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New55 Takes to Kickstarter to Fund New55 PN Large Format Instant Film Improvements

Chris Gampat
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06/18/2017
2 Mins read
New55 film improvements

“These changes will include 1, a mask to give a better spread, 2 a better developer reagent and a pod that isn’t quite so fussy, and three a smoother, better print.” says says Sam Heiser from New55 in the company’s latest Kickstarter video. New55 is looking to develop improvements to their current lineup of New55 PN instant film; and to do that they’re taking to Kickstarter. New55 is an instant film company that isn’t talked about as much as Fujifilm and Impossible project, but the images that they’re capable of producing are really beautiful.

In the video, Sam states that the biggest changes will be trying to automate the production process (since right now, it’s all made by hand) and make design changes to the packages.

For the uninitiated, New55 came around a few years ago creating a few type of Instant Film. In a way you can compare them to Ilford because they only do black and white film. The film is pretty beautiful but if you do into forums everywhere, you’ll read about just how difficult it can be to work with. Think of it like the older version of Impossible Project film. Remember how the old black and white film used to be sort of fussy and then after a few days the black and white photos would do to sepia?

Well the Impossible Project for the most part changed that even though the black and whites still do go to sepia after months or a year down the line. It’s highly unlike the Fujifilm Monochrome instant film.

A successful campaign will cure some of the film packet alignment flaws visible at the top of this decent negative. (Portrait of the children by Laena Wilder in “Zanzibar Memoir”)

The New55 PN Instant film Kickstarter has a lot of details about what they’re trying to do, which more or less just seems like a more reliable product that delivers more consistent results. A big part of this has to do with the pod that contains the chemicals. You see, instant film has a large unused area of space due to the fact that said space has a pod with film chemicals. When the film sheet rolls through the rollers then the pod pops and the film chemicals get spread through the print.

Check out the New55 PN Improvement Kickstarter campaign by clicking this link. When you pledge $75, you’ll get 5 sheets of black and white New55 PN.

4x5 black and white emulsions impossible project film fujifilm improvements instant film kickstarter large format New55 New55 PN pod video
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.