As Im typing this, Im listing to a story on NPR (National Public Radio) about the Polaroid 40 x 80 camera!!! Now I know about the 20x24, but never heard about the 40 x 80 (or Mo Bee Cee) until now. Are there any stories or pictures of this monster on the Net? A Canadian photog now owns it.

-- sheldon hambrick (sheldon_hambrick@hotmail.com), June 22, 2000

Answers

A few years ago I saw a documentary about the photographer using this - I think it was on a Canadian channel up here - quite a monster! You should have seen them peeling apart the film.... But what a great print it makes. Most of it was homo-erotic art, very well done and quite interesting, but not my personal cup of tea.

Tim A

-- Tim Atherton (tim@KairosPhoto.com), June 22, 2000.

If I can find it I have a clipping that ran in, "shudder", PoP Photo or something about a room-sized Polaroid camera used to make reproductions of famous works of art. I can't recall how big the resulting image is/was but the illustration attached seemed to indicate the dimensions were at least that big.

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), June 22, 2000.

The segment can be found at:

http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnps05fm.cfm?SegID=75776

-- David Goldfarb (dgoldfarb@barnard.edu), June 23, 2000.

The 40x80 camera was a room turned into a camera, it was at the museum of fine arts in Boston, I believed its been moved

Bill

-- Bill Jefferson (jefferw@polaroid.com), June 23, 2000.

Bill is right. It is the same camera that was at the Boston museum. It was sold to an artist and he has moved it to New York. Bill Wegman plans to rent it.

-- Ron McElroy (rnrmcelroy@aol.com), June 23, 2000.

It is the camera that was in Boston. You can rent the camera on site for $2,000 a day and the film costs are apparently $300 an exposure. Yikes! You might check Elsa Dorfman's (sp ?) site -- I think it is connected/linked to Phil Greenspuns. I believe she's used the BIG camera on occasion for her work -- I know she regularly uses the 20x24 Poloroid.

-- Donald Brewster (dpbrewster@prodigy.net), June 23, 2000.

Tracy Storer, one of the specialists with Calumet/Polaroid 20x24 camera, covers this one in his presentations on the big Polaroid cameras. He has photos of it as well as work from it. You can probably get info by checking with him through Calumet. Or, if in Sandy, Utah this next week, check with him at Tillman Cranes Mammoth Camera Workshop, where Tracy will be helping the participants shoot with the 20x24 Polaroid camera.

-- Dan Smith (shooter@brigham.net), June 23, 2000.

There is a wonderful moving story by Frank Riper of the Washington Post on how this behemoth healsright here.

-- Erik X (xx@xx.com), November 23, 2001.

-- Erik X (xx@xx.com), November 23, 2001.

The (homo-erotic) Canadian Artist referred to in one of the responses is Evergon, the current owner of the camera is Gregory Colbert, studio manager/operator is Mark Sobczak. Contact Mark for rental info at zeeda@earthlink.net Tracy Storer

-- Tracy Storer (tstorer480@earthlink.net), January 26, 2002.

A newer, better way to reach the 40X80 guys is: mobystudio@earthlink.net Tracy Storer

-- Tracy Storer (tstorer480@earthlink.net), April 23, 2002.