Polaroid 20x24

[stever]

recently saw some beautiful images in a gallery at substantial price.  sales person in gallery couldn't (wouldn't?) tell me anything about longevity.  have seen an article on 20x24 prints and googled, but no info on color-fastnest.

??

[tom b]

Interesting article on the world's largest polaroid camera here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/essays/vanRiper/011120.htm

Cheers,

[stever]

yes, this is typical of the articles about the large format polaroid, and the images are indeed stunning.  but i have still found nothing about the archival expectations to justify $6000+ for a print.

[Bob Smith]

I would imagine that you're paying for a one of a kind original and for the rather substantial cost of producing the image... in addition to its particular creative aspects.  I don't know the particulars regarding permanence.  I have a friend who worked on a 20x24 for a while and has a handful of prints.  I know that she's extremely protective of how/where they are displayed because of fading concerns. 

The process of working with the particularly unwieldy camera and Polaroid's unique imaging qualities is certainly a process that a talented photographer can use to good advantage for producing very compelling unique images.

Bob Smith

[BobDavid]

I wish I could find something about archival qualities of my wife's Kia.

[Joe Behar]

I wish I could find something about archival qualities of my wife's Kia.

There are none 

Just like every other car ever made

[jwoolf]

Of all the chemical color print processes, Polaroid instant film is the least stable by a large margin.  Not only does it fade faster than any other color print material in the light, but in dark storage, because of residual chemistry from the development process, it will stain.  The only way to preserve Polaroid prints is to place them in cold storage, which slows the chemical staining. 

All the large Polaroid prints sold as fine art prints are made from the same commercial material as the boxed instant print film.  The large cameras use the commercial film off of the large, manufacturing rolls before it is cut down to commercial sizes.

Henry Wilhelm has had accelerated fading projections for Polaroid material for decades.  My recollection is that most Polaroid film exposed to 12 hours of indoor lighting (incandescent and fluorescent, but not daylight) at room lighting levels will show noticeable fading in 7 or 8 years.

Here is link to Wilhelm's monumental book on THE PERMANENCE AND CARE OF COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS.  You can down load the entire book or chapters in PDF format for free from Henry's site:

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/book_toc.html

[feppe]

Of all the chemical color print processes, Polaroid instant film is the least stable by a large margin.  Not only does it fade faster than any other color print material in the light, but in dark storage, because of residual chemistry from the development process, it will stain.  The only way to preserve Polaroid prints is to place them in cold storage, which slows the chemical staining. 

All the large Polaroid prints sold as fine art prints are made from the same commercial material as the boxed instant print film.  The large cameras use the commercial film off of the large, manufacturing rolls before it is cut down to commercial sizes.

Henry Wilhelm has had accelerated fading projections for Polaroid material for decades.  My recollection is that most Polaroid film exposed to 12 hours of indoor lighting (incandescent and fluorescent, but not daylight) at room lighting levels will show noticeable fading in 7 or 8 years.

Here is link to Wilhelm's monumental book on THE PERMANENCE AND CARE OF COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS.  You can down load the entire book or chapters in PDF format for free from Henry's site:

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/book_toc.html

The fact that Polaroid fades is part of its allure.

[stever]

thanks for the link, that's what i was looking for - and more

as for allure, i suppose that means in ten years a faded polaroid will be really valuable?

[jwoolf]

Some museums and collectors have had high quality inkjet facsimile prints made of their 20 x 24 polaroids.  They use the copies for display purposes and keep the originals in dark or cold storage.

There is not much allure to a faded print.

[stever]

i was offered 16x20 betterlight copies - which were excellent.  however i could not get a commitment on the size of the copy series and decided to pass on that also

the prints are stunning