Following the story of one of Polaroid’s coating plants closing reported by South Coast Today, several message boards have been alight with rumours that Type 55 positive/negative sheet film is discontinued.
Bill Schwab (who BTW makes fantastic pictures) actually bothered to call Polaroid, and said:
Just got off the phone with Polaroid (easy) where I was told that Type 55 is FAR from dead. In fact I am told sales are quite strong and consistant. I was told there are several coating facilities. I am now forwarding the article David linked to because they did not know of these rumours and want to read them before commenting further.
Check them facts, y’all. Picking up the phone before feeding the fire isn’t hard, it’s responsible. Of course the company may lie to you, but at least you’ve done some due diligence.
How Rumors start…
I heard all these rumors, and saw they were quickly squashed. Then this week I went to my local pro shop here in Aust. to order a couple of boxes.
They flicked through the price list, came to a list which listed in black and white (sorry) under the header ”Discontinued” both 665 and 55.
I rang the Australian importer who told me the same thing ”That’s a discontinued product” they said firmly.
I pushed them for clarification before they finally admitted that they, the importers, had rationalized their range of imports, and this was indeed not anything to do with the Polaroid factory…
So, it’s OK for some, but I’ll just have to ship mine from the US direct.
I was wondering if you know of anyone with a stash of Polaroid Type 55 or if Fuji is going to add something like it to their instant film line…
Thanks for your time,
Micha