Topic: NEED HELP!! polaroid 4x5

[calbisu]

Hello photo fellas!! Need some help.

I have a 545 film holder and some polaroids sheets of which I have already wasted EIGHT! 

This is what i do:
Compose picture and focus with the ground glass (is that the name?)
Remove the glass and insert the 545 polaroid holder
"close" the sbutter in the lens
Insert the polaroid, in position 'L'
Remove the polaroid envelope partially
Shoot
Reinsert the polaroid envelope completely
Change the polaroid holder to 'P'
Remove complety the envelope
Wait recommended processing time
Separate the envelope

And the picture its Always WHITE...

I have alreday tried with two different film types, one of which was unopened. I really do not know what to do different. I am shooting with same camera with a polaroid pack film and no problems...

Any suggestions?

[Mojave]

Hey Carlos, one thing that kept happening to me with my 545i was that it wasnt actually grabbing hold of the metal piece of the film cartridge, or whatever they are called, and so when I was pulling it partially out, I was actually pulling the entire film cartridge out and not just the shield. I was putting the lever into the lock position but it wasnt actually locking. I really couldnt tell the difference at first but then after wasting a few sheets of film I finally realized that when I moved the lever to the Release position, I couldnt feel that SNAP of the holder releasing that metal piece. Try just moving that lever back and forth. You should be able to feel that snap of release.

Hope this helps.

[calbisu]

Hi Erin! Well this may explain the problem, or at least partially..
I will pay extra atention to the grabbing of the envelope! Thanks a lot 

[Poliweb]

Hold on. If your print is all WHITE then you have over exposed the film. If you were to have pulled out the whole packet then there would have been no exposure and your print would have been black.

I'd take a close look at your exposure (film speed, aperture, shutter speed). Also check to see if the shutter isn't misfiring.

Richard

[calbisu]

Hi Richard, yes, u are right, white means overexposes, still I am doing the same with the pack film and having no problem with it. But yes white means overexposed.. 

[sapata]

I had same problem Carlos only to realize later after wasting loads of precious 4x5 polaroid sheet film, at the time I searched on the web and a Polaroid instructions manual came up showing how to dismantle the whole thing! I did the procedure and found an older piece of metal from an old film stuck on the base, exactly where the film normally goes. Got rid of the metal and worked well afterwards... good luck with yours!

[Francois]

It might sound stupid (or crazy) but in the description, you don't say you actually closed the shutter preview before triggering the shutter...
I know my old Schneider had the tendency for some time to remain wide open even though I pulled the tab to close it. Only triggering the shutter, re-cocking it and then exposing the film and releasing the shutter actually worked.

Also, my film back had a few problems. First was that there was a little strip of metal stuck in it. Once removed, it worked better. The other, the metal strip wouldn't catch the hook. My solution was to bend it open a bit more with my finger nail. Then, I had to be very careful when pulling it out as sometimes it wouldn't fully release.

[Poliweb]

Hi Richard, yes, u are right, white means overexposes, still I am doing the same with the pack film and having no problem with it. But yes white means overexposed.. 

Ok - so maybe it's a light leak?

You talk about "removing the ground glass" before inserting the 545 holder. I used to have a 545 and it inserted in front of the ground glass in just the same way as a film holder. I never removed the ground glass. It did not use the graflok attachment as my Polaroid 405 holder does. Is there a possibility you are using the holder incorrectly and getting a light leak?

Richard

[gregor]

should be like this:

Insert the 545 polaroid holder
"close" the lens diafragm
take light reading
set shutter speed/f-stop
Insert the polaroid, in position 'L'
Pull the sheet film's darkslide out until fully extended (the darkslide is part of the sheet film and not part of the 545 back)
Shoot
Gently push the darkslide back into position
Change the polaroid holder's lever to 'P'
Pull the sheet out
about 5-10 seconds before peeling, start to separate film from film back
peel at development time

[Mojave]

Hey Carlos, I was also thinking that maybe the rollers werent engaging. In my situation, the prints were coming out all black so I know the pods were good but I wasnt getting an image at all. If your positive is all white, I wonder if the goop just isnt spreading, so maybe bad rollers or bad goop pods? Just curious.

[calbisu]

Thank you all for the advices.

Shutter was closed before shooting.
I have not found out light leaks; I removed the lens and looked at the interior no apparent light leaks, I will do the same with a torch inside in a dark room.

So for me two things are left, either the films are dry or the holder is malfunctioning, in which case I will open it.

Mmmhh, this has to work!!!

[Francois]

I know the last batch of 4x5 I ever played with was so thick that the rollers couldn't spread it. I ended up taking a steel rolling pin and squishing them by hand. Some parts of the image got some goop, others not. I could hear the crystals crushing under the pressure which made a very cool sound, but left a ton of defects on the image.

[calbisu]

OK, it has worked out!! I opened apart the film holder and think I might have fixed the release mechanism, still not sure about it (it was a bit difficult to put the thing together again..), anyway, now it´s working, the reason was not working before it´s that the films I was using had the emulsion completely dry, therefore no way it could work, on the other hand the emulsion was unevenly solidified and in some places was quite thick so the envelope had problems going through the film holder rollers... 

Thank you everybody!