Film Photography Podcast Episode 44 - October 1, 2011
Defunct Polaroid Formats! Polaroid 35mm Instant Film, The Swinger and The Joycam / Captiva cameras are demonstrated! Polaroid 500 and Lomo Smena 8m giveaways!!!! Hosted by Michael Raso & Mat Marrash with John Fedele and Lauren Bagley.
I came across a pack of 500 film that had the words “Black Haus” printed on the film. The back of the film had a Polaroid web site for “events” printed. I imagine that back in the 1990s Polaroid produced special personalized film for corporate events. A quick google search yielded no information (most likely because of the infancy of the web in the early 1990s)
That's me in a dramatic pose on Polaroid “Black Haus” film
This oddball film format was produced for the 1990s-entry Captiva and JoyCam cameras began circa 1993 and disappeared by the early 2000s.
With the amount of expired Polaroid Film out there, follow Polaroid photographer Ellen Jo Roberts tipped me off to a group (started by daser) that unites users of expired film via a group on FLICKR called POLAROID FAIL!
Failed exposures from the "oddball" Polaroid 500 format. The Polaroid 500 format was introduced in 1993 and never caught the imagination (or sales) of the picture-taking public. non-image by me, Michael Raso
"Jammed film. Roller failure. Half exposures." It's all in this fab, new Flickr group!
photo by EllenJo Expired, defunct and forgotten - The Polaroid Joycam and 500 film format
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Fresher, fun days! Canadian TV spot for the Polaroid Joycam. Folks in this commercial using Polaroid 500 film.
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I've been experimenting with expired Polaroid films over the last 6 months and have found that most packs pre-2004 will...FAIL. :(
Me after discovering that a $30. pack of film (purchased on e-bay) just jammed my new Polaroid Captiva camera (spilling caustic chemicals inside)
In 1993 Polaroid hired comedian Sinbad to star in a series of commercials for the new Polaroid Captiva / Polaroid 500 film
Michael Raso
In 2009, I launched The Film Photography Podcast, an hour-long, bi-monthly Internet radio program exploring my passion for film photography and covering a wide range of topics relevant to the experienced / aspiring photographer using film as a medium.
http://filmphotographypodcast.com/
After discovering the defunct Polaroid Type 500 Instant Film format (along with the awesome Polaroid JoyCam & Captiva SLR camera), I tried to acquire Type 500 film, only to find it almost impossible to find.
Impossible…that’s it! If anyone could re-manufacture 500 film, it would be The Impossible Project! After all, these guys have the Polaroid JoyCam on their site. It won’t be long before they make their PX film for Polaroid 500 cameras, right? Right?? Right?!?!?
Sadly, no.
****************************** Michael Raso, Aug 24 21:16 (CEST): Hello Impossible, With the thousands of Polaroid Captiva SLR and Joycam cameras in the world combined with the growing cult around Polaroid 500, will Impossible produce new Type 500 film? -- Best to everyone at TIP, Michael Raso producer / host Film Photography Podcast http://filmphotographypodcast.com/
***** Impossible Customer Service, Aug 25 11:13 (CEST):
hello michael,
Thank you for your email. The type 500 film is an original Polaroid film and will not be reproduced. Sorry, I have no better information for you. kind regards, Andreas Impossible Customer Service
Welcome to the Film Photography Podcast. The podcast about having fun shooting still film photography, learning about vintage film cameras, equipment and techniques!
Kodak discontinued Kodachrome film in 2009. Dwayne's Photo will continue to process til 12/30/2010. Film is still available via e-bay. This is your last chance to shoot this wonderful film.
Filmdev.org - a great site about film-developing recipes.
Digital Work flow discussed
Negs are the best archiving material! Mike takes all his stuff,boxes it once a quarter, and stores it. Mike always digitally stores at least three copies of his work. Keep an off-site copy for ultimate safety.
The Captiva and Joy use the no-longer-manufactured Polaroid 500 Instant film.
Polaroid Type 500 film (produced from 1993-2005) has an image size of 73x54mm ( 2.874 x 2.126 inches), is ISO 600 and has 10 pictures to a pack.
My initial experience is that most existing packs available today have been improperly stored, causing the internal chemicals to dry out. The result causes film packs to leak caustic chemicals upon firing the shutter, malfunction or failure to eject any image at all.
One of the packs exposed through the Captiva camera yielded some decent images (above).
Existing, expired film packs are scarce. When available these film packs can fetch upwards of $20. - $50. each on ebay.
Further testing and experimentation as soon as I can locate more film packs.
