Polaroids (or Instant cameras)

 

Hi Charlie, 

Today I decided to write about an object that I really like: Polaroids. I love all cameras, but I thought Polaroids could be an interesting topic. As all of you may or may not know, the name "Polaroid" is actually one of the brands which produce these types of cameras. The proper "scientific" name would be "instant camera". Anyways, instant cameras are a type of camera created in 1939, by a Hungarian chemist, Rott Andor. He invented what is called “positive photography” or “DTR” (Diffusion Transfer Reversal). The DTR process permits a photographed object to immediately appear as positive (image which corresponds to the dark and light shades of the original).

 

In 1948, the American scientist Edwin Land revealed the first commercially viable instant camera, the model 95 land camera. The model used two separate positive and negative rolls, which enabled the    photograph to be developed inside the camera. 

 

                                

           Model 95 Land camera                                                                Edwin Land

 

 

Edwin Land founded the Polaroid corporation with an American physics professor at Harvard, George Wheelwright in 1937. The brand is hence best known for its instant cameras, and other models were created shortly after the model 95 Land camera.

 The Polaroid SX-70 was introduced in 1972 by Edwin Land. It is also an instant camera, which he proved by taking five pictures in only ten seconds, a technological achievement. The model uses the colour SX-70 film.

                               

                           Polaroid SX-70                                                                            

 

 

                         Polaroid 636 closeup

 

 The Polaroid 636 close up was created in 1981. Its boxy design made it an icon of the decade, and it is still very popular nowadays. The model uses the colour 600 film.

Some Polaroids are very recent, such as the Fujifilm Instax models. They use the Fujifilm Instax film.

                                                                                           

 

                         Fujifilm Instax SQ1   

 

                                                                            

              Fujifilm Instax Mini 11

 

About the films:

 

The first films that were used were roll films, which were used with the model 95 Land camera. There was one positive and one negative roll which were loaded into the camera.

Then, pack films were created. The first model was the model 100, followed by the models 100-400 series and a few other camera series. Pack films were originally offered in rectangular formats, and later in square formats.

Integral films were created for models like the Polaroid SX-70. There were introduced in a folding version, and later versions were solid plastic bodies. The Polaroid SX-70 used a more efficient print technology. Integral films were also used for the 600 Polaroid models.

Finally, the Spectra, Captiva and i-Zone film, which were smaller 500 series and in rectangular format.

Here is a schematic of a SX-70 film during exposure:

 

  

Thanks for reading, I hope you found this article interesting !

 

Livia :)