I just bought a new Polaroid 545i back last week, and I plan to use T52 and T55 (neg) for personal projects (landscapes and portraits). After my initial attempts, I have a few basic questions.

After reading Ansel Adams' summary of different polaroid films, I gathered that T52 produced a pretty smooth image. The ones I took yesterday look almost grainy. Is that normal?

Where on the groundglass does the image area actually appear? How do you mark the groundglass for polaroids?

How do you coat prints without leaving vertical streaks of gunk from the coater? Do you coat prints immediately after pulling apart the packet, or do you wait a few seconds? A general primer on coating would be helpful.

How exact does development time have to be? How do you measure time and temperature? Does over- and under-developing effect print contrast or just density?

Finally, can anyone recommend a LF polaroid book besides AA's "Polaroid Land Photography"?

Thanks in advance.

-- Jason Freitag (jfreitag@court.state.il.us), March 04, 2002

Answers

Jason, try checking out the polaroid site, look under "create"...

http://www.polaroidwork.com/prophoto/prophoto_home.jsp

As for coating 55 prints, I either do it sooner or later or not at all...depends on how long I want to keep 'em....I don't use them much as final art...good luck on coating them cleanly....they're always messy to deal with. They might be ever so offset on a g.g.....they also record a smaller image area as well, so for proofing, make sure you check the corners of the g.g. for unwanted objects before burning any film....I've had some nasty surprises this way when I've gotten too lazy....hope this helps, my opinions as always.

-- DK Thompson (kthompson@moh.dcr.state.nc.us), March 04, 2002.