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Instant Film Types Explained, and Which to Pick
Instant film types in plain words: integral vs peel-apart, what each look does to light and colour, and which to load for night, sun or a black-and-white mood.
What types of instant film are there? Two. Integral film keeps everything in one print: the picture develops right there, under its cover. Peel-apart film is two sheets. You wait, you pull them apart, and when you pull changes the colour. Inside each kind, films differ by speed (the ASA number), by the camera they fit, and by their look. Pick the speed for the light you have. Pick the look for the moment.
POLAKID has 11 films in four cameras. Each film loads in its own camera. Think of it as a very small, very well-organised film fridge.
The cheat sheet (quick pick)
One disclaimer, once: these picks are ours. We read them off documented properties like speed, flash behaviour and contrast. They are not lab tests. Now, the table.
| Moment | Pick | Camera | Why | |---|---|---|---| | Bright sun, slow and calm | Colour 125 or Zero 150 | Folding 72 or Presto 76 | The slowest integral films in the app | | Party with flash | Colour 640 or NewTone 640 | Box 640 | Fastest integral speed, flash on every picture | | Night, colour | Peel Colour 100 | Pack 78 | Manual camera, the shutter holds up to 60 s | | Night, black and white | HC 640 | Pack 78 | The fastest film on the pack camera | | Black-and-white mood | B&W 160 or B&W 640 | Folding 72 / Presto 76 or Box 640 | Warm black-and-white |
All 11 live in the films section.
Integral vs peel-apart: one sheet or two?
Integral is the one in your head when you think "instant film". You shoot, the print rolls out already wet. It starts blue, then clears as it develops. That blue veil has its own story: why instant prints start blue.
Peel-apart is the diva. Two sheets, a timer, and you decide when to separate them. Fuji's bulletin for its FP-100C says: don't separate before the stated time. Too short or too long gives unwanted photos. In POLAKID, peel too early and you get a magenta-red cast. Too late, a green one, as with the real film.
In POLAKID, the Folding 72, Presto 76 and Box 640 are integral. The Pack 78 is peel-apart. You'll feel the difference immediately. One of them makes you wait. The other makes you decide.
What ASA means: the number on the film
ASA is the speed number. Bigger number, faster film. The data sheets print it as ISO.
And the gap is real. Polaroid's own support page puts today's SX-70 film at roughly a quarter of the sensitivity of 600 film. In the app, 640 against 125 to 160 is about two stops. That's our arithmetic from the film speeds.
Each camera in POLAKID sets its automatic exposure from the film's speed. Pick a film, the exposure follows. Easy.
Speed first. Look second.
Folding 72 and Presto 76: the SX-70 family
Folding 72 is modelled on the SX-70, the folding SLR. Presto 76 is modelled on the Pronto!, a rigid camera. Same four films in both.
Colour 125. Modelled on the SX-70 film, about 1972 (per a 1993 conservation mailing-list post). Here's the awkward bit: Polaroid's own documents give no ISO for that film. Roughly ISO 125 is our estimate, from Polaroid patent figures. Today's SX-70 film is rated ISO 160. What was it known for? A steep curve. The strobe patent gives it a contrast slope of about 1.8, against 1.4 for Polacolor 2. Real development time? Nobody published a number. Our model runs about six minutes, and that's an assumption from a patent figure. In the app it takes 10 seconds, sped up, we're not monsters.
Zero 150. Modelled on the Time-Zero film, about 1979. Polaroid's data sheet says ISO 150 and calls it medium-speed, medium-contrast. Development: about 5 minutes (Polaroid data sheet). In the app, 8 seconds, sped up.
NewTone 150. POLAKID's own look film. Not a Polaroid film, no original behind it. The name is a wink to Helmut Newton. I studied a book of his Polaroids while tuning the look. No connection to Newton or his estate, just a nod from a fan. The brief I gave myself: deeper colours without getting saturated. Denser, not louder.
B&W 160. Warm black-and-white, modelled on today's Polaroid B&W film. It doesn't age in the app.
How to do it:
- Pick Folding 72 or Presto 76 on the dial.
- Pick the film chip, say Colour ASA 125.
- Open the conditions sheet and set the temperature: Cold, 21 °C or Hot.
- Shoot.
- Watch the print clear.
The temperature switch isn't decoration. Polaroid's 600 booklet says below 55 °F (13 °C), keep camera, film and print warm. The Impulse booklet says colder pictures can come out with a blue tint. In the app, the cold and hot timing factors (x1.5 and x0.75) are our assumption. No published table exists, so we said so instead of faking one.
Flash on the Folding 72? Only sometimes. It does not fire on every picture.
Want to watch a print age? Integral colour films let you set 1 to 5 years in the conditions sheet. Why stop at five? Because that's where the measurements stop.
Box 640: the party camera
Box 640 is modelled on the 600 box camera. Three films, all speed 640.
Colour 640. Modelled on the 600 film, about 1981. Polaroid's data sheet: ISO 640, medium contrast, about 3 minutes at 70 °F / 21 °C. In the app, 5 seconds, sped up.
NewTone 640. NewTone 150's faster sibling. POLAKID's own look film, not a Polaroid film.
B&W 640. Warm black-and-white, modelled on today's Polaroid B&W. No ageing.
The 600 camera's manual says its flash is designed to be used for every picture. The Box 640 does exactly that. Flash range in the app: 1.22 to 3.05 m. Focus is fixed at 2.44 m. So get close, commit, and let it pop. The flash is also very short, and the app's model lowers the film's contrast for flashes that short.
How to do it: Box 640, a 640 chip, flash distance in the conditions sheet (0.5 to 5 m). Shoot. That's it. That's the whole camera.
Pack 78: peel it yourself
Pack 78 is modelled on the Polaroid 600SE, a pack-film camera. It's manual, and that's the point. No automatic exposure. Your iPhone is the light meter, and you add or subtract stops yourself. Apertures run f/4.7 to f/64, shutter 1/500 s to 1 s, plus B up to 60 seconds. You focus with a lever and a double-image rangefinder. No flash built in. There's a socket for an external one, and the app doesn't model flash on it.
Peel Colour 100. Modelled on the Fuji FP-100C, the 2003 version. Fuji's bulletin says it was designed for 10 to 30 °C and gives its best results at 25 °C. At 25 °C the wait is 90 seconds, at 20 °C it's 120. In the app the clock is sped up to 25 seconds. The bulletin lists product photography with long exposures, portraits and ID pictures, so it was aimed at pros. Fuji ended it in 2016, according to Fuji's 2016 end-of-sales notice, as Gigazine reported.
Pro Colour 100. Modelled on Polacolor Pro 100, a glossy peel-apart. ISO 100, 90 seconds from 21 °C up (Polaroid data sheet). In the app, about 20 seconds, sped up.
NewTone 100. POLAKID's own look film again. About 20 seconds, sped up.
HC 640. Modelled on Polaroid's T-51HC High Contrast. It was never a snapshot film. It was 4x5 sheet film for copy work and graphic arts, and POLAKID shows it in pack format. Data sheet: ISO 640 print, 30 seconds from 21 °C up. In the app, about 7 seconds, sped up.
How to do it:
- Pick Pack 78 and a chip.
- Meter with the iPhone, focus, shoot.
- Tap to start. The line reads "Best at" and a clock counts up.
- Hit PEEL.
Peel early, the print comes out pale and weak. Peel late, it drifts green. That drift is built from published directions and assumed amounts. The app gives one best time per film and temperature, not a window. Pick your moment. Live with it.
Pack films and B&W films don't age in the app. HC is also the calm one: peel it late and it barely moves.
Which film for which moment?
Night and low light. Speed and long exposure. On the Box 640, the 640 films take the flash. On Pack 78, run Peel Colour 100 with a long exposure: switch Tripod on in the conditions sheet (no shake), and the camera's B setting goes up to 60 seconds. For black-and-white at night, HC 640. One catch: in bright daylight HC runs mostly to white, and one or two stops less gives the graphic look.
Bright sun. The slow ones. Colour 125 or Zero 150.
Portraits. I have no per-film data on how any film renders faces, so I won't pretend. Pick by light and by camera.
Black-and-white mood. B&W 160 for sun, B&W 640 for the flash, HC 640 when you want it hard.
How long does it take, really?
In the app: sped up. Integral prints take 10 seconds at most (Colour 125). Peel-apart prints take 25 seconds at most (Peel Colour). The real films took minutes: about 5 for Time-Zero, about 3 for the 600 film. Your patience is safe with us.
FAQ
What are the types of instant film? Integral (one print, develops under its cover) and peel-apart (two sheets you pull apart after the wait).
What does ASA mean on instant film? The speed number. Bigger number, faster film. Data sheets print it as ISO.
Does the Box 640 flash on every picture? Yes. The Folding 72 uses flash only sometimes.
How long does a POLAKID print take to develop? Sped up: 10 seconds for Colour 125, 8 for Zero 150, 5 for Colour 640. On Pack 78, 7 to 25 seconds. The originals took minutes.
Do POLAKID prints age? Integral colour films can be set to 1 to 5 years. Pack and B&W films don't age in the app.
Is POLAKID a filter? No. It models the camera (lens, shutter, flash) and the film. Each film is its own profile.
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