Shoptalk: Polaroid’s Quirky Films

[johnastovall]

"Lost in the recent discussion of the Polaroid SX-70 — its artistic legacy and the attempts to revive it — is the fact that Polaroid once made two large-format, positive-negative films. Type 55 was single sheet, Polaroid 665 was a 10-sheet pack. After developing, the film needed to be rinsed in sodium sulfite, washed in water and hung up to dry. You could tell Polaroid shooters because they always toted their trusty white buckets..."

Full Story.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Didn't they make a super large sheet film that Avedon used? I'm talking like 20x25 inches and larger?

[kenw]

My father used it on some rare occassions in doing proofs for advertising set-ups. The real shot, however, was always done with "real" film, the Polariod was just to check lightings, composition, etc. iirc. This would have been in the mid-late 60s. I think they were using interchangeable backs, one for Polaroid proofs, another for the LF film.

He also used the smaller "normal" sized Polaroids as a way to quickly snag documentation of the set, and in later years, for the proofs as well. The large format stuff was always handled by an outside photographer, and those guys cost $$ so anything that reduced their time on the set was good.

[J Eddington]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

Didn't they make a super large sheet film that Avedon used? I'm talking like 20x25 inches and larger?

Someone just posted a link to William Wegman's site that has 20x24 polarids http://www.wegmanworld.com/
And Polarid has infor on thier site.

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

Didn't they make a super large sheet film that Avedon used? I'm talking like 20x25 inches and larger?

The largest sheet film was 20x24 and only 6 of the cameras were made. Polaroid will rent you one along with the studio.

But the largest was the Moby C, 40x106. About the Moby C.

20x24 in studio

[janikphoto]

I used the type 55 a few times in my 4x5 and liked it. I also used the sx-70 in a camera iI have, but never got the results that others did. I think it takes a lot more practice, manipulating it right.