is cost – recently expired packs go for ~$100/ea, pretty insane.

As for P/N, what you'd want for the 190 is Polaroid 665. There are still packs out there that work, if you want to chance it.

 

[Arthurwg]

Thanks OP. I love the old P/N Polaroid and this camera, but I guess I'll have to give up on it. Rats!

 

[Donald Qualls]

I haven't heard anything good about the state of New55 recently, and as noted above, that's 4x5 singles (fit a 500 or 550 back, won't work in pack film cameras) -- I honestly don't think we're going to see P/N or any other peel-apart film again beyond last-ditch, use-up-the-leftovers operations like One Instant (and at those prices, you have to be silly rich or really obsessed).

If you'll stretch your definition of "instant" a bit, and don't mind "portable" meaning "built into a cart", you could set up an Afghan Box Camera. Those are close to instant (ten minutes or so to a washed and drying positive, not counting setup time for leveling and filling trays when you get to where you're photographing, and a little takedown time to dump and rinse the trays and collect/protect any negatives or prints you want to keep), give a negative as an intermediate (positive is obtained by rephotographing the paper negative), are pretty cheap to operate and don't cost a bunch to build (need a large format lens in shutter, some lumber, some knowledge, developing trays, and a pair of old jeans or changing bag to supply a sleeve).