film | Rollfilm 02 type 38

1959-1979 

ISO 75  color

-- Land List --

In addition to the notes regarding Type 48 film, Type 38 had some special problems of its own. One thing you may not realize is that there were exactly zero Polaroid cameras that could really be used with Type 38 film exactly as they were right out of the box. Like Type 48 film, Type 38 has a thicker base than the earlier B&W films. However, while this presented no particular problem to the big Polaroid cameras using the 40-series films (aside from it being more difficult to tear the negative against the cutter bar), the design of the back on the Highlander (80/80A/80B) cameras was such that apparently there wasn't enough clearance to pull the thicker film through the rollers. This problem was fixed when the J33 was introduced, as by that time Polaroid Corp was pretty sure the upcoming Polacolor film would have a thicker base than the current B&W films. However, the J33's autoexposure/flash system was only designed for 3000-speed Type 37 film. So, if you actually wanted to use Type 38 film, you were stuck either way. If you had an 80-series camera, you had to send your camera in to Polaroid Corp to have the development roller assembly changed out. If you had a J33, the back was fine as-is, but you had to buy a #330 Color Adapter Kit to compensate for the exposure difference. Understandably, Type 38 never quite became the market success that Type 48 and Type 108 were.