polaroid 55 PN

Hello,

I have here 3 sheetes of pola 55 PN 4x5 - had 10 - expired march 2001

after 7 tries and getting no image i thought, "of course they are expired!"

but then i thought, "maybe they are not getting exposed, when i pull the envelope

to expose the whole thing is coming up the holder."

so, could it be the film holder has a problem?

is it really the films?

help!

not gonna do anything for now.

Thank you !!!

A 545 holder has a small metal piece that engages the metal lip on the Polaroid envelope. If that is sufficiently worn, it might not hold the film in place while you pull the paper out of the holder to the stoping point. I had one of my holders repaired for that once after 1000's of sheets of of Polaroid had been shot with it. Also, are you leaving the lever at the L setting while you pull the envelope out? If set to P, the film would not be left in the holder while you pulled the paper envelope to expose it. Finally, the most likely cause of failure is the age of the material. The chemical pods, in particular, tend to fail over time. Also, if you aren't the original owner, someone might have frozen this material to extend its life. Unfortunately, that can also ruin the chemicals.

Thank you Andrrew. I've saved these films for so long might as well save them a little longer and have the film holder checked. (want to get some NEW55 anyway) but as you said the chemicals are failing. Yes i leave the lever at L setting, and yes i'm the original owner and no i didn't store them in the fridge or freezer! Thank you again!

New 55 is different from the Polaroid original--you need to fix the negative in Ilford fixer after processing in the paper. Check their website for full details so that you are ready to use it when it arrives. Good luck!

My Polaroid 500 holder is fairly bad at gripping the film and I lost a few sheets with it. My #545 does a much better job. What also happens sometimes is that the pod doesn't break well and the chemicals don't spread well. I've found that using a brayer on it after pulling it through the rollers results in a much better image. I know, I know, you're not supposed to touch it. But it's been working for me to make sure the chemicals spread. I have some that expired in 2005 that are still working as of last month. I just wish I had more.

Thank you Andrew! yes, been to their site a few times!

Thank you Bethe! will try that. you're not supposed to touch it before developing, after it went through the rollers .....

hi jorge

old polaroid 545 olders are notorious for having the clip fail

steve grimes published this info on his website years ago

Polaroid 545 Film holder « SKGrimes

like bethe i have a #500 holder. they have a wire instead of a clip

but they don't have a "stop" so if you aren't careful you might pull

the cardboard/darkslide right off of your film you can tell by tension on

the cardboard how much you pull out ( takes practice? ) the rollers on

the 500 always seemed to spread the chemical pod better then the 545 too...

don't forget excess cold ruins the chemical pods and the film won't process unless

you do it by hand-- that is release the envelop, go in the darkroom, remove the film

like it was a quick/ready load, and develop it like regular film in a darkroom. they say

it was/was like panatomic x so if you look up old development times for pan x you will be getting close.

 

good luck !

 

john

I thought that there was a way to check that the film stayed in, but I forget how it works.

 

Otherwise, all the old pack film that I have tried had dried up pods. The positive

and negative don't stick together at all, so it is pretty obvious what went wrong.

Type 55 PN was only tried once by me, and that was so long ago, so I don't remember if the film has a developer "bead" in it or not.

 

In any case, what usually happens first with other Polaroid films is that the developer jelly dries out. If that happens, you need to develop the negatives in your darkroom with more conventional soups.

 

My personal favorite, outdated 1968

Thank you John, Glen, JDMvW !!!

I see that New 55 has ceased production, just as I discovered it. Same for 1Shot Ready Loads, which I would love to use. What's going on here? Are they looking for a buyer to continue production??

Type 55 PN was only tried once by me, and that was so long ago, so I don't remember if the film has a developer "bead" in it or not.

 

In any case, what usually happens first with other Polaroid films is that the developer jelly dries out. If that happens, you need to develop the negatives in your darkroom with more conventional soups.

 

My personal favorite, outdated 1968

[ATTACH=full]1186512[/ATTACH]

You CAN develop Poloroid negatives in the traditional method? Could I ask you to elaborate on how to do this, please? I have several boxes(just about a case) of unopened Poloroid Type 58 film I am hoping to use- but they are all dated 1978, and my late father listed them as "dead?" on the box... If I can develop them normally, it might be a fun experiment!

 

Thanks!

You CAN develop Poloroid negatives in the traditional method? Could I ask you to elaborate on how to do this, please? I have several boxes(just about a case) of unopened Poloroid Type 58 film I am hoping to use- but they are all dated 1978, and my late father listed them as "dead?" on the box... If I can develop them normally, it might be a fun experiment!

 

Thanks!

 

not sure about #58 but #55 film was a panatomic x type film

this flickr thread has a starting point for pan x developing times

Panatomic-X development time | Kodak Panatomic-X | Flickr

i develop by inspection and use either caffenol of something like dektol / ansco 130

 

good luck!

Polaroid Type 58 was a color product. I have no idea if standard C 41 processing would work, if it was outdated in 1968 it probably would have been C 22. You might try to find a lab still running a dip and dunk C 41 sheet film processor and see if they have any ideas.