Polaroid 55

[Commonman]

I was chatting with a guy in St. Louis who's initials are SF. He's a very experienced pro-photographer. He was telling me about some kind of polaroid film that gives you a positive AND a negative. He said the negatives yielded by this film are excellent...nice and big and can be used to create really cool prints. Is anyone familiar with this technique? And, am I referring to it correctly? I don't think this film is available anymore but maybe some of you have used it.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Type 55 (if you can even find it anymore) has two layers in each sleeve, one with the negative, and one with your proof. You need to soup the negative though before you can use it for anything, it can be a messy process.

 

[Helen B]

Type 55 has been around for a long time. I used it occasionally, though I am not as big a fan of it as many other people are. It was/is often impossible to get an exposure that would give both an acceptable print and an acceptable negative. Most people tossed the print away and just aimed for the best negative.

Here is an earlier thread on Type 55:link.

Best,
Helen

 

[Commonman]

Helen,

Thanks for the input. Yeah, I guess it's a thing of the past now.

J. F.

 

[Commonman]

Helen, after checking out the link you provided, it appears that some people have managed to find this stuff and are actually still using it.

 

[Helen B]

There's still some around, and if you keep checking eBay you should be able to find some. Beware of out-of-date 55, or badly stored 55. If it isn't stored upright on the short end there can be problems with unevenness - especially with part-used packets.

Good luck,
Helen

 

[Commonman]

Thanks Helen.