FUJI PACK FILM | The DEATH of FP-100C

[@metocvideo]

In the days before digital, back in the time when all professional work ( apart from jobs where lots of colour prints were wanted) was shot on transparency film, the Polaroid and Fuji pack film was the only way for the pro to 120 film shooter to get an immediate confirmation that lighting and camera setup was good to go. The Polaroid and Fuji films were so good, that in one case, on a album cover shoot for David Bowie by Brian Duffy, Bowie did not like the film shots but loved one of the Polaroids so they wound up using that for the album cover!

[@1987VCRProductions]

Fuji’s packfilms were so fun to shoot, and they were affordable too! I still mourn the loss of packfilm.

[@InAnInstant]

Great vid my man! Working on some Supersense stuff at the moment. My concern with their direction is it's purely a salvage mission vs a dive into chemistry and producing new chemicals. But it looks like there is some crossover happening with the revived New55 - if New55 can scale their pack film product at all, that would legitimately save the format since it's actually new juice. And they're working on the smaller format as well (though there's no timetable for it lol). Here's to hoping this isn't too niche to bankrupt anyone who touches it!

[@oidualclaudi0]

This is the saddest video you’ve ever made 😭 We were too young to appreciate this format when it was about to disappear right before our eyes Back in 2001, when I was 10 years old I convinced my parents to purchase a pack film cartridge for my mom’s old Polaroid camera. I had no idea the camera needed a battery and I lost all the pictures as they all came out just black because the shutter wasn’t working without a battery. I got disappointed and I never had the chance to take instant pictures using this format.

[@MellowJelly]

you can still get film for the 80s instax cameras, just not the 60s ones like the land 250 which i have :( still, fun to shoot with instax.

[@brineb58]

I kickstarted it and have 2 packs ... excited to get the opportunity to peel film apart again!!!

[@midnightchaser9453]

its such a crying shame too, out of all the cameras i see thrifting/antiquing i can say with 100% certainty that i see pack film cameras the most, theyre absolutely everywhere. at least 1 per store but usually 2-3. all these amazing little cameras that take such great pictures, pretty much useless at this point.

[@olddisneylandtickets]

I am loving all your video's especially anything with instant film. Get that lunch box back in the fridge young man!

[@headwerkn]

I never got to shoot packfilm myself but vividly recall the photographer who took an elaborate, multi strobe group shot on 4x5 of our company staff back in 1998 burning through several Polaroid peel-aparts to perfect the flash setup before loading in the actual film. He called them ‘Paranoids’, which seemed both hilarious and complete appropriate at the time. Before digital, flash photography involved an awful lot of ‘I hope this works’ otherwise.

[@jakery2368]

I found my grandpa's Polaroid Big Shot a while back and I remember being so sad when I saw how expensive the film was. It's really interesting to learn more about it! I hope One instant could maybe bring it back bit somewhere down the line.

[@KeigoMoriyama]

I made a cartridge that allows you to use Instax film on that camera. Check my channel

[@samdavisson580]

FP-100c was what really got me into photography. I had a Square Shooter 2 that belonged to my great grandparents that I modified to take 100 series film in 2013, and I absolutely loved it. For Christmas 2015 I got a Super Shooter 100 series camera, and was so excited, only to find out two months later (on my birthday even!) that it was being discontinued. I still have one pack I'm saving for some special occasion. One Instant I hope hope hope will come through with a more refined and affordable product at some point, because I'd love to use the format again.

[@jakerockard1002]

the sad thing about this is the chemistry is fairly simple to make the reagents and stuff, its the positives that are so so hard to replicate, I chatted with someone from the original impossible project years ago and they said that it what was likely the only thing other than the origami style packaging of the set up itself that stopped them from even attempting it

[@ThePolaroid669]

I'd been using Fuji pack film since the early 1990s. Great stuff.

[@hansa3580]

I remember using Polaroid ProVivid, Type 689, made in Japan, back in the late 1990s.. Never associated it with Fujifilm. It was, other than the short-lived Polaroid Sepia film, my favorite instant pack film. Used it with Polaroid backs, a Polaroid 600SE, and, a Polaroid 110A. Quick drying, colors were excellent, and, I actually enjoyed using Polaroid over my favorite rollfilms, Fuji NPH400 and even Fuji Reala. I've purchased a few packs of the FP-100C and FP-3000B, cold stored, just want to use even a sheet or two, something worthwhile, just to enjoy the tactile process. Great video, great information!

[@shlawchablaas]

I never used the Polaroid pack film, but from the time I started doing photography in art school in 2009 up until 2016, I pretty much shot a pack of FP-100C a day in the severely under-appreciated Konica Instant Press, a fully manual rangefinder camera designed for 3.25x4.25 pack film. It cost about $7 for 10 shots, and the quality was superb, although Fuji instant film is very susceptible to color shifts from reciprocity failure for any exposure time longer than 1/15th of a second. Today I mostly shoot Instax Wide with the MiNT InstantKon RF70, a worthy successor.

[@roybixby6135]

I used Polaroid type film back in the day in backs on my medium format cameras. It lacked the dynamic range to compete with film but it was good for breaking the ice with clients while getting a rough idea of the image before switching to the film back. Pack film was never as good as film but it was much more fun...

[@jeremyholden72]

We are grateful for the work you are putting in on the videos. And Let's Save Pack Film!!!!

[@carltanner9065]

What the One Instant guys need is a farsighted backer with lots of money. Someone who appreciated the film format and knows just how vulnerable digital really is. That way, when the inevitable happens and all their digital tech goes down the plughole, they'll actually have something to take pictures with.

[@yves5435]

I just remember being at college in 2010 and buying a 20 packs of 3000b for a £100. Man those were fun days I got hooked using the 4 lens miniportrait. One day somehow they'll bring it back.

[@MeowjinBoo]

i've shot over 500 instax wide on my lomograflok and 4x5 camera, and come to the conclusion now that you either need to shoot with a flash or super direct sunlight to get stupid sharp images. I have 1 box of fp100c45 that one of my plumbing customers gave me and I will try it for the first time this weekend. Wish eme luck.

[@Otokichi786]

In the 1970's I was looking for a Manual Polaroid Pack film camera. The Polaroid 180/195 series was nearly as expensive as M-series Leicas, so I looked around for a Polaroid 110A Roll Film camera and had it converted to take Polaroid Pack film. It worked like a charm, until I went back to non-instant 35mm film. These days, Ye Olde Polaroid 110A/Pack Film is as obsolete as 126-using-Kodak Instamatic cameras. (Fakmatic 35mm cartridges sorta work, but I'm not looking for a Kodak Instamatic 500 just to "grind 135 sprockets.") Of course, I could "Frankenstax" a near-worthless 100 series Polaroid with a pretty-much-useless Instax Wide camera/back and "shift those gears" with a "manual Instax camera."

[@FrankAndPhotoTutorials]

I tried shooting the format for the first time this week, I got a pack of original Polaroid 669 film, on the first picture, after pulling out the first picture tab, the actual picture didn't come out of the roller exit. Instead of seeing how to fix it, I took the film cartridge apart to see how it works. So a waisted 30 bucks i guess. I really hope the one instant stuff can become cheaper for the folks that can't afford it (50 bucks for 3 pics is outrageous) perhaps the one instant people can find a way to design machines to make the 12 shot cartridges that fuji and Polaroid did so well.

[@davyjones2994]

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to shoot Fuji wide on these. I saw a guy in Japan that had sliced a Fuji wide camera in half, and molded the pack film slide to the old camera body. Crazy gotta find away to shoot old pack film cameras

[@StickPeopleAndPuff]

_Analog Resurgence: The show where Noah produces a Large Format Camera from his pants!_

[@connoryballantyne]

Have you done a video mentioning the Impossible Project? That was huge in Polaroid's return from the abyss. A lot of that scrapped equipment you mention still exists at their factory in the Netherlands. I remember finding them in 2011 & rejoicing cause I had inherited a few Polaroids w nothing to shoot on.

[@connoryballantyne]

oops, commented too soon. there's the impossible project reference!

[@Hell0]

One thing I'll never forgive myself for doing is putting off buying film to use in my grandpa's EE100 that i received in 2014, I kept putting it off until I found out in 2017 that Fuji had ended production and by then all the scalpers had bought up the remaining stock. Rest in piss my hopes and dreams of going down nostalgia lane, at least the current intergral B&W film is absolutely awesome so that kinda makes up for it for me.

[@MKVD]

An awesome video like always! Thank you for these

[@deletethis2416]

I have the automatic land camera 104 and my sister gifted me with 3 packs of FP-100C back in 2015. I now have two shots remaining. Two photos then that's it 😅 no more use for that camera, very sad that this film is so dead

[@thewetcoast]

I've been having fun with my Polaroid 100 pack film camera converted to Instax wide film.

[@gottanikoncamera]

My biggest loss is in not being able to continue to use my Land 195 and its f/3.8 lens. Keep hoping someone will Frankenstein them into accepting Instax Wide or Square. Though Direct Positive Paper may be an option, a tedious one, but an option nevertheless.

[@btrdangerdan2010]

My last recent camera purchase was a Polaroid Pro Pack Camera at an estate sale for $10, hope to test it out soon.

[@KeigoMoriyama]

You can use Instax in it.

[@loganburde2838]

Well I can always just hope somewhere in the far far future it could be brought back.

[@areallyrealisticguyd4333]

Would Packfilm be easier and cheaper to find in Japan? I'm hoping to try and find some when I go there but I can imagine in the 4 years since FP100C was discontinued I'm not the only one who's thought of the same thing.

[@AnalogResurgence]

I don’t necessarily expect it to be? There is like FP100C and Fuji stuff that is branded in Japanese (same film, just different box with that language) which when I see it selling online it typically goes for the same price range. I think it’s just universally expensive at this point.

[@KeigoMoriyama]

We don’t have it anymore here in japan. But I made a cartridge to use Instax on the packfilm cameras. If you check my video you can see it

[@davyjones2994]

@@KeigoMoriyama instax wide or mini? I’ve got a Polaroid passport camera, id love to find away to shoot it

[@KeigoMoriyama]

@@davyjones2994 Wide, Mini and Square. The adapter works for all Instax ^^

[@monodistortion]

Unfortunately Fuji pack film was never cheaper in Japan. I started shooting pack film around 2012 and took a trip to Japan in 2013. At that time Fuji pack film was about $10 a pack in the US and around $15-20 in Japan. Basically, almost everything is more expensive in Japan, even things made in Japan! www.flickr.com/photos/nmarshall/albums/72157634705021961

[@demetriuswolak5125]

Amazing video I’m so glad to have you on KZbin!!! Could I request a shenghai gp3 roll review?? I just bought like twenty rolls and haven’t seen results yet but I love your reviews!

[@Wassup-i9x]

I stopped taking pictures for a long while since fp100c was no longer there 😢 It was my favorite

[@boothang4252]

What film can I use for a Polaroid 210?

[@AnalogResurgence]

The Polaroid 210 takes pack film such as the Fuji stuff that I talk about in the video. All Polaroid and Fuji pack film is expired, but even expired stuff can still yield good results. The only currently produced alternative is One Instant Pack Film which I've covered here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHnRfKp8aLCYisk

[@AimShootDevelop]

Good video! I made a how to buy peel apart film video, forgot to mention there is to have a wheelbarrow of money 😅

[@Luudite]

Count me among the group hoping One Instant manages to make it all work!

[@TheIrishfitter]

Informative! Thank you. 🙏🏽

[@samsen3965]

It's sadly amazing, how Digital era made almost everyone in the world with a cellphone, a Photographer! and every film and Printing tool, including all the Polaroids magical leftover into extinction!!!

[@Moonlight-mz7mu]

Can the pack film FP-100B fit and work perfectly with the polaroid Big Shot?

[@AnalogResurgence]

Yes! The Big Shot is meant for film with either an 80 or 100iso.

[@Moonlight-mz7mu]

@@AnalogResurgence omg thank you so much for such a quick response 😭😭 literally wow thank you im new to pack film and polaroid big shot and i was unsure if it would work together

[@Markybug-Keira-Cody]

Great video! Do you know if Fuji still has the packfilm machinery ?

[@AnalogResurgence]

I couldn't find anything specific during my research. It's been 4 years since they last produced stuff so maybe not? Maybe some of it was incorporated into the Instax workflow? Fuji seems like the kind of company that would scrap it all in favour of pursuing new ventures.

[@continuousminer]

@@AnalogResurgence any truth to the impossible project people trying to purchase the machines from Fuji and they refused to sell? I believe I read that somewhere but could nonsense. If so, maybe Fuji wants the option to revive it, but my guess is it will never happen. Have to stay thankful that Instax exists and hopefully continues to. If Fuji released a higher end Instax camera with better lenses, I think it would be a success. But the market is probably too tiny for them to do that at the moment...

[@AnalogResurgence]

I know Florian Kaps (one of the main guys behind the Impossible Project) went to Fuji and asked for their help to revive it, but Fuji basically said they had no interest in making it again or helping others to make it. So I think they’ve moved on, that’s resulted in Kaps starting OneInstant to do it on their own. Kaps also asked Polaroid themselves to pursue packfilm and they said no.

[@monodistortion]

@@continuousminer -- There are options for high quality Instax cameras. Mint makes the RF-70 and Lomo is coming out with a 4x5 Graflok back that uses Instax Wide. There are other hacks and ways to shoot Instax film with all manual control.

[@continuousminer]

@@AnalogResurgence I commented about that before I got to the part of the video where he was featured... Shame Fuji won't help. But maybe they are holding onto the process just in case they want to bring it back... i ought to write a letter to them. If we all demand it and buy it, maybe it will be worth it for them.

[@hattree]

The patents and trade secrets for these orphaned technologies should be released into the public domain.

[@bodudas8346]

you may have forgotten why you decided upon producing videos for pack film, but man you sure have added to the analog museum of all things cool...

[@nathancasey7227]

I feel like I should of learned something but instead I got on eBay and bought a bunch of 80s lunch boxes. 😂

[@MiguelAngelYanezDiaz]

But now I'm super curious, couldn't Fuji potentially revive pack film? Since there would be a market and demand, and the last production was under a decade ago. All theoretically speaking, ofc

[@AnalogResurgence]

It just seems that Instax is much more profitable and accessible then pack film would be for them. The market overall for pack film is a niche that I just don’t think Fuji has an interest in pursuing.

[@the_lomographer4047]

Another great video

[@lvikng57]

Nothing about Famous Format's 4x5 peel apart?

[@AnalogResurgence]

I’ll be touching on the New55 project eventually, but more interested in saving that large format instant film for another time when I can cover it deeply. Their project doesn’t have a big pack film focus now and Fuji didn’t make the single shot instant stuff either.

[@lvikng57]

@@AnalogResurgence I get that, I just think it's good that both trying to solve the challenges of instant film on a smaller scale.

[@the_lomographer4047]

Yeah, i got a pack but haven’t shot it yet

[@hedger0w]

1:57 But where you store your Twinkies then?

[@drparham]

I just don't understand why fuji won't sell their equipment

[@cal_cur]

I'm pretty sure they dismantled it :/

[@drparham]

@@cal_cur well then they should be stoned

[@artistjoh]

Hang on a minute there. You cannot just dismiss Kodak instant like that. As someone who shot Kodak instant film and was aghast when Polaroid sued them I am very familiar with the court case, and it is not true to say that their instant process infringed on Polaroid patents, however, Polaroid won because of a memo from an idiot Kodak executive to the engineering team. The memo came to light during the discovery phase of the trial, and without it Polaroid was highly likely to lose their case. At first the engineers could not duplicate the instant process without infringing. It was at that point that an executive sent a memo saying to go ahead an infringe and we’ll deal with the legalities later. As it turned out, the engineers did eventually solve their problems such that it was sufficiently different from Polaroid to argue in court that there was no infringement. I know it was different to Polaroid and Fuji, and was superior in terms of resolution and color reproduction. However the jury couldn’t understand the complexities of the engineering data and the patents, but they had that idiotic memo from the executive, and based on that memo they decided that Kodak infringed. As a result we, as consumers were forced to go back to using the crappy instant film made by Polaroid and Fuji. However, Kodak was making consumer grade film to use in consumer grade cameras. They were not making the professional film that you are talking about here. Polaroid 4x5 color film was exceptionally high quality, and the type 891 8x10 transparencies were breathtaking for landscape, and Fuji FP-100C was maybe not as good, but was still light years ahead of the consumer instant films that Kodak was competing in. People these days seem to lump the consumer films in with the pro films, and that was not the case back then. One was crap and had no respect by photographers but loved by families and realtors, and the other was some of the best film to put in a camera. This pack film was another kind of beast. It was primarily used in studio to check lighting etc. you set up the lights, put the model in place, reach for the polaroid back, shoot a test, and discuss the result with the art director, make adjustments, shoot another polaroid, and when the art director was happy, replace the polaroid back with the real film, and start shooting. That is the only reason I ever bought pack film, and this was a common use scenario. And I am still p* ssed off by Polaroid seeking a judgement that stopped Kodak making their instant film. They could have been more consumer-friendly, and just insisted that Kodak pay licensing fees, but they were bloody-minded at the time, and their refusal to accept any change was the reason why they went bankrupt. Unfortunately their wonderful 4x5 and 8x10 film went with them, and despite the Impossible Project doing their best, there is nothing quite as good as those old pro Polaroid films anymore.

[@KeigoMoriyama]

Did you see the video of the cartridge I made to use any Instax film? Check it on my channel. No more dead cameras

[@ralphhoskins2115]

I would love to see this amazing format come back... come on Polaroid!!! Step up

[@KeigoMoriyama]

You can use Instax on that cameras without any mod

[@patrickbateman6768]

Make your own similar type of film :P

[@alexcerdenanyc]

why is so difficult to make FP-100C is patent by Fuji?

[@MetalDEmpire]

Thats capitalism for ya. Letting an Icon of History and Historical Preservation just whither away and die is on point for current society.

[@denniswilliams4789]

A current iPhone makes instant film all but pointless. When shooting MF film and requiring verification not only does the phone offer much higher IQ but I can immediately share that 'proof shot' to anyone I choose.

[@AnalogResurgence]

Still fun though!

[@alejandrarosales7836]

FUJIFILM YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!!!

[@aag24]

Really annoyed with Fujifilm but it has to be said, as a company they have survived unlike Kodak and Polaroid. Who’d have believed that the mighty photo companies who were making gigantic profits would end up going bust. I’m really disappointed with OneInstant - they only seem to be re-using old mega large format peel apart. I managed to get several rolls of Polaroid pack film that were “professionally stored” (in a fridge) for a relatively good £100 for 7 packs.

[@MellowJelly]

Instax photos are just way too small and they don't look great. Blurry, washed out colour, pale film... I cannot stand how small the size is... it's what you see on the hipster tumblr girls bedroom walls lol

[@onehourphotooo]

polaroid and fuji are sell outs. polaroid now is too focused on keeping their nostalgia by making cameras and reintroducing already thought of ideas instead of trying to upgrade the film that they have. Fuji’s instax mini film uses an almost identical chemistry that the polaroid cameras used to use and they refused to make 600 because it would interfere with their instax line. Doc Florian Kaps is the only person who is genuinely trying to keep instant film alive for the right reasons. Instant film is on the greatest achievements we’ve ever had as a society and to let it die would be a slap in the face to the film community, but the past will always repeat and I feel like greed will take over those companies again. (ps. the new head of polaroid rarely ever uses a polaroid camera)

[@ivan9066]

Is there even decent film stock from Polaroid ? All I've seen is soft BS and shifted colours.