kinds of art photography where technology is to be
kept as simple as possible.
NUNOPinheiroSeealso:Camera: An Overview
Further Reading
Lothrop, Eaton S., Jr. Unearthed: single-use camera!Pop-
ular Photography, March 1998, 9.CAMERA: INSTANT OR POLAROID
The term instant is applied to a camera that pro-
duces photographs developed by the means of the
chemical products it has enclosed with the film
medium. These developers are released via the sim-
ple mechanical process of passing the film packet
through rollers that spread the chemicals over the
exposed image as it leaves the camera. These rollers
characterize all instant cameras and serve to
quickly distinguish them from other camera types.
Atypical as well is the fact that instant photogra-
phy has been dominated by a single manufacturer,
and the history of instant photography is insepar-
able from that of the Polaroid Corporation. In fact,
the word ‘‘Polaroid’’ is widely used when referring
to an instant camera. The instant camera is most
widely used as a consumer product, but it also has
applications as a professional tool—to make quick
proofs when shooting with other cameras, and has
been in the later part of the twentieth century an
important genre in fine art photography.
Invented by Edwin Land in 1947, this process was
first made available to the general public in 1948 by
the Polaroid Company. Touted as ‘‘one-step’’
photography, the Polaroid Land Camera produced
a3¼4¼" dry print and sold for the relatively
costly price of $89.95. These first cameras used a
film not too different from the roll film foldings
currently in use: a paper negative that offset the
image onto a sheet of sensitized photographic
paper were sealed together in a rolled packet. A
two-roller mechanism smashed and spread the
developer chemicals across this packet and the sen-
sitized papers inside. After exposing the image, the
film was separated from the camera. The finished
picture was then separated from the negative a few
seconds later and the negative discarded.
This new invention was an immediate success. A
long succession of new and improved cameras was
introduced. They used three series of roll film: type
40 in the first and most sophisticated type 95, 95A,
95b, 100, 110, 110A, and 120, among other models;
type 30 and type 20 used on cheaper models and
mostly plastic-bodied cameras like the J33 and
Swinger models. As none of these films is available
these cameras are not usable, unless converted to
the still current pack films.
The first films available for use were sepia, but
soon came black and white, higher speed black and
white, high contrast materials for scientific applica-
tions, and positive/negative with a proof print and
a usable negative.
In 1963, Polaroid introduced the second genera-
tion of cameras. They use the still current type(^100) = 600 peel apart pack film, in several types of
black and white and in 75 ASA/ISO color. These
were plastic-bodied, box-like cameras, and more
sophisticated folding models with differences in
body material (plastic or metal) lens design and
construction, the presence and type of rangefin-
ders, or timers. There were four successive series
the 100, 200, 300, and 400, with no important
differences among each series. The series 100 was
introduced in 1963 and had six models, the range
increased with each series until the 300 series from
1969 had 11 models. Consumer products had an
electronic shutter, the first introduced in a mass-
produced camera, auto exposure, and needed a
hard to find battery. There were manual exposure
models, the 180, 185, 190, and the 195; they are
sold for high prices in the used market. A new
limited production version of these is currently on
sale, but it is produced by NPC. Some of the
consumer models were a huge success with pro-
duction numbers up to 1,000,000. However, there
were simpler and cheaper plastic bodied models:
Colorpack, Memory Maker, Minute Maker. They
all have automatic exposure, some had fixed focus
lens, while others had some simplified devices to
CAMERA: INSTANT OR POLAROID