Polaroid P/N 55 4x5

[Christopher Walrath]

I am going to be shooting with some large format in the foreseeable future and I wanted to ask some questions now while they're on my mind.

1. I recently got a box of P/N 55 that has an exp date of 8/2003. Is there anything I should do to ensure proper exposure, ie. augmented exposure +/- recommended?

2. Do the prints and negs have good durability/longevity? Is there anything that I can do to increase that, ie. toning, etc.

Thank you in advance for your answers.

 

[Don Dudenbostel]

I've used a good bit of 55 over the years and given the negs are properly cleared and washed they are archival. A polaroid rep told me that the film / neg is basically old Panatomic-X. The prints are probably not archival but will last many years if coated with the swabs properly and stored under ideal conditins.

Most likely your film will be very flat and slower in ISO due to age. 55 in my experience doesn't keep well past it's expiration date.

 

[keithwms]

Rate at ISO 15-20 or so for a good, thick neg. Rating at 10 wouldn't be a disaster. Don't bother trying to get good positive images by rating at ISO 80: the positve images suck compared to far less expensive instant film. So you will want to rate low and get one of those glorious negs!

The base is kinda thin and the emulsion a bit damageable- the negs tend to curl a bit upon drying, so you might consider a hardening fixer, but normally I just clear in sodium sulfite and wash extensively to get the goop off, and that's it. Wash well. I don't have issues with scratching, I just clear the goop off in my hands and then wash an additional 2-3 mins or so til it feels right.

The negs are superb- wonderful tonal qualities and very, very sharp. Buy it and shoot it while you can. You can get gorgeous prints that are credible to almost any enlargement.

If you do refrigerate it and perchance one of the frames out of the fridge shows some processing issues then don't panic, the pod probably degraded. In that case you can process the remaining stuff by hand instead of the usual pull processing through the polaroid holder.

Oh, 55 has quite good UV sensitivity, you can shoot UV with it.

I am still using 665 from 2-3 years ago that I kept in the fridge.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Actually I think the neg would be fine despite being 5 years out of date. Slow films hold up well to age. I rate it at 40 for the neg and 80 for the print.

The main issue with outdated Polaroid in my experience is the pods drying out, leaving undeveloped areas. Also the color materials can have some color shift when it's past date.

I know you don't want to waste any, but there's no test like a test. Shoot a scene like a landscape with a good range of tones in full sun with the camera focused at infinity, so that you can determine exposure by "sunny 16," eliminating the possibility of metering error, and avoiding complications like bellows factor and reciprocity.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Man you guys create more questions for me all the time. And that's a good thing (wink). Can someone give me the low down on anything I have to do with this film after exposure, step by step. Cleaning, fixing, the works. I want to have a good reference to go by fo starters at least when I am up and running. Thanks again, folks. You rock dee house, beeg time!