"rare" polaroids

[Wimpler]

Here are some polaroids from my collection on which it is hard to find anything on the web.

polaroid 3000: has a vertical rangefinder.  The polaroid 3000 is almost identical to the pronto RF. The rangefinder itself works suprisingly well and accurate. I had a pack of SX-70 film that came to me in a camera. The battery was dead. What I did was hide under my bedsheets, pull the SX-70 polaroids out of their casette and insert them in an empty 600 casette with a working battery. Then insert the dark slide. I used a piece of paper to allow me to insert the 600 cartridge into a polaroid 3000 (an SX-70 camera with a rangefinder). Here is the "best" shot I got out of it. 3 shots have an image on them, 3 don't. I just used psp to touch it up a bit (contrast, etc). The image in reality is quite bright but low contrast and has a red tone.


Polasonic autofocus 4000: autofocus or manual focus.  Has a remote release socket.

Sonar autofocus 5000: almost identical to the above polaroid.  However, it has a low light warning light and a tripod socket.

Lightmixer AF660

Supercolor 670 AF

Supercolor 670 AF detail.  The AF660 does not have the "flash ready" lights.

Polaroid instant 20 that I modified to take 120 rollfilm and produce 6x9 negatives.

[Glenn Thoreson]

Ed Land was a man obsessed, but to bring out a new model every week was a bit much. I like the picture. Abstract modern art!

[apocaplops]

Interesting - you should make sure the land list guy sees these. I believe these are all Euro-market cameras, and I think most have a similar American model. Only the 3000 and maybe the Supercolor 670 would I peg as rare. Of course, euro-market Polas are probably rarer than their domestic counterparts.

I believe these are the equivalents:
3000 -> Pronto RF
AF 4000/5000 -> Pronto Sonar OneStep
Lightmixer660AF ->Sun 660 AF
Supercolor 670 ->

[TravisM]

This reminds me.... there is a store aroung here that has a couple of Kodak ummmm instant polaroid cameras.  remember when the lawsuit was going on. Does anyone know if the Kodak versions use the same film or was it a Kodak modification?

[keithslater]

The Kodak cameras used a different film.

[Brian Sweeney]

Thankyou for posting these. I've got most of the common ones, picked up from thrift stores and antique shops. I keep an SLR690 at work, and still use it for documentation work.

I love the font on the "3000", real computer line printer font from the 70's.

I guess there was no Polaroid 9000. "Dave, what do you think you are doing, Dave. The Photograph will be out of focus. All out of focus photographs can always be traced to Humar Error".

[Glenn Thoreson]

Did y'all know that Kodak made Polaroid's film until the falling out that brought about the Kodak instant camera? The polaroid pos/neg stuff still uses an old school Kodak film. I can't remember if it's Double XX or Panatomic X or what. But the negative is Kodak.

[argusmaniac]

Actually, Polaroid only used the negative film from Kodak for their peel-apart emulsions.  All integral films were designed and manufactured only by Polaroid, and they built a plant specifically for that; and it was this process that Kodak infringed upon.  When you seriously think about it, the integral films are a truly amazing invention.

[Brian Sweeney]

Wimpler,

I just read your introduction!

That makes the "collection" doubly impressive. I'm always elated to find the new generation taking an interest in these older cameras -i mean artistic tools-.

Thankyou!

[NicolasD]

Wimpler,

I have a very good friend in Belgium whose wife shoots with Polaroid.

Here is her website address :

http://homeusers.brutele.be/fa-pictures/

These cameras were a photographic world for themselves I think.

Some years ago, I was working in a building designed by Sir Norman Foster and so, it was often used as a background for fashion photos. I always managed to get the Polaroid tests from the photographers (they usually shot the models with some Hasselblad and Mamiya RB or Pentax 6x7 or so, but they always had Polaroid backs on their MF film cameras, for getting an idea of what the final result would be). It was nice to look at these "raw" small pictures. Approaching the models was nice too...

Something digital made go away...

[Wimpler]

Nicolas, I had seen that page before.  Interesting