hi, i have just purchased a polaroid back no.405 (medium format) for location work on 5X4. Can anyone tell me if i get a good exposed image from the polaroid will the exposure be the same for the transparencie or thereabouts. thanks Andy

-- Andy Pritchard (apritchard@cwcom.net), June 24, 2000

Answers

I shoot polaroids so they are a bit on the hot side (blown out whites) then I tend to push film a third or a quarter to punch it up a little. As a rule polaroids are a lot more contrasty then film, so blocked up highlights and shadows will show detail on film. Be carefull because polaroids can become addictive. but at least you don't have to worry about your meters battery going bad, and it takes away that anxiety while waiting for film to come back. But it doesn't me you can stop snipping/clipping film or for sheet film run the top sheet and hold the rest till you can see that first transparency.

doug

-- doug (dmcgoldrick@usa.net), June 24, 2000.

I've found a similar relationship between Polaroid prints and transparencies. I'll sometimes use a 405 back to shoot Pro Vivid, but 99% of the time I shoot B&W P/N Type 55 in 4x5. Slightly blown- out whites on the Polaroid are still fine on the transparency. With Type 55, you can hold the print up to a bright light and see some of the shadow detail which will show in the transparency. For the 405, Polaroid makes a P/N film (655?), but it's completely different from Type 55. The print backing is opaque, so holding it up to the light doesn't provide any information, and the negative also has an opaque backing which must be chemically cleared in order to see through the negative. Viewing the negative provides a great focus check. The Type 55 negative is a high quality negative by itself which is very suitable for making prints (although the exposure for the print is very different than a proper exposure for the negative).

-- Larry Huppert (Larry.Huppert@mail.com), June 25, 2000.

My experience is that Polaroid is about 1/2 to a full stop more sensitive than transparency or negative films with the same ISO.

-- Ellis Vener (evphoto@insync.net), June 25, 2000.