New55 Instant Film

[Mackinaw]

I’m intrigued by instant photography and took delivery of a box of New55 instant film a few days back. This is a “Polaroid” 4X5 film that gives you a print and a negative. What New55 is attempting to do is impressive, their basically reinventing the instant film process. Their instant film, now, is basically homemade and frightfully expensive. A box of five sheets/prints will cost you $85.00 which equates to about $17.00 per exposure. I support what they’re doing so figured I’d buy one box to see exactly how far they progressed. I used my old Busch Pressman 4X5 with a 137mm Wollensak lens. Here’s my first shot using this new instant B&W film. The print looks OK, but is pretty soft with not much detail. It has a slight sepia tone too. The negative though, was superb. Very sharp, good tonal range, with nice contrast. It scans well and would also make an excellent negative for those who use a wet darkroom.

I still have four exposures to shoot. Not sure what I’l use it on.

Jim B.

 

[Trius]

I have an unopened box of Type 55 in my film fridge. I am so hesitant to use it; I have not decided a proper subject or project for it. The original had "two speeds" if you will. The EI for the print was about 50, and the proper exposure for the negative was about 32. This was because the negative material was Panatomic-X.

I'm curious if there is a similar difference with New55. Not that it really matters too much to me - $17/sheet is beyond my means and divorce territory. 😉

 

[Mackinaw]

The ISO varies per batch. Mine is 50, other batches they’ve run have been between 100 - 200.

Remember the stuff is “beta” and is hand-made. If New55 can pull this off (and, I gather, it’s not a sure thing they can), prices will have to drop, and they know it. Reading their blog, they made a major breakthrough last week by inventing a machine that automates a lot of the now-tedious hand assembly.

We’ll see what happens. I bought this on a lark, just to see what it looks like. The quality of the 4X5 negs impressed me, they are really outstanding. The prints less so.

Jim B.