Polaroid: Polaroid 800

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Polaroid 800 Land Camera, produced between 1957 and 1962 and used type-40 instant roll film that is no longer available. However, if you're handy with tools it can be converted to use 100 pack film, which is still widely available new. This is difficult and Not for the faint of heart. The lens fitted to the Polaroid 800 (and 150) is in fact a very high quality 3-element all-glass coated 130mm F8.8 lens. It will cover 3"x4" with no problem. The type-40 was replaced by type-41. This was Polaroid's first true B&W film. Not long after it hit the market, customers and Polaroid engineers discovered that prints made from this film sometimes would start to fade after a few months. Unlike the sepia prints, the chemistry of the new B&W film left the prints not completely stable, and subject to attack by humidity and contaminants in the air. After much research by Dr. Land and other Polaroid engineers, the only solutions that could be found at the time involved the application of a fixing agent to each print by the customer. Thus was born the "Print Coater" that became so familiar to Polaroid photographers. Research continued on solving the "coater problem," but it wasn't until the early 1970's when a coater-less B&W Polaroid film could be brought to market. Even after improved film types (Types 42, 43, 44) were introduced, Type 41 continued to be offered as a slightly cheaper alternative film for situations (such as print copying) where panchromatic response wasn't important or necessary.