Something I read about and now have confirmed for myself: FP 100-C is self-terminating.

Translation

And now to translate for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about: Fuji instant 100 ISO color peel-apart film you can leave until much later before you peel it apart to end the developing process. No counting seconds.

How peel-apart film works

Peel apart film begins developing when you pull the tab out of the holder, and then pull the frame you just shot out of the holder, thereby squeezing the two layers of the emulsion together through the rollers that the frame comes out of.

Fuji gives you a chart telling you how long you should count before ending the process by separating the two layers by peeling them carefully apart (that separates the developing chemicals). How long you wait has a relation to the temperature. Under room temperature you generally wait for 120 seconds.

If you don't know what the temperature is then you might end it too early. But now it seems there is no "too late"*. I read in a forum that you could just leave the two layers together and not separate them. Just keep it in a safe place where it won't be mashed and then when you are good and ready, then peel it apart.

It turns out to be true. Today around lunchtime I walked around the Olympic-mad Vancouver streets and shot some portraits using FP 100-C. It was near freezing in the shade and much warmer in the sun so I had no stable temperature in which to 'develop'. And also with so much activity around me I didn't want to try and get the timing right in my head or hold onto a fragile piece of film while dodging the hordes.

Hours later ...

So after each shot I slipped the instant sheets into a receipts binder that I had bought for that purpose and stuck them into my bag. Hours later after having a nice home-cooked meal, watching Canada pull out a near-win against the Swiss in Olympic hockey, and a long shower I was ready to deal with my instants.

Yep. They all were well-within acceptable exposure. Any issues were attributable to my in-camera exposure decisions.

So there you go. Just put your instant peel aparts away and don't worry about counting the seconds. It's not quite 'instant' but it sure beats screwing up the development time.

Notes

*though I'm sure you can't wait forever. They are chemicals after all and probably go through changes once you start a process.

*Note 2: I've also read that other Polaroid films do not self-terminate. I can only speak of FP 100-C from experience.