I completely agree, I used LOTS of Polaroid material myself in my advertising photography studio in the 80s, 90s and very early 2000s. It was common practice back then, in the FILM days, to check complicated studio lighting settings (I was working with food and wine, for cooking books, for example), to ensure everything was working perfectly before the final take. In the later years, I used the excellent, saturated, high-contrast Fuji FP100C color instant film, loaded into my Mamiya RZ67 Polaroid back, and into the 405 (and 550) backs of the LF studio camera (format 6x12cm for editorial work over two pages, sometimes 6x9cm, and of course 4x5" Fuji sheet film). I worked mostly on Fujichrome slide film (PROVIA 100F III 120) that my advertising clients were very happy with, it always looked extremely well after a professional drum scan. And of course, the narrow exposure latitude of the original slide film (100 ISO) was one major part of the reason of shooting a Polaroid, the accurate exposure just had to be carefully checked in advance when delivery of the work was early next morning. Nowadays, young photographers only shooting digital look at me in bewilderment, not quite grasping an era before iPhones and small digital mirrorless cameras... I use them, too, a LOT (Fuji X-T2 & X-E3 and a Nikon D800E DSLR)
But I actually also STILL use instant film material! These days, I love shooting landscapes and architecture (now that I am an old age pensioner and only do what I like) with my Hasselblad and Fuji GX680 III Pro cameras (sometimes also the trusted Mamiya RZ67, the Pentax 6x7 TTL, or even 6x12cm in a Horseman roll film holder, on a Horseman LE 4x5" camera, a very nice, moderately wide panorama format). However, I favor mostly either the 'square' composition of 6x6cm, or the beautifully proportioned 6x8cm format (56 x 76mm) of the monstrously big Fuji 6x8.
And STILL - before shooting a single frame of slide film, I'll shoot a very quick 'Polaroid' (Fuji FP100B black & white pack film of 10) just to check the exact exposure, final composition, and that nothing vignettes (filters, compendium lens shade etc). The processing time is 30-45 seconds, but I always wait 2 minutes for deeper blacks. After a day of landscapes, I find it very contemplative to ponder over my Fuji 'Polaroids', perhaps doing a different 4,5x6 crop, while I wait for my lab in Stockholm to develop the E-6 rolls of film (120 or 220):
Apart from the more practical side, in my analogue photography, I also LOVE to see all the great artistic work and experiments (e.g. Polaroid Transfers, which I tried myself many times) that the innovative Polaroid Land Process inspired (see the books from my library below):
All the best from Stockholm, Sweden,
Bengt Fredén, photographer ;-)
