In article ,
Wolfgang Weisselberg wrote:

Robert Coe wrote:
On Sun, 01 Aug 2010 09:46:48 -0700, Paul Furman
wrote:

: If a technology emerges allowing large affordable sensors, there might
: be a resurgence of polaroid type cameras, which are medium format P&S.

Interesting thought, but there's a fundamental difference: A Polaroid was a
camera that produced only a print.

There were polaroid films which supplied both a print and
a negative. (I doubt they were used in polaroid cameras, but
they could have been.)


Polaroid type 55 positive/negative was a 4x5 film that peeled apart to
reveal a real negative and a print. When I used it I always had to
decide whether I wanted a good print or a good negative, as it was
almost impossible to split the density down the middle.

The negatives had to be washed in a sodium sulfite solution, but this
could be delayed by dunking them in water until you got back to the
darkroom. Polaroid even sold a bucket with negative holders that would
be filled with water and carried around while shooting. In the darkroom
you just dumped the water and filled the bucket with the clearing
solution.

One benefit was that the edge rarely peeled cleanly so you got a nice
rough "Polaroid" edge in your prints.

In retrospect I preferred the SX-70 :-)