Type 40
 

Produced: 1948-1950 / Original Price: $1.75

• Film speed: ASA 100
• Orthochromatic, sepia tone.

Notes: This is the original Polaroid film as introduced with the Model 95 camera. Was replaced with Type 41.

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Type 41
 

Produced: 1950-1959 / Original Price: $?.??

• Film speed: ASA 100
• Orthochromatic, B&W

Notes: This was Polaroid's first true B&W film. Not long after it hit the market, customers and Polaroid engineers discovered that prints made from this film sometimes would start to fade after a few months. Unlike the sepia prints, the chemistry of the new B&W film left the prints not completely stable, and subject to attack by humidity and contaminants in the air. After much research by Dr. Land and other Polaroid engineers, the only solutions that could be found at the time involved the application of a fixing agent to each print by the customer. Thus was born the "Print Coater" that became so familiar to Polaroid photographers. Research continued on solving the "coater problem," but it wasn't until the early 1970's when a coaterless B&W Polaroid film could be brought to market. Even today, there are still a few Polaroid B&W film types that require coating after development.

Even after improved film types (Types 42, 43, 44) were introduced, Type 41 continued to be offered as a slightly cheaper alternative film for situations (such as print copying) where panchromatic response wasn't important or necessary.

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Type 42
 

Produced: 1955-1992 / Original Price: $1.98 (1956)

• Film speed: ASA 200
• Panchromatic, B&W

Notes: This was Polaroid's first panchromatic film. It also turned out to be one of Polaroid's most enduring products ever in terms of years of production.

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Type 43

Produced: 1955-1958 / Original Price: $?.??)

• Film speed: ASA 200
• Panchromatic, B&W
• Acetate negative

Notes: This was a sort of "premium quality" alternativeto Type 42. It had a wider tonal range than Type 42 and was gearedtowards the professional photographer. [Notice also that the professional-level Model 110 Pathfinder was available at this time.]While the negative on this film had anacetate base rather than paper, it was not reusable ala Type 105/665/55 film.

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Type 44
 

Produced: 1956-1963 / Original Price: $2.19

• Film speed: ASA 400
• Panchromatic, B&W

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Type 46
 

Produced: 1957-1964 / Original Price: $?.??

• Film speed: ASA 800
• Panchromatic, B&W
• Produces 8 B&W transparencies (slides) per roll. Each measures 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" for standard medium-format square slide mounts.

Notes: Polaroid also sold a fluid-filled plastic container called a "Dippit" as a companion product for Type 46/46-L film. The Dippit served a purpose similar to that of the print coaters supplied with the various B&W print films. After removing the transparency from the camera, you opened the end of the plastic Dippit box and inserted the transparency inside. Then, you'd seal the box again and invert it a couple of times to distribute the fixing/hardening agent all over the transparency. Then you pulled the transparency out through a squeegee device which removed the excess coating. Each Dippit contained enough agent for several rolls of film.
As an aid in using this film, Polaroid offered special clip-on viewfinder masks which matched the format of these slides. In fact, some cameras, such as the Model 150 and 800, came from the factory with built-in finder aids for this film (yep, that's what those funny pointy triangle things are in the 150/800 viewfinder window).
While this film was discontinued in 1964, you may encounter "Type 46" film boxes with considerably later expiration dates. What you're really seeing is Type 46-L film (below) after it was renamed to Type 46.

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Type 46-L
 

Produced: 1957-198? / Original Price: $?.??

• Film speed: ASA 800
• Panchromatic, B&W
• Produces 8 B&W transparencies (slides) per roll. Each measures 3 1/4" x 4" for standard "lantern" slide mounts.

Notes: This is essentially the same film as Type 46, but produces larger slides. Polaroid also offered matching snap-together plastic slide mounts for this film, as well as at least two different matching projectors (one of these was made by American Optical, another one was made by Keystone for Polaroid). At some point after discontinuing the 'regular' Type 46 film, Polaroid dropped the "-L" suffix on the name of this film and simply called it Type 46 instead.

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Type 47
 

Produced: 1959-1992 / Original Price: $2.29

• Film speed: ASA 3000
• Panchromatic, B&W

Notes: At the time it was introduced, this was a truly breakthrough product. As far as I know, this was the fastest rated continuous tone photographic film available in any format. Remember that back in 1959, anything faster than ASA 125 was considered a high-speed film. Not only that, but it was the introduction of 3000-speed film that made possible such simplified Polaroid cameras as the J66 and Swinger 20. It also made possible certain Polaroid camera accessories such as the Wink-Light and the Photoelectric Shutter.

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Type 48
 

Produced: 1963-1976 / Original Price: $3.55

• Film speed: ASA 75
• Color
• Produces 6 prints per roll.

Notes: Polacolor film was another major breakthrough product of its era. In fact, it represented the culmination of a series of some of the most difficult and complex chemical engineering problems ever solved. Many man-years of research went into designing this film.

One of the side benefits of Type 48 film from a consumer point of view was that, unlike all the B&W Polaroid films at the time, Type 48 didn't require a print coater. What most people don't know, however, is that things almost didn't turn out that way. Fact is, Polacolor did require a coater even during most of its pre-release testing phase. ...And unlike the B&W films (which could be coated hours or even days later at the photographer's convenience), these prints had to be coated within five seconds of being removed from the camera or they'd quickly start to deteriorate-- and perhaps ruined entirely. Polaroid Corporation even went so far as to design special devices that could be attached to your camera to aid in coating the prints quickly in the field, and formulated a special chemical resistant coating for the back of the prints, so that you could quickly flip the print over back on top of the negative and coat the print right there inside the camera door if need be. Fortunately-- and at practically the last minute-- Dr. Land and the other Polaroid engineers finally solved the Polacolor coater problem. The 'old' Polacolor film that had been produced was destroyed, and only the 'coaterless' Polacolor film made it to market.

While production Polacolor film didn't require a coater, some issues were discovered later in which the tension of some of the chemical layers on the print could change over time, thus causing the prints to curl up. Not being able to find a permanent solution at the time, Polaroid instead provided a set of sticky-backed self-adhesive mounting cards with each roll or pack of Polacolor film. The idea was that you'd mount the prints to the cards to prevent them from curling. However, if the quantity of unused Polacolor print mounts I tend to find accompanying old Polaroid cameras is any indication, a lot of people either didn't find the cards necessary or just-plain didn'twant to be bothered with them.

Type 48 was originally specified as having a film speed of ASA 50, but was quickly bumped up to 75. This may have been a bit optimistic at first, however, according to some reports.

The discontinuance of Type 48 coincides with a changeover in the production of the photographic 'negative' stock for Polaroid films. Before 1976, Polaroid had contracted with Eastman Kodak to produce the negative material for color Polaroid roll and pack films. As this contract was expiring, Polaroid made the decision to make its own negative material for these films instead. This was one of the changes that brought about an improved "Polacolor 2"-designated film in other formats. Presumably, by this time, sales of Type 48 had dropped to the point where Polaroid didn't feel it worthwhile to design/build the equipment needed to produce color negative material in this format, and so the product was simply phased out. That's why there never was a "Polacolor 2" version of Type 48.

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Type 146-L
 

Produced: 1961-198? / Original Price: $?.??

• Film speed: ASA 125
• High contrast, B&W
• Produces 8 B&W transparencies (slides) per roll. Each measures 3 1/4" x 4" for standard "lantern" slide mounts.

Notes: Essentially a high-contrast version of Type 46-L

Speed increased in 1967 to 320 daylight / 125 tungsten.

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Type 413
 

Produced: 1964-1969 / Original Price: $?.??

• Film speed: (variable due to IR response)
• Infrared, B&W

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Type 410
 

Produced: 1961-19?? / Original Price: $?.??

• Film speed: ASA 10000
• Panchromatic, B&W
• Designed for CRT recording.

Notes: Yes, that's an ASA rating of ten thousand. In 1961.