Well, not quite “instant”, but pretty damn close.
I didn’t know this (maybe you did), but Polaroid used to make 35mm film that you could process at home without messy chemicals, in a matter of minutes. The system seems to of had some popularity at one stage, but like other Polaroid products, the profit margin must of been pretty small and the product was phased out.Several types of film instant film were made (all slide film) in both colour and black & white.

The system is based around a hand operated Autoprocessor. Into this you place your film and its matching processing unit (single use-comes with each roll of film). You then complete a series of winding actions and hey presto, you’re film is developed in about 2 minutes.
I saw a processing unit and 6 rolls of film going for less than $5 the other day, so thought I’d give it a go. The only thing is, the film had expired in 1984! I was more curious to see if anything would come out at all, and have a bit of fun.

I did get results, but as you’ll see, its pretty rough and insanely contrasty, but surpringly ok for film that coule be over 25 years old! I have a few rolls left, so might shoot them deliberately to bring the most out of the unique aesthetic. I’m kind of thinking of the movie “Metropolis”

Here are some shots from my first roll in the little Pen EF i just got.
Tried out some diptychs as it fits them on a regular single frame. Some obviously worked better than others, but it was still alot of fun. I’m quite surprised how well it metered and how sharp the lens is (when its actually in focus ofcourse).
Tri-x400 in Rodinal 1+50

** click photos for larger versions

Getting a little worried now. Still cant find a roll from my trip. It’s always the one you’re most looking forward to developing that you loose or ruin.
Anyway…
I quite like the first shot. As everyone started to cross the road, i took a quick look behind me and saw this girl standing there whilst everyone moved past. I guessed the distance and got a quick shot before she disappeared into the crowd. It’s out of focus as you can probably tell, but without trying to sound too “wanky”,  i think it reflects the moment for me.

Here are some more shots from Italy. I’m just trying to scan as much as humanly possible before me scanner packs it in. The quality isnt brilliant, but after an overseas trip i have no money left for a fancy new negative scanner!
Taken with Neopan400 and Tri-x400 (some EI300).. Im really liking Neopan at the moment. Maybe ive just fluked a development time/method that gives the results i want, but i cant seem to work tri-x out at the moment. Oh, all were developed in Rodinal 1+50, but i think i managed to keep the grain down (even with bad scans).
**click to view full size

Ok i’ve just about finished developing my film from the holidays so i’ll start posting shots up here.
The title of this post says it all really. I kind if got on a mission to take photos of cars/bikes/etc one day and this is what i came up with.
*you might want to click on them to see the bigger version.

Here are a few random shots from Roppongi Tower in Tokyo.

Here are a few more random snapshots from Italy this time.
Wish i had more than 2 clips for drying negatives at the moment. It’ll take ages to get through my developing backlog..