Mio camera, which seems to be no more than a
repackaged Fuji Instax 10 or 20.
For the most part of these more than 50 years,
Polaroid was almost alone in the instant photo-
graphy market even if some companies produced
cameras compatible with Polaroid films. Kodak
tried to compete with his own line of cameras
and films in the late 1970s. All ended with lawsuits
and courts ruling Kodak out of this market. In the
late 1990s Fuji started producing instant films for
the professional market usable on Polaroid cam-
eras and film backs, and later, consumer cameras
and films.
In the beginning of the digital era, instant photo-
graphy seemed to have little reason for existence,
and Polaroid faced a very difficult situation, the
expert photographer targeted by earlier models and
even SX70 seemed to be left out, and current con-
sumer Polaroid cameras aimed at the lower end of
the market. Polaroid also marketed low-end con-
ventional film and digital cameras. However the
professional/scientific uses of instant photography
were still provided as from its beginnings. Polaroid
has a commitment to serious photographers, pro-
ducing cameras, backs, and films for proofing and
as a final photograph. Art photographers are using
some forms of Polaroid process in the intended and
unintended ways. Collectors appreciate the large
variety of models (around 275, not counting color
variations) and their availability. Polaroid owns
some 2024" cameras, which can be rented from
their studios in some European and North Amer-
ican cities. The pictures some photographers pro-
duced with them are among the most prized of
modern photography.
NUNOPinheiro
Seealso:Polaroid CorporationFurther ReadingInnovation Imagination, 50 Years of Polaroid Photography.
New York; Harry N. Abrams, 1999.
Polaroid Guide to Instant Image: Creative Uses of Polaroid
Film, Waltham, MA: Polaroid Corporation, 1992.www.
polaroid.com(accessed August 11, 2005).CAMERA OBSCURA
The camera obscura existed long before photogra-
phy itself. In fact, there would be no photography
without it. The name literally translates from Latin
to mean ‘‘dark room.’’ The moniker, however, is a
bit misleading, as it leaves out the most crucial
element of the camera obscura: a small hole through
which light can enter the darkened chamber.
No one invented the camera obscura; it is a natu-
rally occurring optical phenomenon. Like Plato’s
cave, in which projected shadows are an allegory
for reality, the camera obscura projects real life, in
full color and movement, onto a two-dimensional
wall or screen to be observed and contemplated.
Light enters a darkened enclosure through an aper-
ture such as a small hole or a glass lens, projecting
an inverted image onto an opposite wall or screen.
The science that allows this to occur is simple. Light
travels in straight lines. When entering a small hole,
rather than scattering, light will only pass through
in an organized manner. Thus, light reflected off of
a flag atop a flagpole will pass through the aperture
and hit the lower part of the back wall or screen.
Whereas light bouncing off the base of the pole will
end up at the top of the projected image.
In essence, a camera obscura is simply a camera
without film. It dates back centuries before light
sensitive materials were developed. The first re-
corded observations of the phenomenon are attrib-
uted to the Chinese philosopher Mo-Ti in the fifth
century BC. Aristotle (384–322 BC) took note of
this process while observing light filtering between
the leaves of trees and projecting crescent shaped
images of the eclipsed sun on the ground. He also
took note that the smaller the hole, the sharper the
image appeared.
Although it was probably a principle known by
contemporary scholars at the time, the first
account of the camera obscura itself dates back to
the Arabian scholar Alhazen (Abu Ali al-Hasan
Ibn al-Haitham) (c. 965–1039). In 1490 LeonardoCAMERA OBSCURA