Fuji FP-3000B45 - Graflex Crown Graphic 4x5 - Little Kids with a Big Camera

This past weekend was spent mostly in Youngstown, Ohio and Erie, PA visiting with families. My brother and his wife were up with their three kids, and, there was a birthday party to attend up in Erie later in the weekend. I figured since I was going to be seeing so many of the kids in one weekend and had 7 or 8 shots of Fuji FP-3000B45 left in my polaroid back that it would be a good opportunity to take a portrait of each of them. 

These were all taken with my Graflex Crown Graphic 4x5 in open shade at about f/11 with an exposure of 1/100th of a second. Shooting kids with this type of camera is definitely a bit difficult since their patience is limited, but, it was still pretty fun. 


Little did these kids know, they were getting their photo taken with what is currently the last stock of 4x5 instant film in the US. Fuji has decided to discontinue not only this 3000B45 (which actually happened months ago) but also their FP-100C45 (which is already out of stock everywhere in the US). Hopefully this will not be the end of large format instant film and we will see the Impossible Project come to the rescue again in the near future.

The photos if order of appearance are Vivian (Tiffany's Goddaughter), Tommy (my nephew), Taylor (my niece and Goddaughter), and below... Jade (the dog). There is another niece, Samantha, who I didn't attempt to photograph with my 4x5. I did get a few shots using my Canon FTb and some Rollei Retro 100, but those will have to wait until I finish up the roll and get it developed. 

As a final note... I did end up buying 4 packs of the final stock of Fuji FP-3000B45 yesterday while I still could. I'm a little disappointed to find out about the color so late - the price has already sky rocketed on Ebay. But, at the very least, I now have 40 shots of this beautiful film left. I'll probably have to savor it and make it last until someone else steps in to save this format of instant photography. I guess on the bright side, this is going to force me to start getting my sheet film developed...