Polaroid 40 x 48 - am I nuts?

BrianShaw · 01-19-2008, 12:32 PM

I have a vague recollection of seeing something on the Polaroid web site about a 40 x 48 camera. I can't find anything when I looked to day - did I dream/hallucinate this?

David A. Goldfarb · 01-19-2008, 12:34 PM

Joe McNally used it for his series of Ground Zero workers.

BrianShaw · 01-19-2008, 12:36 PM

Ahhh... that rings a bell. There was an article in VC. Maybe that's what I was recalling, not something I saw on the Polaroid site. Thanks, I feel less senile now!

Allen Friday · 01-19-2008, 01:13 PM

The camera McNally used "Moby C", can do prints 40x106 inches. The camera is in NYC. Just google "McNally polaroid ground zero."

David A. Goldfarb · 01-19-2008, 01:17 PM

That's right. I thought they were longer than 48" when they were hanging in Grand Central.

TracyStorer · 01-19-2008, 03:23 PM

Usually referred to as 40"x80" but capable of longer as in the McNally work. The camera is currently privately owned, and dismantled. The camera required two operators working inside the camera in total darkness, I worked there part-time in the '90s when it (and I) was still in Boston and some amazing work has been made with it over the years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen Friday

The camera McNally used "Moby C", can do prints 40x106 inches. The camera is in NYC. Just google "McNally polaroid ground zero."

Phil · 01-19-2008, 05:35 PM

All Things Considered, June 22, 2000 · NPR's Margo Adler steps inside the world's largest Polaroid camera. The room-sized camera creates instant prints the size of a person. It was created by Polaroid founder Edwin Land, who simply wanted to prove to stockholders that he could do it.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=1075776

RobertP · 01-20-2008, 08:46 AM

Tracy, What kind of lens was on this monster? Robert

TracyStorer · 01-20-2008, 01:15 PM

We had a custom made lens for 1:1 work, focal length was somewhere around 6' weighed around 50lbs. We also did a lot of art reproduction from chromes with varying degrees of magnification using lenses from 890mm down to around 300mm. (mostly Schneiders and Rodenstocks)

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertP

Tracy, What kind of lens was on this monster? Robert

mark · 01-20-2008, 01:29 PM

Cool. Read a couple of articles. It says the camera was really a room. Tracy, how do you dismantle a room? It would seem to me that, if you could afford the film and the expertise any old blackened room with a hole it would accommodate the big ass lens and the film holder. Or was there more to it than that?