Polapan

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Has anyone tried Polapan or any other instant slide film from Polaroid? Any feedbacks?

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), September 21, 2001

Answers

I have not tried Polapan, but Van Riper covers the film in this article.


-- Niels H. S. Nielsen (nhsn@ruc.dk), September 21, 2001.

I've used it and didn't particularily like it. Though some rave about the tonal scale I found that it was too inconsistent for my likings. Exposure seemed kind of hit and miss (lots of braketing) and sometimes when I'd run it through the processor (I was using the manual model), areas would be undeveloped. Add the fact that the emulsion is extrememly fragile (Polaroid recommends mounting the slides in glass mounts only) and it just seemed too much trouble to be worth it. IMHO.....

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), September 21, 2001.

Very expensive (this from a Leica owner!!); runs about $22 US per 36exp roll (but that includes processing 8^)) - very grainy for the speed - a lot of contrast - requires dedicated processing machine - delicate, as Bob said, because the emulsion is right on the surface with no protective coating so that the chemicals can get at the silver and process it in a minute and a half.

Some people like the "look" for fashion photography and other purposes.

The hospital photo department I worked for in 1982 or thereabouts got to beta-test the Polaroid instant 35mm films before they came out.

The Litho film is just that.

The color slide film is very weird - it's actually a B&W film with a color filter screen built into the emulsion, so it works like the old AUTOCHROME plates from the turn of the last century. Very soft colors, very low resolution, visible color stripes like a TV screen when projected/enlarged. Again, some people find the 'look' useful artistically, but with 2-hour E-6 processing available I personally never saw the point.

With all three films you expose THROUGH the film base so the emulsion is also liable to scratching from the camera's pressure plate.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), September 22, 2001.


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